What to do when employer stops paying salary? | ExpatWoman.com
 

What to do when employer stops paying salary?

232
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 12 February 2012 - 16:44

I have a friend who works for a local company, been with them for about 9 months, but only got labour law contract issued around 3 months ago.

The company did not pay any staff their salaries at the end of January and circulated an email that they were not in a position to pay salaries until their clients pay them! So what can the staff do in this instance? My friennd is on a limited contract with over a year left to run on it.

I understand that if she breaks the contract she is liable for 1.5 month's salary, but in the case of them not getting their salaries, can they approach the MOL to lodge a complaint and if so, how long would the process take? My friend has a new job to go to at the beginning of March but worried there will be implications with cancelling the visa with the current employer.

506
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EW GURU
Latest post on 12 February 2012 - 17:48
Most companies have to file their staff salary details with the MoL Wages Protections Scheme (WPS): http://www.mol.gov.ae/english/wpsGuidelineEng.aspx It maybe worth taking a look and see if your friends company should be in this scheme as I think it's law for certain companies to protect employees from this problem on salary non payment. The Company pay the full salary amount to the MoL and they then forward to each employee. If the Company fail to transfer the funds, they can be fined or worse.
232
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 12 February 2012 - 17:10
Great! Thanks for the advice ... will pass it on :)
308
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 12 February 2012 - 17:03
No the MOL will give her a release with no ban and her old company cannot stop this at all. She needs to play it clever with the MOL: as they could say she is complaining just to move job :-( so my advice would be go there play the sob story I will get eviceted ny car loan my credit card etc and say to them that she needs her money, wait one week and then go back and say she found another job. the other could be if the MOL contract was issued 3 months ago she could still be on probation dependant ont he dates of the MOL contract and if this is the case she has to serve no notice at all.
232
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 12 February 2012 - 17:00
Thanks for the replies ladies. She wants to leave to go to another job. Do you happen to know if lodging a complaint will have any affect on her moving to a new company. She is worried this will put a freeze on her visa status.
308
Posts
EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 12 February 2012 - 16:57
If the salary is more than 10 days late she can file a case in the MOL, they will attempt to get the salary on her behalf. On another note as she is in a limitied contract they would have to pay her 3 months notice to terminate the contract and they cannot do that just because she has filed a case, the MOL will insist that they pay and they will make a note that she is not to receive a ban. As another poster said this could take some time so it would be best to file a case as soon as possible and also take with her documents that prove she was working prior to the MOL contract.
175
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 12 February 2012 - 16:53
Not sure about the sponsor but I know the company is not Government owned. The company is in the construction industry. Not really laughing because it is awful for your friend but construction and development companies are notorious for this. Should lodge a complaint with the MOL regardless, in my experience they are rather quick to act in instances like this
232
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 12 February 2012 - 16:51
Not sure about the sponsor but I know the company is not Government owned. The company is in the construction industry.
175
Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 12 February 2012 - 16:49
I have a friend who works for a local company, been with them for about 9 months, but only got labour law contract issued around 3 months ago. The company did not pay any staff their salaries at the end of January and circulated an email that they were not in a position to pay salaries until their clients pay them! So what can the staff do in this instance? My friennd is on a limited contract with over a year left to run on it. I understand that if she breaks the contract she is liable for 1.5 month's salary, but in the case of them not getting their salaries, can they approach the MOL to lodge a complaint and if so, how long would the process take? My friend has a new job to go to at the beginning of March but worried there will be implications with cancelling the visa with the current employer. What industry is it and is it primarily foreign owned company with local sponsor or is it local owned?
1575
Posts
EW EXPERT
Latest post on 12 February 2012 - 16:46
I have a friend who works for a local company, been with them for about 9 months, but only got labour law contract issued around 3 months ago. The company did not pay any staff their salaries at the end of January and circulated an email that they were not in a position to pay salaries until their clients pay them! So what can the staff do in this instance? My friennd is on a limited contract with over a year left to run on it. I understand that if she breaks the contract she is liable for 1.5 month's salary, but in the case of them not getting their salaries, can they approach the MOL to lodge a complaint and if so, how long would the process take? My friend has a new job to go to at the beginning of March but worried there will be implications with cancelling the visa with the current employer. She can lodge a complaint with MOL but if it's the Government who are not paying up, I'm afraid that this could drag out for a while and she may be in a sticky spot. How awful for your friend.
 
 

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