# Abusive employer



## PolarBear (Jul 12, 2010)

I have tried searching the forum, but am finding no specific answers so would like some advice from fellow expats.

My wife is working for a small company in Dubai, who insisted that she would be sponsored by them rather than working under my visa. (In retrospect, big mistake!) She is still in her probation period, but is under such abuse (shouting and under verbal abuse) that she had a meltdown yesterday and was not mentally able to handle any phone calls. Her contract work hours are Sunday-Thursday, but despite this, her non-answering of phone calls yesterday was labelled "job abandonment". I believe that the criteria for job abandonment, and not answering of calls on a weekend would not qualify.

Our number one concern at the moment is to avoid having to pay the company 45 days penalty, with secondary concern to make sure my wife will not receive a ban. Given the circumstances, we also want to avoid my wife being exposed to further verbal abuse. My questions are therefore as follows:

1) Although one has very few rights during the probation period, are there any laws that protect an employee from verbal abuse? She has also been made to work over 24 hours without a break, would there be any protection regarding this? The employer claims this was due to her poor planning.

2) Given the "job abandonment" status that the employer wants to label my wife, I believe a ban would apply even if she was under my visa unless we fight that and get that revoked. Is that correct, or would she be able to work as long as she stays on my visa?

My wife is back at work today and has agreed to do a handover of duties and has agreed to work as long as the employer wishes to keep her. This is to ensure that she will be officially "terminated" rather than accused of quitting, having to pay a penalty. Any other advice would be greatly appreciated. We will of course contact the Ministry of Labor to contest a ban, but we want to make sure we handle everything appropriately now so nothing can be used against her later.

Thanks in advance for any advice.


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## Mr Rossi (May 16, 2009)

PolarBear said:


> My wife is back at work today and has agreed to do a handover of duties and has agreed to work as long as the employer wishes to keep her. This is to ensure that she will be officially "terminated" rather than accused of quitting, having to pay a penalty.


This person is a bully and has probably treated every employee like this since the dawn of time. Only my opinion but if he can ban your wife, not pay her etc he will regardless of any goodwill gestures such as handover. Down tools now and forget about working there every again. Get up to the Labour office as the one raising the claim in Dubai usually has the upper hand.

I've heard so many horror stories like this in Dubai, it bemuses in some cases why folk try and work through it rather than tell the employer to GTF, as they say in Scotland.

Regards to your wife.


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## Moe78 (Oct 29, 2010)

Perhaps she should find a way to record the verbal abuse first and foremost. I know there's a law against someone giving you the middle finger so there must be something stopping you from being at the receiving end of some bad words? Either way she does need proof of this.

So is she currently sponsored by you or the company? Not sure if they can give her a ban if she is sponsored by you.


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## PolarBear (Jul 12, 2010)

Mr Rossi said:


> This person is a bully and has probably treated every employee like this since the dawn of time. Only my opinion but if he can ban your wife, not pay her etc he will regardless of any goodwill gestures such as handover. Down tools now and forget about working there every again. Get up to the Labour office as the one raising the claim in Dubai usually has the upper hand.
> 
> I've heard so many horror stories like this in Dubai, it bemuses in some cases why folk try and work through it rather than tell the employer to GTF, as they say in Scotland.
> 
> Regards to your wife.


Thanks for the advice - and believe me, GTF is what we want for her. But with the risk of 45 days salary on the line, that does not seem like a good plan - especially since that's exactly the kind of thing this company would do out of spite. But you are absolutely right that they are bullies..


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## PolarBear (Jul 12, 2010)

Moe78 said:


> Perhaps she should find a way to record the verbal abuse first and foremost. I know there's a law against someone giving you the middle finger so there must be something stopping you from being at the receiving end of some bad words? Either way she does need proof of this.
> 
> So is she currently sponsored by you or the company? Not sure if they can give her a ban if she is sponsored by you.


Thanks for the advice.. we do have several e-mails as proof. The company insisted that she be moved to their sponsorship to "show commitment". In retrospect, that appears to have meant "so we can own you"!


