Ask the law: Legal recourse for job termination queries
Terminated from semi-government company: rights, compensation, and jurisdiction
Question:
A questioner asks: I have been working in a semi-governmental company for two years, and currently my services have been terminated without a cause. My question: What is the appropriate action to take against this company?
Do I have the legal right to file a grievance to demand the cancellation of the decision to terminate the service or file a lawsuit to demand compensation or to return me to work, knowing that my contract with the company expires in the month of 5/2025?
What is the competent authority to file a lawsuit? Please advise.
Answer:
To answer such question, I would advise the questioner that:
You have to take into consideration that the semi-governmental company is treated like any normal company, not like a governmental company, which means that the Labour Law will be applied to it not the Human Resources Law and the Department of Dubai Legal Affairs does not have jurisdiction to receive complaints against semi-government companies or establishment, as these are not subject to the Government Claims Law No. 3 of 1996 and its amendments.
If you want to file a claim, you should start with a complaint to the Labour Ministry, which will transfer the matter to the Labour Court in case the matter was not solved amicably.
You cannot force the company to return you back to your work, but you have the right to claim whatever rights you feel you are entitled to and leave the matter to the court to decide on the matter.
As for arbitrary dismissal, the termination of the worker’s service by the employer, as per Article 47 of the Labour Law, is considered unlawful if the termination of the worker’s service is due to filing a serious complaint to the Ministry or filing a lawsuit against the employer, whose validity is proven.