After 31 years, Abu Dhabi court awards worker Dh93,600 gratuity

Abu Dhabi: After more than three decades in the same job, a worker has won a long-awaited end-of-service paymentm though less than the full amount he had expected after an Abu Dhabi labour court applied the legal cap set out in UAE labour law.

The ruling, issued by the Abu Dhabi Labour Court, ordered a company to pay Dh93,600 to the employee, who had worked there for 31 years and six months before his employment ended last year.

The case was brought by the worker, who said he had been employed on an unlimited-term contract since 1994. He earned a basic monthly salary of Dh3,900, with total monthly pay of Dh7,800, and asked the court to award him Dh97,175 in end-of-service gratuity, along with legal costs, Emarat Al Youm reported. 

In court, the company submitted employment records and requested that the case be decided on the documents presented.

In its judgment, the court acknowledged the length of the man’s service and calculated that, based on the standard gratuity formula, his entitlement would amount to Dh116,350.

Under UAE law, foreign full-time employees are entitled to gratuity based on basic pay, 21 days’ wages for each of the first five years of service and 30 days for each year thereafter.

However, the court stressed that the law also places a clear limit on such payments: end-of-service benefits for foreign workers cannot exceed the equivalent of two years’ basic salary. In this case, that ceiling amounted to Dh93,600.

The court therefore ordered the company to pay that amount immediately, without requiring a bond, and to cover legal fees and costs in line with the sum awarded.