Federal Supreme Court overturns verdict cancelling a recruitment centre's licence

The Federal Supreme Court accepted an appeal filed by a domestic worker services centre against the verdict to withdraw its licence and cancel its commercial registration.

The ruling was amended to a temporary suspension, with the administrative authority to determine the duration of the suspension, due to the centre employing domestic workers without a permit, for which it was fined Dhs30,000 and already paid in full.

In detail, the centre stated that it operates in the country and is licensed to provide mediation services for the temporary employment of domestic workers.

"A decision was issued to withdraw our licence and cancel the commercial registration because we employed 15 workers without a permit, and we were fined Dhs30,000, which we paid immediately," the centre clarified.

It appealed the decision to withdraw and cancel the licence, but the administrative authority implicitly rejected the appeal by not responding to it without legal justification.

The court of first instance cancel the decision of withdrawing and cancel the commercial license and all consequences thereof. The Court of Appeal dismissed the case which was not accepted by the centre, so it appealed it by cassation.

The Federal Supreme Court clarified that it was established that the centre committed the violation of employing 15 workers without obtaining a work permit, and during the inspection, 14 violating workers fled when asked to show IDs, which was a clear violation of the law.

The Court also clarified that the law stipulates that the cancellation of the centre's licence is an excessive penalty and disproportionate to the violation, and that the documents were devoid of anything indicating that the centre habitually committed that violation and had not committed it before.

The Court pointed out that the legislator allowed punishing this violation with a temporary suspension, and therefore the court amended the appealed judgment and directed the administrative authority to reassess the duration of the suspension.