Employment contract in the UAE

[ladyjane]

Hello, not sure if anyone can help me but I have just returned from working in Abu Dhabi, UAE. My contract of employment stated that I would receive AED6000 (£1000) basic salary per month, however this was to be deducted out of future commissions earned!!! Therefore, technically I was self employed which I think is illegal in the UAE for starters? Secondly, my contract also states that I would receive my employment visa.
After 6 months I have not received any "salary" or my visa!!!

Fortunately I have earned commissions, but the company have stated that they would only pay 65% commissions until I had written over a certain amount of business !!!

My question is this: Are a company allowed to deduct commisions and enforce certain parts of a contract even though they are not upholding other parts I.E. the parts that benefit the employer? (Salary and visa)

Sorry for the long post but just wondered if anyone else had any similar experiences in the UAE ?

Thank You

[MissFM]

Re: Employment contract

Hello LadyJane

I'm sorry but I haven't a clue.

You never know, though, on this forum, someone might well appear who knows exactly what you need to find out. Hope so -and good luck! x

[charitynjw]

Re: Employment contract

Does the contract state which country's law is applicable?

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Employment contract

I'll send a link to this thread to someone I know in Dubai which is also part of the UAE, let's see what they say. :thumb:

[ladyjane]

Re: Employment contract

Thank You

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Employment contract

Hello, not sure if anyone can help me but I have just returned from working in Abu Dhabi, UAE. My contract of employment stated that I would receive AED6000 (£1000) basic salary per month, however this was to be deducted out of future commissions earned!!! Therefore, technically I was self employed which I think is illegal in the UAE for starters? Secondly, my contract also states that I would receive my employment visa.
After 6 months I have not received any "salary" or my visa!!!

Fortunately I have earned commissions, but the company have stated that they would only pay 65% commissions until I had written over a certain amount of business !!!

My question is this: Are a company allowed to deduct commisions and enforce certain parts of a contract even though they are not upholding other parts I.E. the parts that benefit the employer? (Salary and visa)

See below, with big thanks to my good friend who runs a business in Dubai :yo: and I was lucky to visit last year. :bounce:

In the UAE, it is a criminal offense to employ an individual without a work VISA, which normally takes 2 to 3 days to arrange. There is no such thing as “self employed” in the UAE, you must have a VISA regardless. The company can ask the employee to sign a private contract that states salary, holidays, commissions etc. and you should have signed one such contract BEFORE starting work there.

The general rule is that the basic salary cannot be reduced or changed once it's been agreed with the employee and written in the employment contract, which should be registered with the local government, however, if no VISA has been issued, there can be no such contract.

His suggestion is, if you have something in writing from the employer such as a letter or an e-mail where they stated their offer and conditions of work in Abu Dhabi, you should definitely contact them and mention the possibility of referring them to the relevant authorities.

Hope this helps! :thumb:

Obviously this is all based purely on the information provided above, which I copied and pasted word for word on an email. If more info is provided I could probably obtain more details where these came from.