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Of worker's unpaid arrears, defunct firm and complaint

MELLISSA D'Souza complained that her former employer, Euro Marine Surveyors (EMS), a well known marine surveying company in Sharjah, founded by Captain Michael W Bath and Jalaluddin Shariff under the sponsorship of Abdulla Mohammad Abdelkarim, ceased to function from February 1, 2005, without giving any written notice or clearing the dues of its employees.

Christopher Bath, who managed the company until Jalal took over in May 2004, closed the EMS office on January 31, 2005. ''He has ever since refused to pay me my dues, after assuring he would do so. All the above partners or owners, as they called themselves, say they have nothing to do with the company, but why should the employees suffer?'' she asked adding, ''if profits were shared by them, they should share the losses as well''.

They should sort out their personal problems and pay the staff, she said. She has lodged a complaint with the Sharjah Labour Court, which is pending since more than a year. ''Today, I am the one suffering for working sincerely and honestly for 8 years, while the owners only had their personal interests,'' she said.

Since that time she has been emailing, phoning and faxing to all the above-mentioned persons. However, nobody is willing to accept any responsibility and all she has got in response is: ''I have nothing to do with EMS.” They continue to live their lives as usual. Mike Bath resides in the UK, Jalaluddin and Christopher are doing business in the UAE. The other staff at least got their leave encashment and ticket money, but they owe me, besides my gratuity, my ticket money and leave salary (encashment) as well. This is a lot of hard earned money.

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JALALUDDIN said that he was an employee in the EMS and he had not received his dues either. He said that he left the company 7 years ago.

He said that the company owner fled to the UK. The Labour Department has asked to bring the owner from the UK, but he is not coming on line, while Christopher, who is in Dubai, is also not answering the calls. He said that Mellissa should contact the local sponsor.

He said that when he contacted the sponsor, he was also told to bring the partner. He said that none of us got paid, and so we went ahead with our lives. Christopher said that the legal process to get the dues is to go to the court because every body has to abide by the court's decision. He said that he has no legal responsibility because he was an appointed manager at EMS. He said that Jalaluddin was the joint owner of the EMS with Michael and that Abdulla manipulated their accounts.

Despite repeated attempts, Abdulla could not be contacted.

University fails to conduct exams

MUHAMMAD (name changed on request), a student of Bharatidasan University's distant education centre in Knowledge Village here, called up Khaleej Times Hotline complaining that the varsity has failed to conduct third year examinations which were scheduled in July.

"I enrolled at the centre three years ago and attended examinations for the first two years. But this year they did not conduct any examinations and all the students are left in a lurch," he said." We have tried to contact the centre but they failed to give a proper answer," he added.

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KHALEEJ Times has earlier highlighted the plight of the students following closure of the university's Dubai campus in Knowledge Village. Joseph Uthupp, Managing Director of Sriram Cybertech, which runs the courses of Bharatidasan University in Knowledge Village said, "We were forced to stop the centre because the officials of Knowledge Village denied to renew the rental agreement. This created some trouble for us resulting in the delay in examinations." He informed that they had a discussion with the University officials in India and the examinations for UAE students will be held between August 12 and 28 in Dubai."

Company not paying dues as per contract

RAEES, a security guard working for Berkeley Security services called up KT Hotline complaining that the company has refused to settle his dues he is entitled to on completion of his employment contract. ''My three year contract with the company will be completed on August 24. When I completed two years I did not go to India for my annual vacation. Two months back I informed the company that I will be completing three years in August and I will not continue to work anymore for the company. But, I was forced to leave the company even before the completion of the contract and now the company is not ready to pay my dues as per the contract,” he complained.

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WHEN Khaleej Times contacted Berkeley Security services an official denied having received any written request from the security guard for settlement of dues. However, the official assured that Raees will be given all the settlement as per the UAE labour law."

"He will be allowed to work up to August 24. It was a misunderstanding between him and a supervisor,'' he said, adding, ''Raees can put in a written application to the company requesting for settlement of his end of service benefits and dues and we will settle all his accounts accordingly," the official pointed out.

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