Firm ordered to pay worker Dhs120,000 compensation in Abu Dhabi

Aya Al Deeb, Staff Reporter

The Abu Dhabi Court of Appeal decided to increase the compensation awarded to a worker who fell from a height while installing windows in a villa from Dhs40,000 to Dhs120,000. The worker in his thirties sustained fractures in the forehead and wrists and brain hemorrhage.

According to the forensic report, the worker suffered from a permanent disability that would affect his physical ability, lifestyle and performance of duties. The fall would surely affect, though a little, his professional capabilities and would add to his psychological sufferings.

The case dated back to the lawsuit that the worker filed in which he demanded the court to obligate the company to pay him Dhs150,000 in indemnification for the physical and moral harms he sustained plus an interest of 12 per cent from the date of the lawsuit until full payment.

The court of First Instance ruled that the company be obligated to pay the worker Dhs40,000 for the harms sustained by the worker but rejected his demand for interest.

The company, however, appealed against the ruling and demanded that it be revoked, pleading that the compensation of Dhs10,700 decided to be given to the worker in the labour lawsuit was enough. The worker also appealed against the ruling, pleading that the decided compensation was not commensurate with the harms he sustained.

The court of appeal indicated that the worker’s injuries included a severe traumatic injury to the head, which caused chronic dizziness at 10 per cent, fractures of the right upper extremity, which caused a permanent disability estimated at 40 per cent of the right upper limb. The worker also had fractures at the end of the two bones of his left forearm, which caused a permanent disability at 30 per cent, and other fractures in separate places of his forehead that were treated surgically with internal fixations with metal plates and screws.

The Court of Appeal decided to increase the worker’s compensation to Dhs120,000, upheld the court of first instance’s decision to reject the request for interest. It also rejected the company’s appeal and obligated it to pay the expenses of the two appeals.