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## Mr Rossi (May 16, 2009)

PolarBear said:


> But with the risk of 45 days salary on the line, that does not seem like a good plan


Which is the other hold employers have in getting people to continue working in these circumstances. From what you are saying I'm guessing they have no intention paying this anyway which makes raising a case or at least getting proper advice a priority above trying to appease this %*&[email protected]!


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## rsinner (Feb 3, 2009)

Extremly sorry to hear about this situtation. It is amazing how people tend to abuse their position just because they can get away with it and because the employees are expats who need the company's sponsorship.
Anyways, to answer your questions:
1. Working hours - Though even my contract states the official working hours, it also says that I may need to work beyond the working hours (and is fairly standard globally). So unless it is a "non managerial" kind of job (say a secretary) then it is usually mentioned and expected.
2. Abuse - I have read about people going to jail for "insulting". However, unless some bad words are spoken/written, and if the reprimands are about some inflated expectations not being met, then unfortunately don't think anything can be done
3. Ban - From my understanding (which you need to verify), the ban is a *labour ban*. This means that she cannot get a labour card/work, even though she might be under your sponsorship

I do not understand the 45 day penalty that you are talking about and the "abandonment" - is it something in the labour law or is it there in the contract? I had read the older labour law cursorily (http://www.gulftalent.com/repository/ext/UAE_Labour_Law.pdf) and don't think these concepts apply (esp. if the "abandonment" is not taking calls on one day - in the law it is described as seven successive days of absence).

Unless you cannot afford to have her banned (though there is some "automatic ban" concept as well, and I am not sure any more after the new law has come into effect), you should ask her to put in the papers immediately as per her contract and get done with it.

All the best and keep us posted on how it goes


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## PolarBear (Jul 12, 2010)

*45 day penalty*



rsinner said:


> I do not understand the 45 day penalty that you are talking about and the "abandonment" - is it something in the labour law or is it there in the contract? I had read the older labour law cursorily (http://www.gulftalent.com/repository/ext/UAE_Labour_Law.pdf) and don't think these concepts apply (esp. if the "abandonment" is not taking calls on one day - in the law it is described as seven successive days of absence).


Thanks for your support. The 45 day penalty is based on the following information we found elsewhere on this forum:

_If the contract is terminated by the employee for reasons other than those stipulated under Article 12l of the Law, the employee will be liable to compensate the employer against any loss resulting from the termination. The amount of compensation payable is calculated on the basis of the employee’s salary for one month and a half or the salary payable for the remaining period of the contract, whichever is less, unless the contract states otherwise_

I completely agree that abandonment cannot apply in this case, but we have it in writing that they take her "refusal" to take calls as "job abandonment". I'm hoping we should be able to fight that without a problem with the MOL though.

Thanks for the advice so far. I will definitely keep you posted on the outcome.


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## Gavtek (Aug 23, 2009)

If MOL don't get it sorted straight away, get in touch with 7Days newspaper, they're usually quite good at exposing stuff like that.

While your priority is to get your wife out of there, it would be good if you were able to put a stop to it happening to the next person.


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## cobragb (Mar 15, 2010)

There is no such law about repaying 45 days salary.

Have her turn in her written notice immediately.


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## Hassli (Feb 7, 2011)

PolarBear said:


> I have tried searching the forum, but am finding no specific answers so would like some advice from fellow expats.
> 
> My wife is working for a small company in Dubai, who insisted that she would be sponsored by them rather than working under my visa. (In retrospect, big mistake!) She is still in her probation period, but is under such abuse (shouting and under verbal abuse) that she had a meltdown yesterday and was not mentally able to handle any phone calls. Her contract work hours are Sunday-Thursday, but despite this, her non-answering of phone calls yesterday was labelled "job abandonment". I believe that the criteria for job abandonment, and not answering of calls on a weekend would not qualify.
> 
> ...


Hi,


sad to hear that... 
I remember a friend of mine, who underwent the same situation. She also left the company coz she can't take it anylonger... She is not use with the idea of verbal abuse (who does),dirty office politics, all scolding and never ending memos... She felt horrible and felt that she never do single right thing in that office...

