Company ordered to pay Dhs90,000 for delay in paying employee’s salary in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi Labour Court of First Instance has ordered a company to pay Dhs90,750 in compensation to a dismissed employee for failing to pay his salary for 4 consecutive months and abstaining from giving him the notice-period allowance.

Earlier, an employee filed a lawsuit against the company he used to work for, in which he requested the court to obligate the company to pay him approximately four months of outstanding wages, totaling Dhs74,250, as well as one month’s salary in lieu of notice, amounting to Dhs16,500.

He also requested that the company be ordered to cover legal costs and that the judgment be made subject to immediate enforcement.

The court stated that the amount or type of remuneration must be specified in the employment contract; if it is not, the competent court shall determine it, treating the matter as a labour dispute.

The employer is obligated to pay wages to their employees on their respective due dates in accordance with the ministry-approved regulations and the terms, conditions and procedures set forth in the executive regulations of this decree-law, it added.

Wages shall be paid in UAE dirhams, though payment in another currency is permissible if agreed upon by the parties thereto in the employment contract, it said.

The court clarified that, according to the employment contract, the employee’s agreed-upon gross salary with the company was Dhs16,500. As the case files contained no evidence that the company had fulfilled its obligation to pay the agreed-upon salary, the employee would be entitled to the outstanding wages he is claiming.