# UAE Employment Law



## jjcanadian (Jan 12, 2011)

Hello everyone,

my apologies for asking another question related to employment law, however I have a bit of an issue that needs resolving.

I have an English language contract that mentions non-compete, but this contract was only between me and my employer. The official Arabic version of the contract that was lodged with my Freezone authorities does not make any mention of that. 

My question is: if there is a disagreement between my employer and I, is only the Arabic version of the contract enforcable in a court of law? Or, since I signed the English version, will the non-compete hold up?

If someone could clarify, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks so much!


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## Bon Bon (Dec 18, 2010)

As I understand,the english agreement that you signed down was OFFER LETTER,which we call it "Gentlement agreement" has nothing to do with LAW english/arabic contract that is generated by Freezone


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## Elphaba (Jan 24, 2008)

It is the version of the contract that has been lodged with the freezone/Ministry that will be valid.
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## jjcanadian (Jan 12, 2011)

See, I have been getting conflicting advice so am quite confused. One lawyer said that the valid one will only be the contract lodged with the Freezone. This has been confirmed by my freezone authorities as well. 

However, another lawyer told me that the other contract may be considered by the courts, depending on the mood of the judge. If my employer wants to be picky, he can make things difficult...he may not win, but he can make things annoying by suing which would mean that I would also have to hire a lawyer etc.


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## rsinner (Feb 3, 2009)

jjcanadian said:


> another lawyer told me that the other contract may be considered by the courts, depending on the mood of the judge.


The problem is that unlike courts elsewhere a judgment on an issue does NOT act like a legally binding precedent for another judgment on the same issue (forget the legal term for it). Hence there is a lot of inconsistency on the same matter.

If you are planning on joining your employer's competitor, maybe you could join the new employer as an "adviser" till the non compete period is over?

Just like you are not very keen on hiring lawyers etc, I am sure your current employer would also not want to get into a legal mess - but depends on how much of a threat are you to them if you start working immediately with a competitor


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