I am stuck with employer’s debts

■ I am a manager in a limited liability company. For two years, the company has incurred huge losses and has debts with banks. My signature is on the security cheques? Am I responsible for the company’s debts? What are my legal options? You can liquidate the company and its assets to pay the debtors. Article 308 of the UAE Commercial Companies Law stipulates the mechanism to dissolve the company depending on losses as a proportion of the company’s capital.

You are not responsible for the company’s debts unless you committed any fraudulent acts as per Article 84 of the law.

Cheques are now treated as an execution document, not criminal; and the one who issued the cheque will be followed, not the one who signed it. So, as a manager, the cheque is supposed to be issued from the company’s account, not your personal account.

Issuing the cheque is considered a criminal act in case of the following:

Ordering or asking the drawee, prior to due date, not to pay the value of a cheque he has issued, with the exception of the cases provided for in Articles (620) and (625) of this Law.

Closing the account or withdrawing all available fund therein before issuing the cheque or before presenting the cheque for payment or if the account has been frozen.

■ Deliberately writing or signing the cheque in a way that makes it un-payable. Penalty shall double, in case of repetition.

If you committed any of the above acts, the bank will have the right to file a criminal case against you as the one who signed the cheques.

I worked for two years without salary

■ I have been working in a private company for two years without a salary. I work on a commission basis, and am also entitled to 2 per cent of the company’s profits. However, this percentage is not mentioned in the employment contract. My employer now refuses to give me 2 per cent of the profits of this year as well as the profits of last year. How do I calculate the end-of-service benefits? Is it possible to calculate the annual leave allowance given that I did not take leave for more than two years? Your end-of-service rights, including annual leave salary will be calculated based on the same method of calculating the wages of workers on piecework basis as per Article 23 of the law. End-of-service benefits shall be calculated according to the last basic wage with respect to those who receive wages on a monthly, weekly or daily basis, and according to the average daily wage stipulated for those who receive their wages on a piecework basis.

Regarding the annual leave salary, it should be calculated as the method mentioned above. As per Article 29 of the law, the employer may not prevent the worker from benefiting from his annual leave accrued for more than two years, unless the worker wishes to carry it forward or receive a cash allowance.

The worker shall be entitled to a wage for the accrued leave days if he quits the work before using them, regardless of the leave duration, with respect to the period for which he did not obtain his leave. He shall also be entitled to receive leave wage for parts of the year in proportion to the period he spent at work and it shall be calculated according to the basic wage.

You have the right to request for the 2 per cent of the company’s total profits as per the internal contract — and leave the matter to the court to estimate whether you deserve it or not. The internal contract will be taken into consideration when its terms are still applied between the parties and the labour contract did not delete or cancel any of its terms.