An executive director demands a company of 1.2 million dirhams in late salaries and allowances

The Abu Dhabi Labor Court ruled to oblige a company to pay 150,882 dirhams to a former executive director, after deducting amounts related to two cars that the company bought for him, and paid their installments to be deducted from his salary, in a labor dispute that included financial claims of about 1.2 million dirhams.

In detail, an executive director filed a lawsuit against a company, demanding that it pay him about 1.2 million dirhams, divided into late and deducted salaries, annual leave allowance, end-of-service bonus, work allowance on official holidays, overtime work allowance, and weekly rest days allowance, in addition to three months of unfair dismissal allowance, and a month’s notice allowance, while obligating her to pay fees and expenses and for legal fees, indicating that he worked for the defendant company during the period From October 2017 until October 2021, with a total salary of 60 thousand dirhams per month, and the basic salary is 32 thousand dirhams, while the defendant’s agent submitted a responsive memorandum and requested that the case be referred to the court and reserved for judgment.

The expert report assigned by the court concluded that the defendant withheld amounts from the plaintiff’s salary, from November 2017 until October 2021, with a total of 416 thousand and 928 dirhams, and that the defendant purchased two cars for the plaintiff and is paying their installments, provided that she deducts the value of the installments from the plaintiff’s monthly salary, and deducts the remainder from the installments for the two cars. The expert left the decision to pay the defendant due to the statute of limitations of the plaintiff’s requests, which were one year old, to the court.

With regard to vacation allowance, the court explained that the plaintiff deserves cash compensation for his 52 days of leave, and is also entitled to an end-of-service bonus, while the court rejected the plaintiff’s request for work allowance during the weekly rest days (Fridays), overtime allowance, and work allowance on official holidays, because he did not provide evidence that the defendant assigned him to work overtime or work during rest days and official holidays. It also indicated that the plaintiff was holding the position of an executive director, which led to experience indicating that he was not entitled to these claims. The Expert Committee also left the decision on the request for unfair dismissal and warning allowance to the court.

The court explained in the merits of its ruling that the defendant company argued that the plaintiff’s requests, which were more than a year old, had expired, and it was clear from the expert report that the court relied on that the plaintiff was entitled to late and deducted salaries for the last year amounting to 5,508 dirhams. The court also indicated that the plaintiff had not succeeded in proving that he was assigned to work overtime or work on holidays and rest days and that he had completed the work, which made it necessary to reject the application.

Regarding the request for compensation for unfair dismissal, equivalent to three months’ salary, the court explained that the termination of an indefinite-term employment contract must be based on a legitimate and acceptable reason, and the burden of proving this reason falls on the party that terminated the relationship. However, what is established in the lawsuit is that the employment relationship ended with the expiration of the term of the fixed-term contract in question, which led the court to reject the request. The arbitrator also rejected the request for notice, pointing out that warning occurs in contracts of indefinite duration, while the employment contract in question is of a fixed term, and it ended at the end of its term, without renewal from either party, which results in the rejection of this request as well.

The court stated that the end-of-service reward is calculated on the basis of the last wage the worker received, and since it is established that the plaintiff’s period of service amounted to four years and four days, what he is entitled to as a reward is calculated on the basis of the basic salary mentioned in the contract, amounting to 32 thousand dirhams, so that the total amount due to him is 89 thousand and 907 dirhams. The plaintiff is also entitled to leave allowance for 52 days, with a total value of 55 thousand and 467 dirhams, and the court ruled. In his presence, he obliged the defendant to pay the plaintiff an amount of 150 thousand and 882 dirhams, obliging her to pay the expenses, and rejecting any other requests.