UAE law criminalizes misappropriation of funds by employees

The Employers can file a lawsuit and seek redress against the employee who had misused funds.

The UAE law criminalizes the misappropriation of funds by an employee. It is criminal in nature for an employee to use company funds for personal gain.

According to Article 44 of the UAE Labor Code, an employer can suspend a worker without any notice if the employee's misconduct causes significant loss to the employer.

The Dubai Law No. 37 of 2009 deals with the recovery of illegally acquired public-private funds. The Dubai Law No. 37 was passed with the aim of restoring justice to the victims of fraud, to prevent fraudsters from refusing to repay their criminal proceeds.

According to Article 22, Federal Law No. 35/ 1992 of the Criminal Procedure Code, "Anyone who has a direct personal prejudice against a crime is entitled to claim his or her civil rights during or before the collection of evidence or before proceeding with the investigation."

The court hearing the criminal case, at any stage of the trial until the end of the oral petitions but he is not entitled to do so before the Court of Appeal. If the prejudice is upheld by a lawyer and the damages are specified by law or in a regulation issued by law, the court ipso jure should rule on it.

If, as defined in Article 1, a person makes a final judgment proving that he has obtained illicit funds and fails to repay the money for any reason, the enforcement judge must issue an order at the request of the debtor (i.e. the civil claimant/victim).

If the illicit funds obtained through fraud are not less than 500,000 dirhams and not more than 1000,000 dirhams, the penalty is five years imprisonment.  However, if the illicit amount is more than 1,000,000 dirhams but less than 5,000,000 dirhams, the penalty is 10 years.

At a progressive stage of removing the distinction between the public-private businesses created by Article 3, it is clear that the period of imprisonment applicable under Article 2 applies equally if the money is treated as public funds.

Article 4 states that negligence in the return of stolen money is punishable by a fine in addition to the offense of causing money laundering. The UAE law criminalizes the misuse of funds by an employee, which is a criminal offense as the company's funds are used by the employee for personal gain. You can file a complaint to MOHRE seeking termination.

The employer must obtain the approval of the Labor Office and report the incident within 48 hours. A written investigation should be conducted and a warning should be given in case of the recurrence of such an incident.

When the decision to dismiss is issued in legal form, it must be shown in the litigation, and a request made to give it legal effect. Thus an employer can register a criminal case and a labor case against the employee, but once a criminal case is registered, the employment proceedings will be terminated.

Ultimately, when an employer receives a verdict in a criminal case against an employee, the employee is not entitled to claim any benefits.