UAE Labour Disputes: How the MoHRE Complaint Process Works

Most people who need this process discover it at the worst possible moment: a final salary that never
arrived, a gratuity calculated wrong, a termination they think was unlawful. And most of what they find
online is either out of date or subtly wrong about where the case actually goes.

Since 1 January 2024 the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation has been able to issue a
binding decision itself on smaller claims, rather than simply refereeing and passing the file to a
judge. Here is how a labour complaint actually works now, with the deadlines that
decide whether you have a case at all.

First: does this process cover you?

Federal Decree-Law 33 of 2021 applies to “all establishments, employers and workers in the UAE
private sector”. Article 3(2) excludes exactly three groups: employees of federal and local government
entities, members of the armed forces, police and security, and domestic workers.

Two large caveats sit outside that list.

Free zones run their own rules. The government portal is explicit that each free zone
authority has its own employment law, and that free-zone employees are sponsored by the authority rather
than by their employer.

DIFC and ADGM have their own courts entirely. A DIFC employment claim goes to the DIFC
Courts’ Small Claims Tribunal, which hears claims up to AED 500,000 — and, uniquely for employment
matters, will hear a claim of any value where all parties elect in writing for it, with no upper limit.
The filing fee for employment claims there is 2% of the claim value, minimum USD 100. ADGM operates
under its own Employment Regulations 2024, which it published to replace the 2019 version. Our
comparison of DIFC
and ADGM and our explainer on
ADGM and its English-law
courts set out why those two are different jurisdictions in practice, not just different addresses.

If you work for a mainland private-sector employer, the MoHRE route below is yours.

The deadlines that end cases

Two clocks run, and missing either is usually fatal.

The one-year long-stop deserves emphasis because it is absolute. After one year from the maturity date
of the right in question, the law says the lawsuit cannot be heard. Waiting to see whether a former
employer “comes good” is how people lose entitlements they were plainly owed.

How the complaint runs

You file with MoHRE — through its website, its app, or by calling 600 590 000. There is also a
dedicated Labour Claims and Advisory Call Centre on the toll-free number 80084.

MoHRE then attempts an amicable settlement. It has 14 days. If the parties agree, that is the end of
it. If they do not, what happens next depends entirely on one number.

Claims up to AED 50,000: MoHRE decides

This is the change that took effect on 1 January 2024. Under Article 54(2), the Ministry renders a
final judgment itself where the value of the claim is not more than AED 50,000 — and also, regardless of
value, where either party fails to comply with an agreed amicable settlement.

The decision is not a recommendation. Ministerial Resolution 782 of 2023 provides that a MoHRE
decision is deemed an executive order, which means it is directly enforceable without a separate court
judgment. MoHRE announced the reform in December 2023 as a way of resolving smaller disputes without
sending them through the courts at all.

Claims above AED 50,000: MoHRE refers

Where an amicable settlement fails on a disputed claim exceeding AED 50,000, the Ministry refers the
complaint to the judiciary — the Court of First Instance. You then have 14 days to register it, and the
court must convene a hearing within three business days.

The correction almost everyone gets wrong

If you are unhappy with MoHRE’s decision on a claim it decided itself, the challenge goes to the
Court of Appeal — not the Court of First Instance.

Article 54(3), as amended by Federal Decree-Law 20 of 2023, provides that either party may file a
lawsuit before the relevant Court of Appeal for a review of the decision within fifteen working days of
notification, and that the Court of Appeal’s decision constitutes a final verdict. Ministerial Resolution
782 of 2023 says the same thing, and so does MoHRE’s own announcement.

The distinction matters practically, not just pedantically. The Court of First Instance is where
MoHRE refers unsettled disputes above AED 50,000. The Court of Appeal is where you
challenge a decision MoHRE has already made. Filing in the wrong one wastes the fifteen days you
had.

Two related points worth knowing: lodging that appeal suspends enforcement of the MoHRE decision until
the court rules; and it is not true, as sometimes claimed, that MoHRE’s decisions are final and
non-appealable. They are appealable — it is the Court of Appeal’s ruling that is final.

Money, while you wait

Two provisions soften the cost of bringing a claim.

Labour claims not exceeding AED 100,000 are exempt from judicial fees at all stages of
litigation and execution, under Article 55(1). And under Article 54(5), MoHRE can order interim
payment of wages for up to two months while the dispute is being resolved — which is often the difference
between pursuing a claim and abandoning it.

One administrative trap after a final decision: the affected party must request cancellation of the
original work permit within 60 days of receiving it, unless the employment relationship continues.

Before it gets that far

Most disputes that reach MoHRE are about money that was calculable in advance. If the argument is over
your end-of-service payment, work the number yourself first using our guide to
gratuity
calculation and our explainer on
where gratuity sits alongside
pensions. If it is about unpaid salary, the
Wage Protection
System is the mechanism that is supposed to catch it, and non-compliance there has its own
consequences for the employer. If you have been terminated, our guide to
unemployment insurance covers
the cover you may already have paid for. Employers on the other side of the table should read our guide
to hiring under
the labour law, and note that commercial disputes follow a different path entirely — see our
explainer on arbitration in
the UAE.

The framework governing all of this is Federal Decree-Law 33 of 2021 with its amendments, Cabinet
Resolution 1 of 2022, and Ministerial Resolutions 47 of 2022 and 782 of 2023. Collective disputes run
through a separate mechanism under Cabinet Resolution 46 of 2022.

Primary sources: the UAE Government portal on
labour
disputes and on
working
in free zones; MoHRE’s published English text of
Federal
Decree-Law 33 of 2021 and its amendments and of
Ministerial
Resolution 782 of 2023;
MoHRE’s
announcement of the AED 50,000 reform; the
DIFC
Courts Small Claims Tribunal; and
ADGM’s
Employment Regulations 2024. This article is general information, not legal advice.