And i remember that she told me that she received a several memos for not answering the ONE phone call... (As if they own her phone and give mobile allowances). I ask on what ground they issue the memo.. She explain that it is the office NORM that mobiles are always ON and respond when called (I joke at her..and ask are you also required to answer your phone when you are in the bathroom...hahahaha) And worst thing is that her office ask her written explanation and she did replied and they argued that the reply was unacceptable and justifiable.

Good thing, the company does not ban her for working in other company even she is under limited contract. 


You can check the termination clause in your wife's employment contract... Does it really state that she needs to pay this 45 days penalty if she does not finished her probationary/contract... I only saw this similar clause if someone is under a limited employment contract but not in unlimited contracts.

I think it is better option that the company will terminated her service, that would not give the employer the right to ban her and ask for damages.. I guess this is true as the employer is the one terminating her service and not your wife...

If she cannot tolerate it no more, she can go under your visa...(husband visa) if she received a ban and working for a private company then she will only received a labour ban. She can still work in the freezone companies and govertment entities as well...

Goodluck and Godbless to your wife...


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## ShaunDubai (Aug 12, 2010)

i) Get her to walk out today and tell the little 0*&% to gf and that she doesn't work weekends (if she's a westerner they will know this - it's a try on).

ii) They will probably screw her pay - that's how it is.

iii) Even if she get's 'banned', she can still work under your sponsorship - you can just write an NOC to a new employer 'allowing' your wife to work (not strictly by the book, but effective). 

iv) If this goes to Labour Court they cannot cancel her visa until things are resolved either way, and she can apply to the Labour Office for permission to work again whilst the case is pending.


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## Canuck_Sens (Nov 16, 2010)

It is really a shame what your wife is going through and I do hope things turn just fine for her. This episode is teaching something very important to me. If my wife gets a job, she will work under my VISA. Nobody owes her just me 

Jokes aside, verbal abuse is something terrible here. I saw it happening and it really gives the impression that they "owe" you.

A reality check would not harm the employer I think. I made it clear in my work that any lack of respect attitude and you can kiss my @#$% goodbye. People got it. Specially when they hire you to learn things they don't know and rely a lot on you.

Not everyone is one the same boat, though. I also do understand that sometimes the employer is under pressure and does not know how to handle this and ends up taking it out on the employees.

Be that as it may, it is still not right to do that. Talking to the employer after the fact and trying to understand the circumstances might be a better approach. If reasoning fails there is nothing else left I find.


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## PolarBear (Jul 12, 2010)

*Outcome*

Thanks yet again for the advice and support! We had to fight hard, as the reason she was threatened with "job abandonment" was that while she was happy to continue working, she would not accept being shouted at or receiving threatening, aggressive e-mails. Obviously didn't go over well, since the response was yet another, threatening and aggressive e-mail!

Thanks to the HR person, the outcome in the end was an amicable solution of her being able to leave with the status of "resigned" and with no penalties to pay. In other words, exactly the outcome we had hoped for. Apparently an automatic ban was inevitable, but at least we won't have to fight the claim of "job abandonment". It did help that we had done some research, including responses on this thread, as well as advice I received from my HR department.

There are absolutely lessons to be learned from this.. A wife is definitely better off staying on her husband's sponsorship! If someone wants "commitment" in the form of visa sponsorship, then alarm bells should go off. Second, fixed term contracts can carry brutal penalties that may not be written out in the contract itself. (My wife's contract referenced something about employee resignations being handled according to UAE labor law, which is where the 45 day penalty is spelled out).

Thankfully, my wife is now FREE! :clap2:


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## Gavtek (Aug 23, 2009)

PolarBear said:


> my wife is now FREE! :clap2:


Cool, what's her number?


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## cobragb (Mar 15, 2010)

Haha, yeah there is no such thing as a "free" wife!


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## w_man (Apr 16, 2010)

Gavtek said:


> Cool, what's her number?


HAHAHA - Terrible!!!


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