Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Labour Court of First Instance ruled that a company must pay a former employee the sum of Dh318,718, representing outstanding wages, end-of-service bonus, and annual leave allowance.
The court noted that the case file proved that the company had not provided any evidence of payment of the wages claimed.
In detail, an employee filed a lawsuit against a company, demanding that it pay him back wages for 12 months, an end-of-service bonus of Dh4,194, annual leave allowance of Dh22,024, fees, expenses, and attorney's fees. He indicated that he worked for the defendant with a basic salary of Dh10,000 and a total salary of Dh20,000, and that he submitted his resignation due to non-payment of wages, noting that the defendant did not pay him his dues.
The defendant's lawyer submitted a request to schedule a conciliation hearing, but the plaintiff refused.
For its part, the court stated that Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 on the regulation of labour relations obliges the employer to pay the wages of his employees on their due dates, and he is not absolved of his obligation to pay the salary except by written evidence, or by acknowledgment or oath, noting that the case file lacked anything that would indicate the defendant’s absolution from the required wage for the last 12 months.
Regarding the end-of-service bonus, the court indicated that it is calculated, according to the basic salary, as 21 working days for each of the first five years of service, and the salary of 30 working days for each year thereafter. The defendant had acknowledged the plaintiff’s entitlement to the end-of-service bonus, and the plaintiff is entitled to his request.
The court also confirmed the plaintiff’s entitlement to annual leave allowance, and ruled that the defendant must pay the plaintiff the sum of Dh318,718, and obligated the defendant to pay the fees and expenses.