Leave allowed or not allowed, with pay or without pay is one of the most asked questions when it comes to the organizational cultures and working policies. The set of rules for holidays granted vary from organization to organization. To form the uniformity for the rights of labor and to protect them from any sort of unethical working problem, the UAE government formulated UAE Labor law. Under section 9 of Labor law the main aim is to protect labor rights and grant them sick pay leave.
Apropos to the labor law, if an employee is serving the employer a probation period for three (3) months he is entitled to a sick leave, maximum up to 90 days. Similarly, if the employee has successfully completed a probation period of more than three months and falls ill, then he is entitled to sick leave of a maximum of 90 days every year of service.
According to the Labor Law of UAE, an employee under probation period and claims to be sick, is entitled to the following payments:
- ● Full salary of the first 15 days
- ● Half salary for the following 30 days
- ● Without salary for the remaining 45 days
Resignation during sick leave:
In case if the employee resigns from his employment due to illness before the lapse of 45 days from the total 90 days, then as per Section 9 of the Labor Law, the employer is bound to pay the salary to the employee, provided that medical practitioner confirms employee’s illness.
Termination of Employee During Sick leave:
UAE Labor law does not permit the termination of an employee during the sick leave or annual leave. If the employer terminates the employee through any notification during sick/ annual leave, the notice may be considered as null and void.
In case the employee does not report back to the employer after his leave, then the employer can terminate him from the job. In this case the person is entitled to the end-of-service pay.
An employer reserves the right of terminating the employee if the proof of absconding is provided to him.In case the employer found that the employee is serving another organization/ company during the sick leave then the first lawyer is entitled to terminate him from the employment and withhold his salary.
When the employee is suffering from a chronic medical illness which may extend up to more than 90 days, then he can apply for a six-month leave, only if the Civil Service Medical committee investigates the case and permits it. In case, the medical condition of the employee persists, the leave can further be extended up to six months in the same way. In the case of a civil servant, the employee is entitled to full pay in case of sick leave.Dubai Health Authority (DHA) ensures that the employees in the public and private sectors must get sick leaves. The labor lawyers ensure the provision of the sick leaves to the employees as it not only protects the rights of employees but also shields the employers from workday losses.
In case the employer terminates the employee without giving any notification then the employee has the right to file a complaint against the employer before the Ministry of labor. The employee may seek the assistance of labor lawyers and claim compensation for the breach of contract.
Requisites for Sick Leave Applications:
● It is the employee’s duty to intimate the employer, within two days, about any illness or injury, which is creating hurdles in the performance of his job.
● Where an employee could not report back to the employer on the date of expiry of the sick leave, he is not eligible for the payment from the date of his sick leave to the date to which the leave has expired.
● In case an employee gets sick on a public holiday even then he is bound to give an application to the employer for the sick leave.
● According to section 9 of UAE Labor Law, an employer cannot revoke the sick leave when the employee provides the medical certificate for his leave. All employees are entitled to sick leaves according to the provision of law.
Our associate labour lawyers in Dubai protects the rights of the employees in case the employer rejects to grant them sick leave or refuses to pay the salary for the term of leave or terminates the contract without any prior intimation. The associate lawyers of Dubaidebtrecovery ensures that as the labor law, the labor of UAE attains all the rights granted to them by law.