Labour and employment
Wrongful Termination
You were told on Sunday that Thursday is your last day. No warning, no written reason, and the meeting lasted four minutes. Or the letter says gross misconduct, and you do not recognise the version of events in it.
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The short answer
Not every dismissal that feels unfair is unlawful, and not every lawful dismissal is carried out properly. Those are two separate questions with two separate answers. What employment law in Dubai says about termination turns on the reason given, the process followed and the documents that exist, not on how the conversation felt at the time.
This page explains the difference between a lawful termination and an arbitrary one, what you may be able to claim, what to collect this week, and how a complaint moves from the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation to the labour court. It is written for employees; the wider picture, including contracts, wages and hours, is on our employment and labour lawyers in Dubai page. We are a licensed advocate practice in Dubai. Call +971 50 747 9570 or email help@lawyerindubai.ae.
Lawful termination and unlawful dismissal
Private sector employment in the UAE is governed by Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 and the regulations issued under it, which replaced the earlier labour law. Employment law in Dubai on termination comes from that federal law rather than from anything specific to the emirate.
When an employer may lawfully end your employment
An employer can end the relationship for a legitimate reason, on proper notice, with the settlement paid. Restructuring, the end of a project, closure of a role and genuine performance management can all be lawful reasons. The reason has to be a real one rather than a pretext.
What makes a dismissal arbitrary
A dismissal is generally treated as arbitrary where the reason is not connected to the work at all, or where the employee was dismissed because they exercised a right, complained about the employer, or gave evidence in a matter against them. The process matters as much as the reason: a genuine ground applied without the steps the law requires can still fail.
Dismissal without notice
The law sets out specific grounds on which an employer may dismiss immediately, and they are narrow. Poor performance is not generally among them. An employer relying on one also has to have investigated, recorded and warned in the way the law requires, and most immediate dismissals fail on the process rather than on the facts.
Termination during probation
Probation is not a free period. Ending employment during it follows its own rules on notice and on what happens next.
Dismissal while you are on leave or unwell
Dismissing someone who is on sick leave, on maternity leave, or within a period where their employment is protected is treated differently. If your dismissal landed during a period of leave, say so at the first conversation.
Notice and pay in lieu of notice
How notice is supposed to work
Notice is taken from your contract, within the range the law allows. Employment continues through the notice period. Notice is also supposed to be given properly, in writing, rather than announced in a meeting and confirmed later.
Being paid instead of working it
An employer can pay the notice period rather than require you to work it. That payment is calculated on a defined figure from your pay and is owed on top of the rest of the settlement, not in place of part of it.
Notice you never received
If you were told to leave the same day and no payment in lieu appears in the settlement, that shortfall is a claim in itself, separate from any question about whether the dismissal was arbitrary.
What you may be able to claim
Compensation for arbitrary dismissal
Where a dismissal is found to be arbitrary, compensation may be awarded. The amount is assessed rather than fixed, and it is capped by reference to your pay. We do not state the cap, the multiple or the pay figure it applies to anywhere on this site, because it is the number most commonly misstated in UAE employment articles and a wrong figure sets an expectation that cannot be met.
What is owed whatever the reason
Separately from any compensation, a termination triggers the entitlements you have already earned: your final salary, payment for untaken annual leave, notice or pay in lieu, any outstanding allowances, commission or reimbursements, and end of service gratuity. These are owed even if the dismissal itself was entirely lawful, and they are the ones employers most often get wrong. Our page on unpaid salary and end of service gratuity covers how they are worked out and what to check on the calculation.
Getting your job back
Reinstatement is not the usual outcome of a UAE labour claim. If keeping the role matters more than the compensation, say so early, because it changes how the claim is approached.
Evidence to gather now
The file you build in the first fortnight is the file the claim is decided on.
Documents
The signed employment contract and the version registered with MOHRE or your free zone authority, your payslips, bank statements showing what was actually credited, the termination letter or email, any warning letters, your most recent appraisal, and any settlement calculation you have been given.
Messages and email
Save the exchanges about your performance, your pay, your leave and the dismissal itself. Do not alter or delete anything, including messages that do not help you.
A written timeline
Write out what happened with dates: when you were hired, when the problems started, when each conversation took place, who was present, and when you were told to leave. Do it now, while you remember it.
