Don’t sign clearance paper before getting entitlements

I work as a safety officer with a private company here on a three-year limited contract.

I work as a safety officer with a private company here on a three-year limited contract. I have completed three years in service but my company has not renewed my visa. The company did not give me a one-month notice period before terminating my service. The management has, however, made me sign a clearance paper and promised to pay my salary, the end of service benefits, air ticket, and one-month salary against notice period. A friend of mine said they are lying, and will give me nothing as I have signed the clearance paper in which I acknowledged that I have received all my entitlements. What should I do?

As long as you have completed your three-year limited contract, you are entitled to the end-of-service benefits. According to Article (132) of the Federal Labour Law, an employee, who completes one year or more in uninterrupted service, is entitled to the end-of-service benefits as long as he has not committed any crime or serious mistake that led to the termination of his service.

Regarding your signature, I would say you should not have done it. Your signature means that you have willingly acknowledged that you did receive your entitlements. To claim otherwise, you have to prove that you did not. It has become your responsibility to show the evidence.

30-day notice period must for resigning

I have been working as an auditor for a private company since April 2009 under an unlimited contract. Now I’ve got a better job and I’ve given the resignation but the company says that I have to give a minimum of three months’ notice as per the offer letter I had signed while joining the firm. There is nothing mentioned about the notice period in the original labour contract which is registered at the Labour Department. Please tell me whether the 30-day notice period is required in my case.

Both an employer and employee are entitled, as per Article 117 of the labour law, to terminate the unlimited contract of employment any time, yet with legal and acceptable reasons. However, both parties (employer and employee) are bound to notify each other in writing (notice) at least 30 days before ending their labour relationship, either by termination or resignation.

Such a notice period is an indispensable term whether it is stipulated in the contract of employment or not. In other words, no matter this condition is mentioned in the contract or not, it is applicable and guaranteed by law to protect the rights of both parties.

Yousuf Al Sharief is a former Deputy Chairman of the Sharjah Consultative Council and an Emirati legal consultant with Yousuf Al Sharief & Associates, Advocates and Legal Consultants, with Masters Degree in law. Readers may email their questions to: ktedit@emirates.net.ae or send them to (Legal View), Khaleej Times, Dubai P.O. Box 11243.

(Compiled by Ahmed Shaaban)