No July salary for teachers of UAE school embroiled in legal dispute

An Indian curriculum school in Fujairah is battling a legal dispute with its landlord and, this summer, teachers may have to bear the brunt. Last week, they were advised that the school would not be able to pay their July salaries "at the current time".

Teachers at the GEMS Our Own English High School (OOEHS) in Fujairah told Khaleej Times on the condition of anonymity that they didn't know anything about the issue until they received a notice that they may not be able to get their pay for the month.

"We were not even aware that there has been an ongoing dispute. It was only last week - when we received the circular - that we realised there is an issue between the landlord and the school management," a teacher said.

Teachers are usually paid summer vacation salaries for the month of June and July ahead of the school's closure for the holidays, based on the OOEHS policy.

"This time, we got salaries only for the month of June. There has been no mention of when the July salaries will be paid. No promises were made," another teacher said.

GEMS Education, the group managing the school, confirmed that there has been an ongoing legal dispute with the landlord since March 2018.

The group said they have been able to safeguard the interests of the school's teachers up until now. However, due to several "administrative disruptions" and "prohibition of access to funds", they will not be able to pay teachers' July salaries.

"Unfortunately, actions by the landlord have resulted in many administrative disruptions at the school, including the prohibition of access to funds. Despite this, we have paid staff salaries for June as usual," the GEMS Education spokesperson told Khaleej Times.

A teacher also said they were "verbally informed of an impending management change" on Monday. However, GEMS Education was not able to confirm the statement.

When Khaleej Times probed the issue, the group said: "We are working vigorously to try to resolve the dispute with the landlord through legal and other avenues, so that we can resume normal operations. As the matter is sub-judice, we cannot comment any further at this time."

Some teachers said the decision has left them in a lurch, as their plans for the summer holidays has suffered.

"We depend on the salaries to travel home during the summer vacation," a teacher said.

dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com

Dhanusha Gokulan

Originally from India, Dhanusha Gokulan has been working as a journalist for 10 years. She has a keen interest in writing about issues that plague the common person, and will never turn down a human interest story. She completed her Bachelor in Arts in Journalism, Economics, and English Literature from Mangalore University in 2008. In her spare time, she dabbles with some singing/songwriting, loves travelling, and Audible is her favourite mobile application. Tweet at her @wordjunkie88