[UAE Labour] MOHRE Settlement Issued but Employer Hasn’t Paid — Execution Case Opened at Dubai Courts, Seeking Advice
I’m posting on behalf of a friend (the complainant). She filed a labour complaint with MOHRE against her former employer for unpaid wages.
MOHRE issued a final settlement decision requiring the employer to pay an amount less than 15,000 AED (outstanding wages for approximately one month). The decision was issued with the force of an executory instrument under Dubai Courts’ enforcement formula, making it directly enforceable without needing to go through the labour court.
The employer did not pay by the due date set in the MOHRE decision.
What’s happened since:
∙ Multiple follow-up emails were sent — the employer has been responding, but their position every time is: “our client hasn’t paid us yet, we will pay you as soon as we receive payment from our client, but we cannot confirm a timeline.”
∙ An execution case has been filed at Al Adeed (Dubai Courts Execution Centre) to enforce the MOHRE decision. close to 600/800dh has been spent to open the case and it's been over 10 days since the notice.
Questions we have:
1. Now that the execution notice has been served, what is the realistic timeline for next steps if the employer continues to ignore it? When can bank freezes or other enforcement actions kick in?
2. The complainant has since joined a new employer and needs to cancel her old visa and transfer to the new company’s sponsorship. Will cancelling the old visa in any way affect or complicate the active execution case?
3. What are the realistic chances of actual recovery in a case of this size against a small LLC that appears to be avoiding payment?
Any guidance from those familiar with Dubai Courts execution procedure or lawyers with labour case experience would be hugely appreciated.
Now the court servers are down and Al adeed has asked to come after a week. We're worried about the visa cancellation the most and don't want to delay any longer.
Thanks in advance.