UAE Labour Law: Can An Employee Terminate Employment due to a Medical Condition?

Hello Everyone,

My name is Shoeb and I am an Indian Lawyer working in the United Arab Emirates for the last 12 years.

Today, I will provide clarification on the query related to employment matters.

This is for knowledge and information purposes only and specific legal advice should be taken as the facts and circumstances of each matter may differ and therefore a UAE Employment lawyer and UAE Labour Law may be engaged to provide clarification.

Query

I am working for a private company in Dubai as an admin assistant.

I am seven months pregnant and due to a medical condition; I am advised complete rest by my doctor for the next three to four months.

Even after that, I am not sure if I could continue with the work. In this scenario, can I resign without serving my one month notice period and without paying any penalty for not serving the notice period?

Clarification

To address this query, first of all, we need to determine where the company of the employee is situated. This is not clear in the query. So, we will make an assumption that the employee is working in a private company based in the UAE mainland and therefore the provisions of Federal Law No. (8) of 1980 regulating employment relations in the UAE (the ‘Labour Law’) is applicable.

So, what the law says.

Article 83 (2) of the Labour Law states that:

A worker who falls sick after completing three months, following the probationary period, in the continuous service of an employer shall be entitled to a sick leave not exceeding 90 days, successive or otherwise, in respect of each year of service, to be calculated as follows.

a) The first 15 days: with full pay.

b) The next 30 days: with half pay.

c) Any subsequent periods: without pay.

So based on the provision contained in Article 83 (2) of the UAE Labour Law, the employee is entitled to sick leave of up to 90 days. 

In these 90 days, the employee’s salary needs to be paid @100% for first 15 days. 50% for the next 30 days and she would not get any salary for the next 45 days. 

Going further to the actual query, Article 86 of the UAE Labour Law provides that

Article 86

Where a worker resigns his job, by reason of illness, before the lapse of the first 45 days of his sick leave and the government medical officer or the medical practitioner designated by the employer accepts the cause of resignation, the employer shall pay the worker the wage due in respect of the remainder of the first 45 days referred to.

So, what employees can do in this case.

First, the employee may utilize the sick leave entitlement on a doctor’s recommendation. Then after a few days, but definitely before 45 days, resign from employment due to the illness.

By doing this, the employee may not be asked to serve the notice payor to pay any penalty for not serving the notice period.

Moreover, the employee will also get the salary for 45 days for the sick leave which is 100% of salary for the first 15 days and 50% of salary for the balance 30 days.