Labor Court Dubai: How to File a Complaint Regarding Labor
In working life, there may be legal conflicts with employers. It can be for different reasons, for instance, unfair treatment or unpaid wages. For these situations, it is important that you know how labor court Dubai is handled. In this entity, you can go to take the complaints you have and he will work as an intermediary to solve these problems.
In this article, you will have available all the information you need about labor court Dubai. The first thing will be that you see in detail how this entity works. The second thing you will see are some causes that will allow you to know when you can go to the labor court. In addition, you will see the entire procedure if you are willing to make a complaint about your problem. In particular, we will talk about.
- How is the labor court handled in Dubai?
- What are the reasons that make your complaint valid?
- What is the process for filing complaints with this entity?
- Possible trial outcomes and solutions
- Contact EOR Middle East and find out about the services we offer
1. How is the labor court handled in Dubai?
The Dubai Employment Court is part of a component of the Dubai Courts. This court is in charge of issues that arise due to labor relations that occur in the country. It is also in charge of labor relations for all free zones except the DIFC (Dubai International Financial Center).
All legal actions that are related to labor disputes are costly and time-consuming. These actions are exhausting for all parties involved. However, if the parties do not reach an amicable conclusion, either of them can initiate legal action against the other. These matters are handled by the Dubai Employment Court.
Not being able to reach a friendly solution, the center will be in charge of preparing a statement containing allegations. This declaration will be sent electronically to the Dubai Labor Court, together with the necessary documentation. This must be done within two weeks after receipt of the previously submitted application.
The statement will include a synopsis of the disagreement and the evidence presented by both parties. In addition, it will include the comments made by the department. Within 3 days after the employment case has been received, the Dubai Court will schedule a hearing. This will be reported to both parties and before proceeding, the Court may request that the department clarify the content of the summary.
1.1 Court fees
If you are the employer starting the lawsuit, you will have to cover court costs regardless of what happens in the case. If the total in dispute is higher than the regular amount, you are still legally obligated to pay 5%.
When issuing the final decision, each of the court fees must be paid. All of these expenses will be listed in the judgment statement and will be given at the end of the case. Appearing and fighting cases before the Dubai Employment Court can be very costly. For this reason, it is recommended that all options that avoid reaching these instances be taken into account.
1.2 Legal proceedings
All sessions conducted by the Dubai Labor Court are conducted in Arabic. In some extraordinary cases, there is a witness presentation. It is very common for the Court to handle cases where it does not require the parties to comment at a hearing. Instead, the parties must present written arguments, where their documentary evidence is.
All documents to be submitted to the Court must be in Arabic. Similarly, they can be written in Arabic by a translator who has been approved by the emirates justice ministry.
1.3 Duration and trial
Different factors will determine how long the trial will last. This includes the difficulty of the case, the accessibility that all parties have, and the workload that the court has. There is a Dubai Employment Court Remote Dispute service that allows for faster resolution of disputes with a lower claim value.
Using electronic communication, the parties can attend sessions where there is only one judge. Here the decision will be delivered frequently in the next 24 hours.
1.4 Representation by lawyers
Although the litigation is not essentially in the trial court, many parties seek professional legal help. This often happens when they are not fluent in Arabic or are not familiar with the legal definitions of Arabic.
Being able to consult with a legal firm will be of great help in collecting and thus analyzing documentary evidence. It is essential in Dubai to have the best possible representation when it comes to law firms. You should hire a firm that has a lot of positive experience in cases similar to the one you are going through.
2. What are the reasons that make your complaint valid?
Several reasons make the complaint completely valid. Next, you will see what are the reasons that allow this:
- You are not receiving your corresponding salary. It may be the most basic, but it is a very frequent one.
- You are being fired without knowing the reason for that action. It may be that you do not want to be fired and, most importantly, you want to get paid to do it. You may also think that your right to termination should be higher than what you are being offered.
- If you were fired arbitrarily and you want to show that the company was wrong to fire you unfairly.
- You want to change jobs and your company does not cancel your visa.
- You work for a company, but your visa has already expired and the company does not renew your permit.
3. What is the process for filing complaints with this entity?
After reviewing the valid causes of a lawsuit in the UAE, you must follow some Dubai labor court rules. Surely, you will wonder if you can file an online complaint in labor court. The truth is that the most recommended thing is that you go directly to the entity. In this section, we will introduce you to all this so that you can start the process.
