Questioner from Dubai asks: more than one month ago, I filed a labor complaint before the Ministry of Labour to claim my labor rights; In the first hearing the company PRO attended in the Ministry of Labour and promised to settle the matter, in the second hearing he also attended to the ministry and also promised to finish the matter within one week time, the arbitrator asked me to adjourn the hearing to the next week as per the company PRO request and I agreed. My question here is; what is the legal period as per the Labour Law for the complaint to remain in the ministry, in the event of non-attendance or no settlement reached with the company PRO in the next hearing? Do I have the right to reject any delay in the next hearing and ask the ministry to forward my case to the labor court? Please advise.
I would like to clarify to the questioner that article no. (6) Amended, of the Federal Labour Law No. 8 of 1980 states the following: “Without prejudice to the provisions concerning collective labor disputes stated in this law, if the employer or the worker or any beneficiary thereof raised a claim concerning any of the rights accruing to any of them according to the provisions of this law, he shall submit a request thereof to the concerned Labour Department. This Department shall summon the two parties to the dispute and shall take whatever it deems necessary to settle the dispute amicably. If the amicable settlement is not reached, the said department must within two weeks from date of submitting request, submit the dispute to the concerned court. The submission must be accompanied with a note including a summary of the dispute, the arguments of the two parties and the observation of the department. The court shall, within three days from date of receiving the request, fix a sitting to consider the claim and the two parties shall be notified thereof. The court may summon a representative of the Labour Department to explain the note submitted by it. In all cases no claim of any entitlement due under the provisions of this law, shall be heard if brought to court after the lapse of one year from the date on which such entitlement become due, and no claim shall be admitted if the procedure stated in this article are not adhered to”.
Therefore, in accordance with the above article, in the event of non-attendance of the employer or no settlement has been reached in this regard, the questioner shall ask the Ministry of Labour to refer the complaint to the competent court and to reject any other adjournment in this regard.
