Female employee awarded Dhs132,500 and flight home after company failed to pay wages

Abu Dhabi Labour Court of First Instance obligated a company to pay Dhs132,587 and an airway ticket at up to Dhs1,492 to a female employee for failing to pay her due wages for several consecutive months.

Earlier, a female employee filed a lawsuit against the company she was working for in which she requested the court to obligate the company to pay her back wages and wage differences for several months totaling Dhs120,889 plus an end-of-service bonus of Dhs11,698, an airway ticket at Dhs1,492 dirhams and the incurred expenses.

The plaintiff requested the court’s judgment to be with immediate enforcement, based on the claim that she worked for the company for about 3 years with a basic salary of Dhs8,000 and a total salary of Dhs16,000.

The court explained that article 22 of federal decree-law no. 33 for 2021 regulating labour relations outlines that the wage, or its type (e.g. hourly, daily, monthly), must be specified in the employment contract.

If not specified, the competent court will determine it in labor disputes. The employer is obligated to pay wages on the due dates according to the Ministry's approved systems and regulations, it added.

The case papers were devoid of anything indicating that the company paid the agreed-upon wage and hence, the employee was entitled to her delayed wage for this period, the court said.

The plaintiff’s service period lasted for about 3 years and the papers were devoid of anything indicating that the company had paid the end-of-service gratuity, and accordingly the employee was entitled to the Dhs11,698 she was demanding, it added.

It is also stipulated in accordance with article 13/12 of federal decree-law no. 33 for 2021, which regulates labour relations, that a worker is entitled to an airway ticket to be paid for by the employer to the place from which he was recruited or mutually agreed upon.

Whereas the employee terminated the employment relationship with her company due to the failure of the latter to pay her due wages as stipulated above, therefore she is entitled to an airway ticket unless she joins another job.