Labour court to provide rulings within hours
Abu Dhabi has introduced a one-day dispute resolutions court for labour cases.
The Summary Cases Court at the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation will complement the One Day Labour Court – which handled 770 cases from its launch in October 2017 until the end of last year – and will settle clear-cut cases within hours.
“The shorter the process is in the system, the quicker the law will be enforced,” said Benjimin Burgher, legal adviser at Abu Dhabi Judicial Department.
Mr Burgher said that some employers had been slow in paying what they owed to employees, knowing that a judgment could take many months.
“The employer would think, ‘I can continue to work and wait for a year before the judgment is issued and I will hold on to the money for as long as I can’,” he said.
But when a case is resolved instantly and the employer is aware they could go to jail if they do not pay on time, they would resolve the problem immediately.
“Whenever you have a system there will be people who try to abuse it,” Mr Burgher said. “What you do is make it as difficult as possible for them.”
Judicial officials said that withholding passports and failing to pay wages on time were still among the most common labour cases, although workers had become more confident about fighting for their rights.
The Summary Cases Court mainly handles straightforward cases such as one involving an employee’s passport being held, or a company failing to issue or renew health insurance cards.
The employee would first go to the Twa-Fouq centre, which is managed by the ministry, to lodge their complaint.
The centre mediates to reach an agreement between the employee and employer without the need for a court appearance.
Twa-Fouq hears between 55 and 70 cases every day, most of which are resolved at the centre, said Ahmad Al Yassi, director of the ministry’s labour relations department.
If there is no resolution, the complainant goes upstairs to the Summary Cases Court.
The number of cases that are referred to the court does not exceed 16 a day, Mr Al Yassi said.
At the court, complainants meet a case manager and a court clerk to register their case before going to the judge’s office for it to be heard. A verdict can be issued immediately if no further legal argument is required.
If the case proves to be more complicated, it is referred to the One Day Labour Court, which is next to the judges’ offices.
The employer or employee in the case is notified with a phone call and email to attend court that day. If they are unable to attend or do not show up, they are given seven days to appear and provide their defence before a verdict is issued in their absence.
The ruling is then issued by the relevant authority, whether it be the labour ministry, police or the court of execution.
Summary cases also include disputes over accommodation where, for example, a company provides living quarters for an employee but then tells them to move out without giving them 30 days’ notice.
“They can come here and file a complaint, then the police will go to the accommodation with the court order and move the employee back in,” Mr Al Yassi said.
“The new court will save time and costs. Everything is in the same building, and the person does not even need to carry any file or document with him.”
Once the applicant registers at Twa-Fouq, an electronic file is created for his case, which is automatically linked to the court system.
“Previously, a person filing a lawsuit had to go through a typing centre and get a lawyer to draft the claim statement and pay fees for that,” Mr Al Yassi said. “But now this is unnecessary.”
Applicants will have to register at Twa-Fouq, where electronic files of cases would be created