Labour lawsuit
Question: I have been working in a private company for two years. Two months ago, I filed a labour lawsuit against the owner of the company to claim my dues and salaries. I had also resigned from the job due to non-payment of salaries. Currently, the case is before the court. A month ago, my employer filed a police complaint against me, accusing me of leaking information to competing companies, though, so far, the complaint has not been investigated. My question is, does such a complaint impede the progress of the labour lawsuit? How can I legally prove to the police that the complaint is false? Please advice.
Answer: First of all, the decision to stop the case in accordance with Article 102 of the Civil Procedural Code and Article 28 of the criminal procedural code is to be taken at the court’s absolute discretion.
Article (102) states: The court shall issue an order to cease the action if it finds it better to suspend the decision on its merits than to arbitrate in another matter on which the decision would depend. This is to be done as soon as the reason for the cessation has expired and any of the litigant parties may urge the action.
Article 28 of the criminal procedural code states: Where the civil case is brought before the civil court, it must be stopped until a decisive judgement is rendered in the criminal case filed prior to or during the examination of the civil case. Stopping of the civil action brought before the civil court shall cease, when the criminal court renders an incriminating judgement in the absence of the accused.
The text of Article (28) of the Code of Criminal Procedure and Article (102) of the Code of Civil Procedure indicates that the criterion for stopping the civil lawsuit until the criminal lawsuit is decided upon is that there is a common issue between the two lawsuits that the civil court cannot resolve without the criminal court passing its word on the matter. In applying this text, it is stipulated that the issue of the dispute should be unified in the two lawsuits, and that this issue is outside the jurisdiction of the civil court before which the dispute is submitted. (Cassation No 177/2017, Labour)
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To answer the second part of your question, you have the right to prove your case with all the means of proof such as: a) Written documents including emails, WhatsApp communication ... etc; b) Testimony; c) Presumptions; d) Eye-witness accounts and expertise; e) Avowal; f) Oath.
Public prosecution has the full authority to examine the evidence and documents presented in the lawsuit, to weigh them and to extract what it deems to be the truth in the case.
