Ask the law: Disclosing company’s confidential information can land you in jail
Employer can terminate an employee for runing a private business to compete him
Question: I have been working in a private company for two years. The employer withheld my salary two months ago because he discovered that I was a partner in another company, as he obtained a copy of the trade licence. Currently, he asked me to withdraw from this licence, and in the event of my refusal, he will take legal measures against me. My question is, what are the legal actions that the employer can take against me in this case? What is the appropriate action that I must take to get out of this problem? And if I resign from work, will the problem end? Please advise
Answer: The employer cannot force you to withdraw the licence but in the event you are competing him, he would have the right to file criminal and civil cases against you whether you resigned or not.
Article 44 of the Labor Law no 33 of 2021 gives the employer the right to dismiss you without notice if he discovers that you are competing him. The employer may dismiss the worker without notice after conducting a written investigation with him and the dismissal decision shall be in writing and justified and the employer or its representative shall hand it over to the worker in case the worker disclosed one work secret related to industrial or intellectual property, which resulted in losses to the employer, missed opportunity or achieving a personal benefit for the worker. The employer might file the claim for the worker’s competition and request for compensation, within one year from the date of discovering the violation as per Article 10 of the Labor Law no 33 of 2021.
Disclosing confidential information on the occasion of work is also a criminal act as per UAE Penal Code no. 31 of 2021 which states that (Shall be sentenced to detention for a minimum period of one year and to a minimum fine of twenty thousand dirham or one of these two penalties whoever by virtue of his profession, craft, position or art is entrusted with a secret and divulge it in cases other than those allowed by law or if used for his own personal interest or for the interest of another person, unless authorised by the confiding person to disclose or use it.).
We recommend you to settle the matter amicably in case it can be proven that you are competing him.
Divorce
Question: I am a non-Muslim man who has been married to a non-Muslim woman for five years. We have a 3-years-old boy and a 4-years-old girl. Currently, I am going through problems with my wife and I want to separate. My question is, I want to know the reasons for the loss of custody from the wife in the event of divorce, and in case we got divorced, does the alimony of the divorced wife fall according to the family court? Please advise
Answer: UAE issued Personal Status Federal Decree Law No. 41 of 2022 for Non-Muslims which provides non-Muslim residents the option to apply it or follow the laws of their home country or select alternative personal status laws in effect in the UAE.
As per Article 10 of the mentioned law, the primary rule in terms of custody is that the father and the mother shall have joint custody over the children after the divorce, unless the two parties submit a request to the court to grant custody to whoever is capable of achieving the best interests of the child, or one of them requests a written waiver before the court of his right to custody, or submits a request to the court to exclude the other party from joint custody for any reason accepted by the court, such as incapacity, danger of such custody, or the party failing to perform their duties.
Disagreement
In the event of a disagreement between the father and the mother regarding any matter of joint custody, either of them has the right to submit an application to the court to object, or to request the intervention of the court to decide on the matter in dispute. The court will have the discretionary power to decide what it deems appropriate for the interest of the fostered child, based on the request of either parent after the divorce.
As per Article 9 of the mentioned law, the alimony of the wife is forfeited in the event of her marriage to another man, and in the event that her custody of the children ends for any reason whatsoever.
A new application may be submitted to the court to amend the alimony every year or upon any change in circumstances.