# Salay cut, intimidation...what's next ?



## Neondor (Apr 16, 2013)

Hello everyone,
I write one more time on behalf of my husband. 
As said in a previous post, he’s facing some problems with his employers starting from the second month of work. Salary systematically delayed, quite no explanations when he tried to find out why (once his boss told him: no money entry, no salary), a huge workload, work trips paid with my own husband pocket and delay in the reimbursement…
Lately, his boss behavior changed from all to all. He keep on criticizing every single thing, giving him rude appraisals. Lately, he asked him to establish a sort of business forecast, that he afterwards qualified as a loose junior framework. Regarding to this forecast and the performances, his boss told him yesterday that he can no longer afford him a such high salary. He proposed him a salary reduction and a new contract…to keep him in the company…
Background: my husband just arrived to Dubai 7 months ago and I’ve joined him 3 weeks ago. I’m not working even if I have offers, because my field of practice requires a license (in process). Our relocation to Dubai is turning from a great adventure to a woken nightmare. 
I would really appreciate to collect some feedbacks, experiences of people living here from a long time. Are these practices common?. I would like to be prepared for the next steps to eventually prepare our return to home country. Could be my husband laid off very soon ? Is this just a way to push him out ?

PS: sorry for the length of the post...


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## dizzyizzy (Mar 30, 2008)

Did your husband already approach he Ministry of Labor regarding the delayed salaries? In not that's the firsth thing he should be doing.

If the employer can not longer afford him then they should let him go and compensate him as per the law. He should not agree to a pay cut neither to sign a new contract, and he should refuse to sign any papers on this regard.

To be honest we can give you tons of advice but only the MOL can offer actual assistance on these matters. Sounds like the relationship between your husband and his employer is bad enough already and I doubt he wants to remain working for them under the current circumstances, so involving the MOL is not going to make matters worse and in fact they could offer him some level of protection and ensure he gets all the wages that are due to him as well as the compensation he is entitled to if the employer wants to dismiss him.

Your husband should head to the MOL personally and file a complaint, he'll need a copy of his contract, as well as copies of any relevant emails (I.e. discussions reg. paycuts, delayed salaries, change of his job role or framework etc).


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## Canuck_Sens (Nov 16, 2010)

Agreed. Your husband should have a chat with MOL. He should alo keep a record of the expenses he is incurring to perform his job. I suggest that you folks call the help number and see what they say. If you folks decide to file a complaint. He will get the settlement along with a termination I find given the distress the company is facing.

The company seems in distress and in the long run it will fail if they cannot turn it around. I think it is already failing. Your husband should start looking for a job and be prepared for the worse.

Sorry to the bearer of bad news. I hope you get your license soon.


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## Neondor (Apr 16, 2013)

Thanks a lot, to both of you.

Some new developments: my husband's boss is still putting a lot of pressure on him, keeping on harassing him with this #### forecast plan. 

And now he no longer talks about salary cut, but about resignation. He clearly told my husband Yesterday to resign immediatly !!!! My husband told him that regardgind the contract, he should give a notice of 3 months prior to this. The boss said : yes it's in the contract. But I give you only one month... and I can keep your visa valid for a periode of time to get your things fixed with your wife.

What is this ??. 

We are at the end of the month of July and my husband still don't have the salary for june and his boss is pushing to resign ??. 

I've contacted myself the MOL today. One advice : complaint. I know that my husband won't take this risk. He don't want to deal with lawyers, waste of time and money. 

All we want know is go back home, take our rights and forget this nightmare. 
I'm advising my husband to not accept the salary reduction, to tell his boss to fire him if he's not satisfied by his performances withing a notice periode of 3 months. In all cases, we don't care about NOC, we're planning to leave.

Other way, my husband have a lot of document assessing some work dysfunctions. The reclamations concerning the salary delay, the employers asking him to fulfill duties that are not related to his position (duties that he made for 5 months...in 7 months of work)...

Any feedback would be appreciated.


