If an employee below 20 years old signed with his company a non-competition clause saying he cannot work with a competitor in the UAE and the period is not mentioned does it mean that he cannot work with any competitor company forever. Will this clause be consider legal as per the UAE labour law and what happens in case this problem is forwarded to the labour court. Please clarify.
I would like to clarify to you that article no. 127 of the Federal Labour Law No. 8 of 1980 states the following: “where the worker assigned to a work allows him to become acquainted with the employer’s client or to become familiar with the secrets of his business, the employer may require him to refrain, after the termination of his contract, from competing with him or participating in any enterprise competing with his own. Such agreement shall be valid only on condition that the worker is at least 21 years of age at the time of its conclusion that the agreement is limited, as regards the time, the place and the nature of the business, to the extent necessary to safeguard the employer’s lawful interest”. Therefore and pursuant to the above article, competition clause which the employee has signed is invalid and not considered on the basis that according to the above article the worker shall be at least 21 years of age.
— Readers’ questions answered by Advocate Mohammad Ebrahim Al Shaiba of Al Shaiba Advocates and Legal Consultants
