Entitlements as company partner and employee
Question: I have been working in a private company for ten years. Currently, my employer is asking me to buy a percentage of the shares of the company. My question is, am I legally entitled to be an employee and also a partner at the same time? In the event of a dispute between me and the employer regarding my entitlements for end-of-service benefits, am I legally entitled to file a labour lawsuit to claim these rights while I am still a partner in the company? Please advise
Answer: You have the right to be a partner and an employee at the same time. There is nothing in the law that prevents the worker from combining his or her capacity as a worker and that of a partner. It is decided in cassation No 2020/115 labour and 2020/124 labour that (what is entrusted in adapting the work contract and distinguishing it from other contracts is the availability of the element of dependency in it, which is the subjection of the worker to the control, supervision and management of the employer or in the form of commissions. It is decided that there is nothing in the law to prevent the worker from combining his or her capacity as a wage earner and his or her capacity as a partner, so that each of them is distinct in its elements from the other and is governed by its own rules).
If you have a labour contract and you receive your labour rights as per this contract, including salaries, then the labour courts will be eligible to see your case, but if you are working in the company as a partner, enjoy the partnership independence and rights and enjoy partnership benefits such as profits or management percentage, then the civil courts will be eligible to see your case.
Determining whether the partner has the capacity of an employee in the company or whether he or she enjoys great independence in performing his or her work, depends on the circumstances of the situation. Extracting the work relationship with its elements is one of the issues of reality that is independent of the discretion of the trial court.
Joint ownership of real estate property
Question: I want to buy a property from a realty developer. My questions are: Am I legally entitled to buy the property jointly with my wife and two of my children? Is it possible to extract joint ownership of the property? And in the event of buying a property, do we have the right to obtain residency for all of us and for how long will this residency be valid?
Answer: You are entitled to buy a joint property with your wife and children and to extract the joint title deed from Real Property Registration. The owner, according to Law No (6) of 2019 Concerning Ownership of Jointly Owned Real Property in the emirate of Dubai, is ‘A Person registered in the Real Property Register as an Owner of a Unit, including the holder of a long-term lease right pursuant with Law No (7) of 2006; or a developer in respect of unsold units’. UAE civil transaction law in Article 1152 also defines joint property as follows: ‘Without prejudice to the provisions concerning inheritance shares of each heir, when two or more persons are owners of the same thing, through any of the reasons of acquisition of property, but their respective shares in it are not allotted distinctively, they are joint owners and, in the absence of a proof to the contrary, they shall have equal shares in the joint property.’
Ownership of the property shall be transferred to the purchaser/s through registration in the Real Property Registration and any disposition or right will not be deemed effective on the property unless recorded in the Real Property Register as per Article (9) of Law No (7) Of 2019 Amending Law No (7) of 2006 Concerning Real Property Registration in the emirate of Dubai, which states: A) All dispositions that create, transfer, change or extinguish Real Property Rights, and all the final rulings validating these dispositions, must be recorded in the Real Property Register. These dispositions will not be deemed effective unless recorded in the Real Property Register.
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According to the Dubai Land Department, the husband and wife who share ownership of one property are allowed to have a real estate residency renewable with sponsorship to the children as follows: 1. A residency for three years for a property in Dubai worth Dh750,000 or more. 2. A residency for five years for a property in Dubai worth Dh2 million or more. The application for this residency will be submitted to the Land Department, who will fulfil the procedures in communication with the owner.
