Court orders telecom company to pay BD61,000 to sacked employee

TDT | Manama

A telecommunication company was recently ordered by the First High Labour Court to pay BD61,000 in compensation to one of its Arab employees after he was sacked arbitrarily. This comes as the company terminated the man’s work contract in the same day after he refused its request to shift to another GCC country within 24 hours. According to court files, the man joined the company in another GCC country back in 2004 and he moved to Bahrain in 2012.

The details of the case also show that he had signed a new contract with the company and was promoted to the position of project manager with a monthly salary of BD2,125 in 2017. The new contract included his entitlement of indemnity since the date the first contract was signed between him and the company back in 2004. In his statements with the court, the complainant said he was asked to move to another GCC country within 24 hours, but he refused since he has his family living here with him in the Kingdom, in addition to the fact that he has a sick son who needs constant and special medical care. However, the man said he received a letter from the company on the same day informing him that the work contract has been terminated, without settling his accounts, receiving his labour rights, or making a friendly settlement with him or compensating him.

Taking into consideration Article 101of Law 36 of 2012 promulgating the labour law in the private sector, the court ordered the company to pay a total of BD61,000 for the outstanding salaries, indemnity and leave compensation. The court also ordered the company to pay the man in compensation of flight tickets to his homeland. Article 101 of the Labour Law states: “The worker shall be entitled to compensation for termination by the employer unless the termination of the contract is for a legitimate reason. “The burden of proof of the legitimacy of termination of the contract shall be borne by the employer.”