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Worker has right to cancel contract if he meets with accident while on duty

"In case a worker meets with an accident during duty or as a result of the work conditions he has the right to cancel the contract and go back home even though contract period had not expired," Ahmed Al Basher, Legal Advisor in the Ministry of Labour (MoL) said, while commenting on the case of a worker who suffered acute back problems due to the arduous nature of his work.

Emad Abdul Sattar of the Kuwait Food Company (Americana) is now at home after suffering severe back problems which he said had rendered him incapable of carrying on with the job. According to the medical report, he was advised not to lift heavy weights. But according to him, he suffered a lot just trying to convince his managers not to order him to lift heavy weights.

His working hours also usually extend up to 10 hours a day. Emad said when he decided to leave the company to avoid any further health problems, he was asked by the company management to pay Dh4,000 as per labour contract which sets a condition on the worker to pay the amount in case of quitting before expiry of the contract.

"I do not know what can I do with this company? I got hurt at work and in spite of that the managers never showed any kind of mercy on me. When I wanted to stop working to go back to my homeland, the Human Resources manager here in Abu Dhabi office told me that I must pay Dh 4,000 as a contractual condition to leave before end of the contract term," the worker added.

The legal advisor affirmed that companies do not have the right to collect amounts from workers in case they want to leave and if there was proof that the company took amounts from the worker, the MoL would take tough action against them.

Mohamed Ghalom, Head of Labour Disputes Department at the MoL commented: "According to the medical report it was confirmed that the worker was unable to work because of the incident. So the worker should obtain his dues and financial rights. In addition, there is no such term or condition related to the contract that makes it a must on the worker to pay any amount to the employer," he added.

"They oppressed me so much and I couldn't bear it. How can I pay Dh 4,000 when my salary is Dh 800 in addition to the air ticket. I worked for only four months, and now I cannot work because of my problem in the spinal cord," Emad explained.

Emad said he resigned on July 7 and the management persuaded him to withdraw his resignation and apologise to the manager, which he did. However, they threatened he would lose his job and would be in the country without money.

But company officials said they had no comment on those alleged threats. They also said if the worker's case was genuine then necessary action would be taken.

"If he (the worker) had an on-duty incident he must provide a medical report and then we will give him all his rights because we have a medical insurance for more than 3,500 employees in the company," Ehab Khamis, H R Manager of Americana said. "I do not have a comment on the Dh 4,000 that must be paid in case he would leave the work."

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