3.1 Limitation status
One of the most important things to know before starting the labor court Dubai process is; you should know what the statute of limitation means. This refers to the time in which the plaintiff presents his labor demand. In the UAE, this time must not exceed one year from the moment the problem arises. For instance, if the situation happened on December 2, 2022, you have until December 1, 2023, to file a complaint.
3.2 Submit the claim to the correct institution
If you have a work situation and you believe that you have valid reasons for it, the case proceeds; You must file a complaint with the licensing authority that is in charge of supervising the company where you work. For instance, if you are under the supervision of the Department of Economic Development or the mainland, you must go to the department of labor Dubai.
It is important that you know that when you have labor matters, you do not go directly to the courts. You have to go through a process that must be followed step by step. Step one would be to file a complaint with one of the aforementioned authorities.
3.3 Mediation
After filing the complaint, you must go through mediation. It is not completely mandatory, but it is a process that must be programmed. Otherwise, both parties cannot reach an agreement during mediation; You must apply to the Ministry of Labor for a NOC letter or a letter of transfer to go to court. On the other hand, if mediation is not possible because one of the parties does not attend; mediation is said to have been a failure and the case still goes to court.
3.4 Possible documents to need
The first thing is the application, you can get it in two ways. You can go to a typing center and send the format from here. You can also do it online, just enter the web portal of the indicated entity and follow the steps. If you want to file an online complaint in labor court, you must show more documents compared to the first option. For example, emirates ID.
Generally, if your hiring was completely legal, they do not require any documents. This is because everything they may need is already within their reach. One recommendation is that you bring a copy of your employment contract. Another thing that you can take is certain correspondence that is involved with the payment of salaries and bonuses. WhatsApp conversations are also valid.
On the other hand, it is important to know the language in which you are going to present the tests. If it is for mediation, there is no problem if it is in English. However, for the court, they must be translated into Arabic, and also that the translation is certified.
3.5 Dubai labor court fees
Depending on whether you are an employee or an employer, the rates change. The workers do not have to pay any type of tariff, but the bosses do. If a business owner wants to file a lawsuit against an employee, he must pay 5% of the amount of the lawsuit.
4. Possible trial outcomes and solutions
If mediation was unsuccessful and you had to go to trial, there are two possible scenarios. The first is that they rule in your favor and you win. The second thing is that the judge rules in favor of the other party. Below, in detail about these situations at the end of the UAE labor court process.
4.1 Win and that the sentence is not fulfilled
For these cases, a process separate from the judicial process called execution is implemented. Execution refers to starting to take action against the defendant. For instance, begin to seize your assets. It is important that you keep in mind that if it is necessary to start with this, the cost is 2% of the amount you claim. In addition, the execution is placed as something extra to the initial demand in the file. This is called an execution file.
4.2 Lose the lawsuit
For these cases, there is an appeal. If you want to do this, the process is the same as when you made the initial claim. However, there are certain considerations for your appeal to be valid. For instance, the amount you are claiming must not be less than 50,000 dirhams. If, on the contrary, the amount is greater than 50,000 dirhams, the case goes directly to the court of appeal; with lower fees.
On the other hand, if your case exceeds the amount of 500,000 dirhams, you go directly to the court of cassation. In summary, depending on the amount of the appeal, it is appropriate or not and you may have to go to different entities. The main institution is the Court of Cassation, which charges 2,000 dirhams for fees.
5. Contact EOR Middle East and find out about the services we offer
As you can see, the moment you consider that you have a complicated situation at work with your employer; there are certainly valid reasons that can lead you to file a complaint and have it taken as valid. But, before that, it is important that you are well advised by a person who has extensive knowledge of the law. Preferably a lawyer. You can hire our services in the following regions:
If you are looking for people to advise you on legal issues, contact EOR Middle East today. You can ask us about obtaining a visa, business management, and more. If you call us at +971 43 316 688, you will have 30 free minutes to consult what you need. Also, you can write to us at [email protected] and ask your questions this way.
You can realize that in labor court Dubai if you have labor problems they are willing to help you with the solution. With this, you can realize that the UAE is a country that grants security to all its workers. Therefore, you should start considering going to work in this nation, and to obtain that job, go to thetalentpoint.com. In this portal, we guarantee that you will find the job you want quickly. We also have an email to which you can send us your CV [email protected].
