Dubai Court of Cassation, Labour Appeal No. 17 of 2025, judgment of 29 April 2025
A worker is entitled to the agreed wage if he performs the work or makes himself available for it, even if no work is assigned (Article 912 of the Civil Transactions Law). Under Article 43 of the Labour Relations Law either party may end the contract for a legitimate reason by written notice of between 30 and 90 days as agreed; the contract continues during the notice period, the worker is entitled to full pay for it and must work if the employer so requires. An employer that prevents a resigning employee who is willing to work her notice period from doing so must pay her the notice wages.
A university lecturer employed under a fixed-term contract from August 2022 resigned in November 2023. The university said she had resigned with immediate effect and left without working the agreed three months' notice, and sued her for about AED 52,700 in lieu of notice. She counterclaimed for her final wages, leave pay, the same amount in lieu of notice, gratuity and a ticket, saying that she had been ready to work her notice but the university had stopped her. The Court of First Instance ordered her to pay the notice amount and awarded part of her counterclaim; the Court of Appeal reduced that award.
The Attorney General challenged the judgment in cassation on the notice pay. The Court of Cassation quashed it in October 2024 because the Court of Appeal had not examined her defence, supported by emails, that the university had prevented her from working her notice. On remand the Court of Appeal found that she had offered to work her notice period and that the university had not allowed her to, and rejected the university's claim, but left in place the dismissal of her own claim for notice pay. The Attorney General challenged that judgment again.
The Court of Cassation allowed the appeal. A worker earns the agreed wage when she performs the work or holds herself ready for it, even if none is assigned. Under Article 43 of the Labour Relations Law either party may terminate for a legitimate reason by written notice of 30 to 90 days as agreed; the contract continues during the notice period, and the worker is entitled to full pay for it and must work if the employer asks. Having found that the lecturer was willing to work and that the university prevented her, including through an email from her dean telling her not to contact students, the Court of Appeal could not refuse her notice pay. As this was a second challenge in cassation, the Court decided the merits and ordered the university to pay her about AED 52,700 in lieu of notice.
Disputes over notice periods often turn on which side refused to perform during the notice. The judgment shows that an employer that tells a resigning employee to stop working, or prevents her from working, cannot claim notice pay from her and must itself pay the notice wages, and it applies the notice rules of Article 43 to a fixed-term contract made under the 2021 law. Both challenges in cassation were brought by the Attorney General.
| Article 43 of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 Regulating Labour Relations — text of article 43 |
| Article 912 of the Civil Transactions Law (Federal Law No. 5 of 1985) (wages of a worker who is ready to work) — text of article 912 Decided under this law; it has been replaced by Civil Transactions Law 2025. |
“العامل يستحق أجره المتفق عليه متى أدى عمله أو أعد نفسه وتفرغ له وإن لم يسند إليه عمل”Short quotation from the judgment as published by the court. The full judgment is on the court’s official service.
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