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UAE: Can firms ask employees to pay for visa, recruitment costs?

Reader asks: Is this legal if I am resigning within six months due to non-payment of full salary?

Question: I joined a Dubai-based company three months back. However, I have been paid less than 50 per cent of the salary that was stipulated in the contract. Please explain what I can do to claim my pending salaries over the last three months. I have decided to resign, but my boss is saying that I have to pay them Dh6,000 for visa/cancellation costs since I am resigning in six months. Is this legal?

Response: Pursuant to your queries, it is assumed that you are employed by a mainland private company based in Dubai and currently on probation period. Therefore, the provisions of Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Employment Relations (the 'Employment Law') and those of Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022 Concerning the Executive Regulations of Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Employment Relations (the 'Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022') are applicable.

In the UAE, an employee may quit employment without serving the notice after 14 working days of filing a complaint with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (the ‘MOHRE’) against the employer for breach of terms and conditions of the contract.

This is in accordance with Article 45(1) of the Employment Law, which states: "The employee may quit work without notice and reserve all his entitlements at the end of service if the employer commits a breach of his obligations to the employee stated in the employment contract or this Decree-Law or its implementing resolutions, provided that the Ministry is notified by the employee (14) fourteen working days before the date of leaving the work, and the employer's failure to remedy the breach though being notified by the Ministry."

An employer shall not have the right to collect any recruitment costs including visa, work permit and visa cancellation costs from the employee. This is in accordance with Article 6(4) of the Employment Law, which states: “An employer shall not charge the employee or collect from him recruitment and employment costs, either directly or indirectly."

Based on the aforementioned provisions of law, you may file a complaint with the MOHRE stating that your employer has paid less than 50 per cent of your salary for the last three months and is further demanding recruitment costs from you if you resign from the employment. Even though you are under probation, you may quit your employment without notice.

Based on your complaint, the MOHRE may warn and call upon your employer to pay the outstanding salary due to you and thereafter cancel your work permit and residency visa. This is in accordance with Article 16(2) of the Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022, which states: "The Ministry may take all legal actions and measures provided for in the Decree-Law and this Resolution and the relevant Legal Regulations vis-a-vis the Establishment if the agreed wage is not paid."

Ashish Mehta is the founder and Managing Partner of Ashish Mehta & Associates. He is qualified to practise law in Dubai, the United Kingdom and India. Full details of his firm on: www.amalawyers.com. Readers may e-mail their questions to: news@khaleejtimes.com or send them to Legal View, Khaleej Times, PO Box 11243, Dubai.