News and Interviews

Labor & Employment Law

07 Jun

EMPLOYEES’ OBLIGATIONS

  1. PERSONNEL AND PENALTY  REGULATIONS.
  2. IMPOSITION OF PENALTIES.
  3. FINES.
  4. SUSPENSION OF EMPLOYEES.
  5. DISMISSAL OF EMPLOYEES.
  6. DISMISSAL PROCEDURES.

EXPIRY OF TERM:

  1. TERMINATION OF AN EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT FOR AN INDEFINITE DURATION.
  2. TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT FOR A SPECIFIC PROJECT.
  3. RESIGNATION.
  4. EMPLOYEE’S DEATH.
  5. DAMAGES FOR UNJUSTIFIED TERMINATION.
  6. RETIREMENT.

A. EMPLOYEE’S OBLIGATION

      1. PERSONNEL AND PENALTY REGULATIONS: An employer having ten employees or more is required to establish internal regulations and penalty
        regulations, which must be ratified by the Labor Office and prominently displayed on the work premises.
      2. IMPOSITION OF PENALTIES: An employer may not impose a disciplinary measure on an employee for an act that is not expressly prohibited in the internal
        regulations and then only after notifying the employee of the charge against him, listening to his defense, investigating any counter-charges he maymake and recording all this in the employee’s file. Penalties may not be inflicted after the lapse of 30 days following the investigation.
      3. FINES:The employer may not fine an employee for a single offence in a single month more than the equivalent of 5 days’ wages nor subject him to more
        than one penalty for the same offence.
      4. SUSPENSION OF EMPLOYEES: The employer may suspend an employee who is the subject of an ongoing investigation for a period of not more than 60 days with full pay, if the employee’s suspension is in the interest of the investigation, if the employer asks the trade union committee for permission to suspend him, or if the employee is accused of a crime or misdemeanor involving honor, honesty or morals or commits a misdemeanor at the workplace, provided his case is put to the Judicial Committee within 3 days from the date of his suspension. The Committee is held to rule on the case before it within 7 days. If the Committee approves the suspension, the employee will receive half his wages for the remaining period of suspension; and if it refuses, hewill receive his full wages for such period. If the Committee does not consider it necessary to refer the employee to a criminal court, or if he is tried and acquitted, he must be reinstated in his post and receive all the benefits due to him, otherwise his suspension shall be deemed an arbitrary dismissal.
        Moreover, if the charge against the employee proves to have been fabricated by the employer or his representative, he shall be entitled to the balance of his wages for the suspension period.
      5. DISMISSAL OF EMPLOYEES:Labor Law specifies an examples for serious mistake in which an employee’s service may be terminated. Pursuant to the provisions of the new Law, an employee may be dismissed if he:
        a. Assumes a false identity or submits forged documents.
        b. Commits a mistake, which causes the employer to incur a heavy material loss, provided the employer notifies the competent authority within 24 hours of learning of the incident.
        c. Repeatedly disregards safety instructions, which are in writing and prominently displayed.
        d. Absents himself from work for more than 20 non-consecutive or 10 consecutive days in any one year. A written notice must be made prior to the dismissal decision from the employer to the employee after (10) days in the first case, and (5) days in the second case.
        e. Divulges the establishment’s secrets and causes it to incur a heavy material loss. f. Competes with the employer in the same line of work.
        g. Is found in a state of intoxication during working hours.
        h. Assaults the employer, the general manager or any of his superiors.
        i. Breaches the provisions governing strikes pursuant to the Labor Law.
      6. DISMISSAL PROCEDURES:
        • The employer or the employee may, within 10 days from the date a dispute arises, request the Manpower and Training Office of the district in which the workplace lies, to resolve it amicably. If the dispute is not resolved within 21 days from the date the application was submitted, the employer & the employee may resort to the Court by no later than 45 days from the date the dispute arose, otherwise they forfeit the right of recourse to the Labor Court.
        • The Law fixes compensation for arbitrary dismissal at no less than two months full wages for each year of service, in addition to any other entitlements pursuant to law, such as the unused balance of annual leave.
        • By fixing the amount of compensation, the new Law enables the employer and the employee to reach an amicable out-of-court settlement of their dispute. This was not possible under the previous law, which did not fix any rules to govern compensation, but left the assessment of damages for dismissal to the judge reviewing the case on the merits. Despite the advantages offered by clearly defining the amount of compensation, the disadvantage to the employer is that the amount fixed is relatively high, amounting to two months’ wages for each year of service.

B. TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT

  1. EXPIRY OF TERM:
    An employment contract for a fixed period terminates on the expiry of its term. Under the new law, the employee is entitled to terminate an employment contract for a fixed period in excess of five years on the expiry of a period of five years, without paying compensation, by giving the employer three months’ advance notice. In all other cases, compensation is assessed by reference to the direct prejudice incurred by the employer and which should have been foreseen by the employee at the time of entering into the contract. When the term of a fixed period employment contract expires, both parties may renew it by express agreement for a new term or terms.
  2. TERMINATION OF AN EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT FOR AN INDEFINITE DURATION:
    Either party may at any time terminate an employment contract for an indefinite duration by giving the other party prior written notice of termination, subject to certain restrictions. Thus, the employer may not exercise his right to terminate the contract in other than the cases provided for by law or unless the employee’s incompetence is established pursuant to the internal regulations and after obtaining a judicial award confirms the termination, while the employee may terminate only if termination is justified by strong and sufficient reasons related to his medical, social or economic circumstances. In all cases, termination must be affected at a time that is convenient with regard to the circumstances of work. Notice to terminate an employment contract for an indefinite duration shall be given by either party to the other two months in advance if the employee has been in the employer’s service for not more than ten consecutive years and three months in advance if the period of service is longer than ten years. The parties may not agree to waive the condition of notification nor to reduce the period of notification; however, they may agree to extend such period. Notice of termination may not be made contingent on a suspensive condition, as when, for example, an employee suspends his resignation on the issuance by the employer of a decision transferring him to another post.
  3. TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT FOR A SPECIFIC PROJECT:
    An employment contract entered into for the performance of a specific task comes to an end when the agreed work is completed. If the agreed work takes longer than five years to complete, the employee may not terminate the contract before completing the work. If the parties continue to perform the contract after the work has been completed, the contract shall be deemed to have been implicitly renewed by them for an indefinite period.
  4. RESIGNATION:
    An employee’s resignation shall not be accepted unless it is in writing, and he may submit a written retraction of his resignation within one week from the date the employer notifies him that his resignation has been accepted, in which case the resignation shall be deemed null and void.
  5. EMPLOYEE’S DEATH: In the event of an employee’s actual or presumptive death while in service, the employer is held to pay his family a sum equivalent to two months’ full wages to meet funeral expenses, with a minimum of 250 pounds, in addition to a grant equivalent to his wages for the month in which he died plus the wages for the two months subsequent thereto.
  6. DAMAGES FOR UNJUSTIFIED TERMINATION: If one of the parties terminates the employment contract without legal justification, he shall be held to indemnify the other for the prejudice suffered by reason of such termination. When the contract is vexatiously terminated by the employer, the employee may claim damages for the prejudice resulting from such unjustified termination. The damages awarded by the Labor Court must not be less than two months’ wages for each year spent by the employee in the employer’s service, without prejudice to the employee’s right to receive all other sums prescribed by law.
  7. RETIREMENT: On attaining the age of 60, an employee may be entitled to a retirement bonus from the Social Insurance Authority (not the employer). But if an employee worked after the age of 60, he will be entitled to a retirement bonus from the employer at the rate of half his monthly wages for each of the first five years of service and a full monthly wage for each year thereafter.