What not to do
Do not sign a release or a settlement you have not understood, and do not sign one at the airport. Do not agree in writing that you resigned if you did not. Do not go quiet and stop attending without advice, because an employer may report the absence and that creates a second problem on top of the first.
The complaint route and then the court
Filing with MOHRE
A labour complaint is made to MOHRE by phone, through the ministry’s app or website, or at a service centre. It is free, and you do not need a lawyer to file it. If you work in a free zone, you may need to start with your free zone authority instead. If your contract names the DIFC or ADGM, a different system applies altogether and this route is not yours.
What the ministry does
The ministry contacts your employer and tries to settle. Many claims end here. In defined circumstances the ministry can decide the matter itself rather than referring it onwards.
Referral to the labour court
If it cannot be settled, the file goes to the labour court, where it is decided on documents: the contract, the payroll record, the warnings and the written exchanges. Employee claims of this kind are generally treated favourably on fees.
Deadlines, which is the first thing to ask about
There are time limits for bringing a claim after a termination, and further limits for moving from a ministry decision to the court and for appealing a judgment. They are short, they are strict, and missing one can end a claim that would otherwise have succeeded. Ask about timing at the very first conversation.
Your visa and residency after a dismissal
Cancellation and the period afterwards
Residency here is tied to sponsorship, so a termination starts a second clock alongside the claim. Once the residence visa is cancelled there is a limited period in which you may remain, and overstaying has consequences of its own. Filing a labour claim does not by itself suspend that timing, so deal with both at once.
Moving to a new employer
Transferring sponsorship to a new employer is usually possible, and an unresolved claim against the former employer does not automatically block it. Our immigration and residency lawyers page covers status, transfers and overstay in detail.
Work bans and absence reports
A restriction on working for another UAE employer can arise from the contract, from the way the employment ended, or administratively. Separately, an employer may file a report that you stopped attending without explanation, which affects status and movement until it is dealt with.
If you are already outside the UAE
Running a claim from abroad
Leaving does not extinguish what you are owed, and a claim can be run without you in the country, usually through a power of attorney signed where you now live and then legalised for use in the UAE, with a legal translation into Arabic. The steps depend on the country you sign in.
What makes it harder
Cancelled visas, documents left behind on a work laptop and a former employer who has stopped answering all make the file harder to build, and time works against you. If you left recently and think you were dismissed unlawfully, raise it now rather than on your next visit.
If you are the employer reading this
Most of the terminations we are asked to defend were lawful decisions carried out badly. The reason was real, but the warning was never issued, the investigation was never minuted, or the settlement was paid as a single figure with no breakdown. The cheapest hour of legal advice you will buy is the one before the meeting rather than the one after the complaint. Our employment work for employers is set out on the employment and labour lawyers in Dubai page.
Questions people ask us
Is arbitrary dismissal the same as unfair dismissal?
Arbitrary dismissal is the term used in UAE practice, and it is what people mean when they search for arbitrary dismissal in the UAE. It is not identical to unfair dismissal in other systems: the test, the remedy and the route are all different, so advice written for another country does not transfer.
My employer says I resigned, but I was told to leave
This changes what you can claim, and it is decided on the written record: the resignation letter your employer says exists, the cancellation paperwork, and the messages around the date you stopped attending. Gather those before anyone starts discussing a settlement.
Can I be dismissed for something I posted online?
Conduct outside the workplace can be relied on in defined circumstances, and a post can also create a separate problem under other laws. If a dismissal has been justified on that basis, treat it as two matters rather than one and get advice on both.
Does termination law in Abu Dhabi work the same way?
The labour law is federal, so the grounds, the entitlements and the remedy are the same across the emirates. What differs is the ministry office that handles the complaint and the court that hears it afterwards. People searching for termination law in Abu Dhabi are generally looking at the same rules that apply in Dubai.
What will this cost me?
Employment work is charged on the basis of the stage and the scope of the work, not on the outcome. How our charges are structured, what is included and what is billed separately is set out on our legal fees page.
Speak to an employment lawyer in Dubai
If you have been dismissed and something about it does not look right, the useful step today is to establish what reason was actually recorded, what the settlement should contain, and where the deadline sits. Bring the contract, the termination letter and your last three payslips, and we can tell you quickly whether there is a claim worth running.
Call +971 50 747 9570 or email help@lawyerindubai.ae. You can also use the form on our contact page.
Related pages: employment and labour lawyers in Dubai, unpaid salary and gratuity, immigration and residency, legal fees.
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