UAE: Ex-employee receives 12 months' salary after termination due to HR error

A former employee of a company, who continued to receive her monthly salary for a year despite being terminated, has been ordered to pay back the amount to the firm.

The Abu Dhabi Court for Family and Civil Administrative Claims issued the ruling, instructing the woman to return Dh52,415, which was mistakenly transferred to her account by the employer from September 2020 to September 2021.

Official court documents stated that the employer filed a lawsuit against the former employee and demanded that she pay back the amount. The employer said in the lawsuit that the woman's contract was terminated in July 2020 after she failed to pass the medical fitness test.

But due to an administrative error from the company's human resources department, the employee continued to receive her monthly salary for 12 months even though she was no longer working there.

After noticing the error, the employer contacted the woman and asked her to return the money, but she refused, prompting the company to take the matter to court.