A “Range of Reasonable Responses”
Type
E-journal
Date
10 Feb 2014
Jurisdiction
Dubai International Financial Centre, United Arab Emirates
Taxonomy
Termination of Employment
Copyright
LexisNexis
Relevant company
Hadef & Partners
Legal reference
DIFC Law No. 3/2012
Analysis
Jamie Liddington, Senior Associate at Hadef & Partners (Dubai) and Akash Nawbatt of Devereux Chambers (London), consider the application of Article 59A of DIFC Employment Law No 3 of 2012 relating to “Termination for Cause” and specifically whether, when applying Article 59A, Judges will subjectively determine what is reasonable in each case or whether a more objective approach will be adopted (as is the case in other jurisdictions such as England & Wales).
When DIFC Employment Law (Amendment Law) No 3 of 2012 (“DIFC Employment Law 2012”) came into force on 23 December 2012, it introduced a new provision (“Article 59A”) relating to “Termination for Cause”. Given its brevity, it is worth setting out Article 59A in full:
“An employer or an employee may terminate an employee's employment for cause in circumstances where the conduct of one party warrants termination and where a reasonable employer or employee would have terminated the employment.”
Article 59A is not entirely new. It is an amendment and repositioning of Article 60(4) of DIFC Employment Law No 4 of 2005 (“DIFC Employment Law 2005”). Article 60(4) of DIFC Employment Law 2005 stated that: