# Company wants to make pregnant wife resign.



## woot79 (Apr 30, 2012)

Hey all,

My Filipino wife's company is trying to force her to resign. She is only 4 months pregnant and we planned on her working for at least two more months or until she physically could not do the job. She is a restaurant manager and a very tough woman. I am about to renew my visa and then planned to put her on mine once renewed. 

What should or can I do? Should I get involved and talk to her boss? Should we wait and see if they fire her then go to the labor depart?


Thanks.


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## pamela0810 (Apr 5, 2010)

What exactly are they doing that makes you think they want her to resign? If you have tangible proof that validates your concern, then my recommendation would be to go to MOL before she is terminated; not after.


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## woot79 (Apr 30, 2012)

Thanks for the reply Pamela. Her area manager told her yesterday that they want her to resign and that the COO will be getting involved if she doesn't. It seems to me that they are trying to bully her or scare her into doing it. It has only been conversations and we have no paper trail to prove it. Is that enough to go to MoL?


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

It does sound incredibly unfair. But I don't think there are any laws protecting the rights of pregnant working women in Dubai. And several things to consider:

1. You were only planning on having her work a few more months. Is it worth getting into a fight with the company over a few months' employment? 

2. Does your wife intend to return to work in the near future? Because if she does, then if she's left the company on bad terms it may be difficult to get a good reference out of them. 

It's probably worth it to speak to MoL regarding your wife's rights, but if the company really wants her gone ASAP there's probably not much you can do about it. You might want to seek a compromise and offer to work one more month and then resign. One way or another, make sure she gets all her due gratuity, including compensation for unused holidays. I believe if she's asked to resign the company owes her anything from one to three months' severance, depending on how she was hired and her contract. This is on top of her end of service gratuity.


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## Gavtek (Aug 23, 2009)

Clearly they want to avoid paying the 45 days maternity pay and want her to resign to avoid paying full gratuity.

If this was happening to my wife, I wouldn't hesitate to go down there and let them know that you know her rights under the UAE Labour Law and you will not allow her to be bullied like that. 

If they want her gone, they can terminate her contract giving her 30 days notice and full gratuity.


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## pamela0810 (Apr 5, 2010)

I agree with TallyHo and Gavtek.

Everything that they do needs to be documented. She definitely shouldn't resign. If they want her to resign, let them send her an email detailing the reasons why they are asking her to do so, let the COO get involved (sounds like an empty threat to me). Then take those documents to MOL and ask them what are your options even if it just means getting the correct end of service, etc. 

She really doesn't need this kind of stress! Ugh such people make me so mad!


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## woot79 (Apr 30, 2012)

Thanks for the advice everyone. We will try to get some evidence and go from there.


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## ExpatnKids (May 2, 2014)

woot79 said:


> She is only 4 months pregnant and we planned on her working for at least two more months or until she physically could not do the job...............I am about to renew my visa and then planned to put her on mine once renewed.



As she was planning on quitting after just 2 more months, is it really worth the stress and hassle? Did her employer know that she was planning on quitting after 2 months? If so, they may have found an alternate. Though you could complain to the MOL, you have to ask yourself if its really worth the hassle, as she was planning on leaving 2 months down the line anyway


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## woot79 (Apr 30, 2012)

ExpatnKids said:


> As she was planning on quitting after just 2 more months, is it really worth the stress and hassle? Did her employer know that she was planning on quitting after 2 months? If so, they may have found an alternate. Though you could complain to the MOL, you have to ask yourself if its really worth the hassle, as she was planning on leaving 2 months down the line anyway


They don't know she was planning on quitting. 

The problem is that they are trying to force her to resign now. 

I'm in the process of renewing my visa and then need to put her on my new visa. All that takes time as everyone knows. I think we will be ok because we found their employee handbook that states the UAE labor law regarding pregnant women and she will reference that if there is another conversation about this from her managers. 

Thanks for the advice.


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

ExpatnKids said:


> As she was planning on quitting after just 2 more months, is it really worth the stress and hassle? Did her employer know that she was planning on quitting after 2 months? If so, they may have found an alternate. Though you could complain to the MOL, you have to ask yourself if its really worth the hassle, as she was planning on leaving 2 months down the line anyway


How about you send her a cheque for the difference in gratuity and lost pay and call it quits then ?


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

The irony is that you were planning on having her resign before the completion of her pregnancy, so the pregnancy laws are a moot point anyway. You weren't anticipating on the 45 days maternity leave, were you?

If she resigns on her own free will she's not entitled to anything beyond her gratuity and EOS. But if she's made redundant she will get at least a month's salary in compensation on top of the EOS. 

So it sounds like there is a financial advantage in allowing her to be made redundant. If you can negotiate with the employer to work one more month and accept a termination (ensuring you get the full redundancy compensation + EOS) you'd come out pretty much in the same place.

Make sure the termination, which will probably happen one way or another, is a proper termination and she's not forced to "resign" under duress.



woot79 said:


> They don't know she was planning on quitting.
> 
> The problem is that they are trying to force her to resign now.
> 
> ...


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