Man discharged from work in Dubai seeks justice

Dubai: A disabled credit collection agent employed by a Barclays Bank subcontractor has alleged that his services have been unfairly terminated after he filed complaints against colleagues and supervisors taunting him about his disability.

Jamshed Khan, a 27-year-old Pakistani born and raised in Dubai, said his services were terminated on May 1, 2010, a day before his annual leave, without a warning period stated in his job contract.

Khan earned Dh6,000 a month when he took up the job in March 2009 as a credit collector after his stint with HSBC, where he worked in a similar job for over a year.

Trouble from Day One

"My trouble started from day one with some bank [Barclays] staff," said Khan, who suffers from spina-bifida, a paralysis of the lower limbs, from birth. Khan claimed he worked with two collection teams chasing difficult accounts, including people who had not paid for at least three months. Despite his handicap, Khan said the bank used him to the hilt as ‘bait' to make people pay and collected up to Dh5 million in three months. "The idea of a disabled person visiting a borrower to ask for payment always worked, so they made me do field work - even if that's not my job," said Khan, who showed XPRESS a log of the amounts he collected. Upon his request and to avoid taunts from colleagues, Khan was later moved to the legal department where his Arabic proved useful.

A former bank staff who requested anonymity confirmed the verbal abuse Khan endured. "He did justice to his work, but he did not get justice," he said.

Khan said that after he refused to sign his termination letter and went on annual leave from May 2, 2010 he was made redundant on May 24.

Khan lives with his elder brother, a father of four, in Al Ghusais. Their father, a retired truck driver, had gone back to Pakistan, while their mother died in 2007. "My brother said if I don't get a job, I will have to go home to Peshawar. But I don't know [anything about] the place, as I was born and raised in Dubai. "I just want my job back," he said.

Barclays statement

In a statement, a Barclays spokesperson said they promote equal opportunity for all. "In relation to Jamshed's case, he was not employed [directly] by Barclays nor was he made redundant. Barclays has a service agreement with a vendor who employed (him). His contract was terminated in line with the vendor's disciplinary and grievance policy."

Khan said: "Barclays managers interviewed me for the job. I worked within their premises. I collected money from their customers. They are just using this [job outsourcing] situation as a lame excuse to get rid of me."