I am an owner of a company and presently I have a case pending before the Labour Court filed by a worker claiming his overdue salaries for more than four months plus his end-of-service payment, although I have paid him all his salaries that he is claiming. I’m ready to pay him his end-of-service right plus his ticket, but the I do not have proof of the salaries I have paid. My questions here are: How to prove before the court that I have paid such salaries, as I paid the same in cash and not through the bank and I don’t have anything in writing for that? Also, am I obliged to pay the salaries of the worker until the end of the case and cancellation of sponsorship? If I am unable to prove the said salaries, will the court rule for him? He already submitted his resignation in the labour office and has asked for his salaries to be paid until his case is over. Please advise me, thanks.
I would like to clarify to the questioner that labour law obliges the employer to prove before the court that he has paid the salaries of worker. Therefore, in this case the questioner has to request the labour court to ask the worker to take an oath with regards to the receipt of salaries or not. If the worker swears that he has not received his overdue salaries, in such case, the court will rule in his favour on the overdue salaries. Finally, the questioner is not obliged to pay the salaries of the worker during the course of the case as the obligation of the employer to pay the salary of a worker ends once the worker submits his resignation.
Readers’ questions answered by Advocate Mohammad Ebrahim Al Shaiba of Al Shaiba Advocates and Legal Consultants
