UAE soldier shot on the job reinstated and paid Dh20,000 for getting fired

A soldier who was fired after being shot on duty in 2005 has been awarded Dh20,000 compensation by a court which ordered the armed services to reinstate him.

ABU DHABI // A presidential guard who was thrown out of the armed services after being shot while on duty at Nad Al Sheba camp has been awarded Dh20,000 in compensation and told he can have his job back.

J?M was shot in the arm by an unknown assailant on February 16, 2005, but when he reported the matter to his superiors the army tried to cover it up, a federal court heard.

Senior officers accused him of incompetence and claimed he had shot himself. They also said he was mentally ill and referred him for treatment to the mental ward at Rashid Hospital.

But doctors ruled he was sane, psychologically stable, and that he was not under the influence of drugs.

The armed forces terminated his employment after a military tribunal found him guilty of misusing his weapon and issuing a false ?report.

Last year the soldier filed a lawsuit demanding the army reinstate him on a salary that reflected all of the pay rises he would have received in the interim.

An armed forces lawyer said the soldier's claim should be rejected because he had not filed the lawsuit within 60 days.

He claimed this contravened article 117 of the federal human resources law and said the soldier had resigned.

But the court ruled the federal law's time limit applied only to civilians. It also noted that the army had not provided a copy of the alleged resignation.

It ordered the army to reinstate the soldier, pay him Dh20,000 compensation and Dh2,000 to cover his legal fees.