More than 3,800 workers in Abu Dhabi have received their unpaid wages in full after the emirate's labour court ruled in their favour.
The court passed judgments in these cases in the first three months of this year and the workers received a total of more than Dh106 million, Abu Dhabi Judicial Department said. It was not clear if the total amount also included money paid for unfair dismissal.
Figures released by Abu Dhabi Labour Court showed that rulings were issued in 1,893 claims of the 1,932 registered at the level of the Court of First Instance between January and March. The other cases are still pending.
During the same period, 506 cases were moved up to the Court of Appeal and verdicts were given in 490 of them. Sixteen cases are still pending.
The Labour Court also received 24,687 online requests and all were settled amicably without further appeal.
Abu Dhabi Judicial Department’s online service received 806 requests from people asking for information on employee rights and answered 97 per cent of them.
What can an employee do if not paid on time?
Private companies must transfer the salaries of their employees to bank accounts to avoid fines.
Salaries should be transferred through the Wage Protection System on fixed dates. Wages not transferred within 10 days of the due date are considered a late payment and there are fines for companies that flout rules.
Employees can file complaints to the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation if any of their rights that are mentioned in the UAE Labour Law are not honoured.
The ministry tries to work out an amicable settlement between the employees and employer within two weeks, but if that does not happen it forwards the dispute to the Labour Court.
Once an approval to take the case to court is issued by the ministry, the employees must register the case in court.
How to file a complaint?
A group of employees can file one complaint online but should include all the names of the complainants.
Once the complaint has been filed, the labour authority notifies the employer and holds a hearing before the ministry.
The workers should submit documents such as a copy of the employment contract, visa, Emirates ID, and last salary receipt and prove that salaries were not paid, which can be easily done through the WPS.
Labour dispute cases in Abu Dhabi courts can be registered online. Hearings can be held remotely or at the workers' location in cases that involve a large number of complainants, through the Mobile Court.
“This is to ensure that cases are promptly settled and judgments enforced according to the labour law and its regulations, in order to serve the rights of both parties and to strengthen the stability of the labour market,” said Saeed Al Abri, undersecretary of Abu Dhabi Judicial Department.
“Figures [for the first three months of this year] reflect the extent of achievements and efforts made to ensure that justice has been served and people were granted their entitlements in record time.
“This is in line with the vision of the Abu Dhabi government to develop a judicial system that delivers world-class services and supports growth and investment.”
Mr Al Abri said the Labour Court ensures it carries out its work in accordance with the changes introduced to the laws that came into effect on February 2 this year.
UAE Salary guide 2022 - in pictures
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
