Ask the Law: Visa expenses and vacation queries

Question 1:

A reader from Dubai asks: If a public holiday falls during a worker’s annual leave is the worker entitled to compensation for such a public holiday when he returns? Can he take an extra day off or receive a full day’s pay, the last Eid holiday fell during my annual leave.

Answer: As per the UAE Labour Law, if a public holiday falls during leave such a holiday cannot be compensated.

Question 2:

A reader from Dubai asks: As per the UAE Labour Law do I have to pay for my medical examinations and visa expenses for my residence visa application or should the employer pay for them?

Answer: The employer is required by the UAE Labour Law to bear all the expenses of visa and medical tests required for the worker’s visa to be issued.

Question 3:

A questioner from Dubai asks: I would like to know whether the employer can keep original certificates in their custody? My employer’s explanation for keeping the original certificates are to facilitate “ministry dealings and necessitate ministry requirements from time to time.” The employer says the original certificates will be released upon resignation or termination of the employee’s contract. Can the employer do this and is it true that this a ministry requirement? Is this as per the UAE Labour Law.

Also last month my company terminated my service and I asked my manager to provide me with an end-of-service certificate to use when I join a new company but my employer is not cooperating. Am I entitled to get this certificate?

Answer: Article 125 of the Labour Law states the following: “An employer shall provide a worker, at the latter’s request and on the termination of his contract, with a certificate of termination of his service, which shall be free of charge; it shall specify the dates of his entering and leaving the employer’s service, his total period of service, the nature of the work he has performed, his last remuneration and any bonuses he has received. It shall also be the duty of the employer to return any certificate, documents and tools belonging to the worker.”

Therefore, the above article may allow the employer to retain the worker’s certificates until the end of service. Therefore, I advise the questioner that if he gives the employer original certificates and documents he should request written acknowledgement that the original certificates and documents are held by the employer so that he can claim them when needed.

Question 4:

Questioner asks: I worked for a Dubai-based company but four months ago the company asked me to look for a temporary job at another company or to stay at home due to no work being available for me until the company started a new project. Last month I returned to the company after having failed to get a temporary job. I asked the employer to provide me with a job or cancel my two year-visa and pay my labour dues, but he told me that I was not entitled to claim anything since I left the company more than three months ago and the law entitles the employer to terminate the employee if he is absent from work for more than seven days without any dues. Am I entitled by law to claim my rights in full, including my salary for the said four months during which I did not work in the company? Please provide your advice as the company terminated me for no reason when I asked for my rights.

Answer 4: If the questioner has failed to reach an amicable solution with the employer, he should file a complaint before the Ministry of Labour claiming his labour rights in full, including his salary for the said four months, even if he did not work during such a period, as the employer is the one who asked the questioner to look for another job or to sit idle and this is against UAE Labour Law. Also, the questioner may claim compensation for arbitrary dismissal, as according to the UAE Labour Law, dismissing the employee from work due to his claim for his rights is deemed arbitrary dismissal.