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## dizzyizzy (Mar 30, 2008)

Sorry to hear about your situation but to be honest no amount of feedback we give you is going to help. Your husband needs to go to the Ministry of Labor, papers and contract in hand, and file an official complain. He won't need to hire any lawyers, they have advisers there who will assist him during the whole process, he will be assigned one and that's it, no need to pay a lawyer. After the complain is filed then they will contact the employer and set an appointment and the two parties will need to attend to solve their disputes according to whatever the contract and the law say.

If he doesn't want to do that then that's his prerogative but that also means he's on his own to deal with them.


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## w_man (Apr 16, 2010)

dizzyizzy said:


> Sorry to hear about your situation but to be honest no amount of feedback we give you is going to help. Your husband needs to go to the Ministry of Labor, papers and contract in hand, and file an official complain. He won't need to hire any lawyers, they have advisers there who will assist him during the whole process, he will be assigned one and that's it, no need to pay a lawyer. After the complain is filed then they will contact the employer and set an appointment and the two parties will need to attend to solve their disputes according to whatever the contract and the law say.
> 
> If he doesn't want to do that then that's his prerogative but that also means he's on his own to deal with them.


+1 

This is your only option. There's nothing to lose here. I personally don't think it's a waste of time either - it's important that your husband's employer follows the law. 

Unfortunately many people in this country are hesitant to file complaints with the appropriate departments and this is the reason why some employers feel it's OK to break a contract or the law. No need to blame UAE for this, it's up to your husband to ask for what is his. 

If this is too much work and not worth his time, he should hand in his resignation and you guys should go home. Don't worry about getting paid for the last month or any other monies owed by the employer.

Good luck.


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## Mclovin oo7 (Sep 25, 2012)

Neondor said:


> Thanks a lot, to both of you.
> 
> Some new developments: my husband's boss is still putting a lot of pressure on him, keeping on harassing him with this #### forecast plan.
> 
> ...


I am sorry, I feel bad for you and your husband. I can only imagine how hard it would be for him to work in such work environment.

Considering what you have said, it does not look like that his employer is going to treat him well. Your only option is to go to the MOL. You have an advantage here, you know the language so it would not be very hard for your husband to explain his case.

It is good that he is keeping all the records which will help you. Please ask him not to resign as some end of service dues are based upon this.

I guess the only option would be for him to look for a new job after closing this issue.


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## Neondor (Apr 16, 2013)

dizzyizzy said:


> Sorry to hear about your situation but to be honest no amount of feedback we give you is going to help. Your husband needs to go to the Ministry of Labor, papers and contract in hand, and file an official complain. He won't need to hire any lawyers, they have advisers there who will assist him during the whole process, he will be assigned one and that's it, no need to pay a lawyer. After the complain is filed then they will contact the employer and set an appointment and the two parties will need to attend to solve their disputes according to whatever the contract and the law say.
> 
> If he doesn't want to do that then that's his prerogative but that also means he's on his own to deal with them.





w_man said:


> +1
> 
> This is your only option. There's nothing to lose here. I personally don't think it's a waste of time either - it's important that your husband's employer follows the law.
> 
> ...


Thank you so much for your feedback.

Finally, we've decided to go tomorrow to the MOL with all relevant documents. 

It's not just a question of money and time, it's also a question of psychological issues. I don't want my husband to lose his self confidence and trust in his work performances...like his employers are trying to do to get rid of him at the lowest cost. I want him at least to be totally convinced that these guys are not correct and that he should not give up. 

Sorry if I've expressed some bad thoughts about how things are going in the UAE. I know that with more loyal employers, we could have been more than happy here. 
These guys were the ones that contacted my husband to offer him this position. To join them, he resigned from a stable work, I resigned from mine, we gave our appartment in our home country for rent with a contract of two years...A bit to confused to appreciate for the moment life in UAE, when all these sacrifices led to this huge disappointment.

Thank you once again for your kind replies.


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## dizzyizzy (Mar 30, 2008)

Good luck!


