Termination of Employment Under UAE Labour Law

Working in another country, away from your home and loved ones can be quite intimidating, even if it’s a country like the UAE where the law is enforced rather strictly.

Still, the cases of unfair termination are reported. Therefore, before looking for employment here, you must understand your rights as an employee because the Laws of the UAE provide significant protection to everyone working there. You can easily reach out to a reputable law firm in Dubai and present your case in front of authorities.

With this said, today we’re going to discuss some of the articles of the UAE’s labour law that directly deal with the termination of employment in the country. 

Let’s take a look at what they have to say about employee termination!

Articles of UAE Labour Law dealing with Termination of eEmployees

Articles 113 to 131-bia under the UAE labour law deal with terms and conditions pertaining to the termination of employees. Here, we have discussed some of them:

Article 113

Article 113 discusses the terms and conditions under which both parties can terminate the employment contract. These include:

• Both parties should agree to the termination of the contract thereof, the written consent of the worker is provided.

• The term of the contract expires and they don’t take any further explicit extension with the provisions.

• One of the parties wants to terminate the contract and they’re fulfilling all the rules and regulations relating to the contract’s termination.

Article 114

The employment contract of a person shouldn’t terminate with the death of that person unless the contract relates only to that person. However, the contract will terminate in case of the death or complete disability of the worker, if proven by the virtue of a medical certificate.

In case the worker suffers from a partial disability and they’re able to perform work effectively with their condition, you cannot terminate their contract.

Article 115

As per the amendment of 1986 in Federal Law no.12, if the employer terminates the contract due to any reason other than those mentioned in Article 120, they need to compensate the worker. This compensation is usually in the form of 3 3-month wages or the wage for the remaining period of the contract, whichever is shorter.

Article 116

Likewise, Article 116, after the amendment of 1986 in Federal Law no.12, deals with the revoking of the contract by the employee. If the worker cancels the contract under any conditions other than those mentioned in Article 121, then they have to compensate the employer for the loss.

Article 117

Article 117 deals with the termination of the employment contract by mutual consent of both parties. According to this article, they have to inform the other party at least thirty days before the termination of the contract. In the case of day workers, the notice period will be of one week if the worker has been working for 6-months and 2 weeks if the tenure is more than a year. 

Article 118

As per Article 118, the term for the notice period no party can further reduce the notice period but they may extend it by mutual agreement. The wage during the notice period will be the same as the original wage of the worker.

Article 119

According to Article 119, if any party fails to notify the other in the event of termination of the contract, they’ve to pay compensation. The informing party has to pay this compensation and it is known as compensation in lieu of notice.

Article 120

Article 120 of the UAE’s labour law deals with the circumstances under which an employer may terminate the contract without informing the employee beforehand. These conditions can be:

• The worker has a false identity or nationality or the documents are false.

• The worker is still completing the probation period.

• The employee causes colossal loss to the employer and the labour department is informed within 48 hours of the incident.

• The worker doesn’t imply or follow the safety at work that they provide in writing or verbally in case he is illiterate.

• The worker isn’t able to fulfil his/her duties as per the contract and fails to remedy despite written warnings.

• They have revealed the secrets of the organisation.

• They are found in a state of intoxication during working hours.

• They are involved in the assaulting of a fellow worker, employer, or manager.

• They have been absent for more than two months without a valid cause.

Article 121

Similarly, Article 121 deals with the conditions under which an employee can terminate a contract without informing the employer beforehand. They are:

• The employer breaches the obligations set towards the employee as per the contract.

• The employer or any representative of the organisation has assaulted the employee.

In short, these are just some laws that deal with the termination of employment in UAE. Other than these, other articles till 131- bis also over other conditions pertaining to termination of employment.

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