DUBAI // A record number of middle-class expatriate workers are winning court cases against employers who withhold salaries and refuse to issue the "no objection certificates" (NOCs) that enable people to change jobs.
The number of cases filed with the Dubai Courts labour-cases section in the first half of this year had increased 111.7 per cent compared with the same period last year, said Mualla al Hashmi, a senior preliminary court official in the section.
Up to 1,408 cases had been filed this year, compared with 665 between January and July 2007, and the number was expected to rise "significantly".
"We have had a record number of litigations for this year so far and the number is set to increase," said Ommar Bassir, another court official.
He said that 35 per cent of the increase in litigation was accounted for by companies and 65 per cent by employees. Only two per cent of cases filed by companies were successful.
"New people come here to secure jobs and now they are aware of what their rights are, especially expatriates who are on a middle-class income," he said.
People now know what to do "if they feel cheated", said Mr Bassir.
"Employees want their rights - they are more willing to prove their innocence."
Mr Hashmi said the courts had seen a significant increase in claims that companies were withholding salaries.
In some cases, employees said they had not been paid for more than a year.
"The company never wins ... only two per cent of cases are won by the company."
The number of companies taking their staff to court had also grown, "to prevent them from leaving the company", said Mr Bassir. Up to 35 per cent of all labour cases were filed by companies who wanted to protect their "trade secrets" and "intellectual rights", he said.
Saeed al Ghailani, a lawyer at the Dubai Courts, said: "A lot of companies invest a lot of money on their staff and they don't like to see them go and work for the competition. It is understandable if they don't want to provide a NOC."
For Grace Gallegos, a Filipina sales manager, the long and arduous process of taking her current employer to court has just begun. She claims she has not been paid her salary for the past three months and her sales commission for more than a year and a half.
"My contract says that if I make more than Dh1.2 million in sales then I receive three per cent on all future sales," she said.
"I have now reached the Dh10.6m mark and still nothing, and for some reason the company keeps coming out with excuses."
Mrs Gallegos will now have to obtain a NOC before filing a lawsuit against her employers, who declined to comment.
"A lot of people have been treated unfairly by the company and some have left because they don't know their rights and don't speak Arabic and English," Mrs Gallegos said.
"Two foremen who haven't been paid for the same period as me have now gone back, paying for their flights. I need to get a NOC so I can work again and live while the case is at court."
Judge Abdul Qader Moosa Mohammed said there had also been an increase in labour disputes in the past couple of years. The head of preliminary Labour Court attributes the trend to Dubai's fast-paced growth.
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The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
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Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
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Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia