Leave to be granted after each year of service

I work for an LLC company in Dubai. In our company, annual leave is given after the completion of one year and not after 11 months. The leave salary is also paid after coming back from leave and not at the beginning of leave. I want to know what the actual law regarding this is. Can I claim my leave salary at the beginning of my leave?

Generally, you are entitled to avail annual leave after six months of service as per Article 75 of the UAE Labour Law which states that an employee is not entitled for annual leave if his employment period is less than six months. However, if his employment period is more than six months but less than a year, he shall be entitled for an annual leave of not less than two days for each month. However, if the employment period is more than a year, he is entitled to 30 days annual leave.

Article 75 states: “The employee must be granted an annual leave during each year of service which may not be less than:

Two days per month in respect 
of any employee with more than six months and less than one year of service.

Thirty days per annum in respect of any employee whose period of service exceeds one year.

In the event of termination of an employee’s service, he shall be entitled to an annual leave for the fractions of the last year of service.”

However, Article 76 of the Labour Law gives right to the employer to specify the beginning of the annual leave, and he can divide the leave into two parts, when necessary, in order to ensure smooth operation of the organisation/company. Therefore, your employer’s action of granting annual leave after one year is in compliance with the UAE Labour law. Article 76 states:

“The employer may at his discretion determine the date for commencement of annual leave and, when necessary, he may decide to divide the leave in two parts at the most, except in cases of juveniles where vacation may not be divided in parts.”

In such an event, the leave may be forwarded to the next year, but it may not be suspended for more than two years. The employee will be entitled to 60 days annual leave or cash in lieu of leave.

Also, as per Article 56, it is the obligation of your employer to pay you salary once a month if you are not employed on a daily basis. Usually, salary of any relevant month will be paid at the end of that month and not in the beginning of month. Since, the holiday month will be completed at the end of holidays, your employer is not obliged to pay the salary of the leave at the beginning of the leave period.

Passport as guarantee

I gave my passport to the court as a guarantor for my friend who has a case, but unfortunately he wasn’t able to settle it and went to jail. My question is, when and how I can take my passport back and what are the procedures since I am going on vacation next month.

Getting your passport back will depend upon the nature of guarantee you provided for your friend. Therefore, if you provided guarantee to secure the attendance of your friend in the court on relevant dates, you would have discharged your guarantee after appearance of your friend in the court. Therefore, you are entitled to submit an application to the public prosecutor or court (whatever the case may be) for release of your passport. Article 1068 of the UAE Civil Code governs the securing of attendance of a person in these words:

If the guarantor has undertaken to pay a specified sum by way of a penalty in the event that the defaulter does not attend the court, the guarantor shall be bound to pay that sum. The judge may exempt him from it either in whole or in part if it appears that the court is justified.”

Labour ban

I am a post-graduate doctor working in a private hospital in Dubai. I finished a three-year contract in July and renewed it for another two years. Meanwhile, I got a job which I am willing to accept. What is the procedure to leave my existing job and what would be the legal implications?

In case of not completing two years with the current employer, a ban for a period of six months will be automatically imposed by the Ministry of Labour in case of early resignation. Since you have already completed two years with your current employee, you may resign any time with a one-month notice as per Article 117 of the UAE Labour law unless otherwise provided in your contract. It is further advised to check your employment contract for the notice period and you may resign accordingly.

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Mushtaq Ahmad Jan is a lawyer at the Global Advocates and Legal Consultants, with Master Degree in international commercial law, University of Hull, Kingston-upon-Hull, England. Readers may e-mail their questions to: ktedit@emirates.net.ae or send them to (Legal View), Khaleej Times, Dubai P.O. Box 11243.

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