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## Canuck_Sens (Nov 16, 2010)

Glad to know you two decided to go to MOL. Neither of You should lose hope. It is time to collect the dues and he could still look for work and so can you. 

People usually don't put themselves in someone else's shoes. I know pretty well the concerns your husband faced. MOL is the last instance to get things solved. I also understand why he was hesitating.

It is unfortunate all the mishap. Guess it is a new lesson learned in your lives. I am not sure how things work back in your home country but in some places employers take ex employees back. Saw that happening couple of times and may be he could have a chat with his previous employer should you two really decide to go back


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## Neondor (Apr 16, 2013)

Mclovin oo7 said:


> I am sorry, I feel bad for you and your husband. I can only imagine how hard it would be for him to work in such work environment.
> 
> Considering what you have said, it does not look like that his employer is going to treat him well. Your only option is to go to the MOL. You have an advantage here, you know the language so it would not be very hard for your husband to explain his case.
> 
> ...


Thank you for your kind words. My husband does not talk arabic, he is French. But of course, I'm on his side to assist him if ever the language could make the difference. ANyway, I don't know if they would allow me to go with him if ever there is a confrontation with his boss at the MOL...



dizzyizzy said:


> Good luck!





Canuck_Sens said:


> Glad to know you two decided to go to MOL. Neither of You should lose hope. It is time to collect the dues and he could still look for work and so can you.
> 
> People usually don't put themselves in someone else's shoes. I know pretty well the concerns your husband faced. MOL is the last instance to get things solved. I also understand why he was hesitating.
> 
> It is unfortunate all the mishap. Guess it is a new lesson learned in your lives. I am not sure how things work back in your home country but in some places employers take ex employees back. Saw that happening couple of times and may be he could have a chat with his previous employer should you two really decide to go back


Thank you for wishing us good luck. We surely will need luck but also courage. 

My husband finally received his salary of june today...It's 2% of his real salary. A ridiculous, humiliating thing. I can't believe what is happening to us. The boss don't respond to phone calls, neither to emails.

My husband called himself the MOL this evening. They said that he coudn't come directly to them but that he will be contacted Tomorrow by an adviser. I feel him very stressed and even afraid about all the possible consequences. I try to give him some strength. I suppose that if his boss abuses to that point, it's because he feels him destabilized. 

Can't wait to turn back home.


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## vantage (May 10, 2012)

The payment of the June salary will help your case, because it is demonstrably late, and if it is really only 2%, then the employer cannot claim he was 'going to pay the full amount'

Not all employers are like this, believe me!

Sounds like really bad luck, that any failure on your husbands part.
If the company know that you want to go home, they are probably not expecting you to follow this up with MOL, and are trying to get away with it.

Fight them all the way, and leave the company (to return home, or a better job here)


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## dizzyizzy (Mar 30, 2008)

Neondor said:


> Thank you for your kind words. My husband does not talk arabic, he is French. But of course, I'm on his side to assist him if ever the language could make the difference. ANyway, I don't know if they would allow me to go with him if ever there is a confrontation with his boss at the MOL...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


They are very silly if they think they can get away with this. I understand your husband's frustration, he must be really stressed out, so the more reason to involve the MOL, they will make sure your husband gets all his delayed wages and expenses. Also, I know he's probably just looking forward to leaving all this behind, but If I were him I would not hand out a resignation letter. If they want to sack him, they can just do that and compensate him accordingly.

These people will resort to more intimidation and threats but as long as your husband involves MOL, he'll be ok. They may even back off a little bit once they see he will not allow them to push him around like that.

One word of advice, once the MOL sets an appointment and the employer shows up, he may try to keep all the discussions in Arabic. Your husband can ask, very politely, for them to speak English. He should also keep calm and cool, and stick to the facts. Show them a copy of his contract, his offer letter, his job description, print outs of emails where he is being told there is no money to pay his salaries, or he is being asked to take a paycut, or being asked to do things that are outside of the scope of his role, etc.

Good luck and hope everything goes well.


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