Public servant wins case against government

The Federal Supreme Court (FSC) has ordered a government department to pay Dh1 million in damages to a senior employee and reinstates him to his job after it removed him while he was away with his ill wife.

The Court also ordered the unnamed department to pay Dh30,000 to the man, who headed the financial and administrative division, in compensation for moral damage and all his salaries that have been frozen by the department while he was off work.

The unidentified employee filed a suit against the department after it replaced him and suspended his wages while he was accompanying his wife on a medical treatment trip abroad although he had obtained approval from the department to have a two-month emergency leave, which was extended for another two months. He said his leave was extended again after doctors abroad told him he must also be examined for possible infertility.

He told court that when he was back, he was told by the department’s new director that he would be given another job and that he would not be entitled for wages while he was away.

An appeals court in Abu Dhabi earlier ordered the department to reinstate the man to his job, pay him all his frozen salaries and Dh30,000 in moral damages. It also ordered the department to pay Dh1m compensation for the employee for the “material and ethical” errors committed against him.
 
"The department objected to the sentenced and appealed with the FSC, which upheld the verdict and ordered the department to implement the sentence,” the Dubai-based Arabic language daily 'Al Bayan' said.

In a separate case in Abu Dhabi, the FSC also sided with a female employee at a government office and ordered the annulment of a decision by the employers to terminate her services.

The employer had filed a case against her department which sacked her after 18 years in service as part of what the department described as restructuring plans. The court found that restructuring is not listed as a reason for termination of services of employees in the department’s human resources division and ordered reinstatement of that employee. It also rejected a plea by the department to appeal the decision.

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