Employee Termination Dilemma: Can Alcohol Use in Company Housing Lead to Firing in Dubai?

Can you suggest to me on terminating a few employees as their behavior is against the company? If an employee consumes alcohol in accommodation, do we have the right to terminate? Share your views taking into consideration Dubai and Free Zone Visa.

Srikanth

Srikanth,

Relevant question during the summer time. As per UAE rules, any type of storage, transportation, transaction, or consumption of alcohol is regulated. A person has to have a liquor permit obtained from the authorities to buy alcohol from the regulated stores selling the same. Muslims are not allowed to apply for such permits. Even consumption of alcohol from pubs and hotels which serve them has to be carried out in a cautious manner, and one has to avoid any circumstances which may lead to interaction with the police. If involved in traffic or other related offenses under the influence of alcohol, one will be punished and may even be deported according to the nature of the offense.

Camps and general accommodation will have different nationalities with different beliefs staying together, and it will always be good to do a surprise check if you suspect any sort of alcohol deals happening out there. As they say, prevention is better than cure, it may save you from any post-conflict fire-fighting exercise after an incident happens. Many companies follow these types of surprise checks and reprimand staff and prohibit them from drinking even at their accommodation to avoid such scenarios. Most of them will not fall under the legal limit where an alcohol permit can be obtained, and if ever it is happening, it might be brought inside from external sources, which is all the more dangerous.

A word of caution in the beginning followed by strong disciplinary action will definitely save you from lots of difficulties later.

Regards,

Ramesh Menon

Dear All,

I'm a supervisor at ABC Company and I am facing difficulty in drafting a termination notice letter for HR to terminate one of my employees due to frequent absences.

Hariyana

Dear Srikanth,

No one is perfect in the world; all have their own habits. For your posting, my suggestions:

So what you can do is call personally and discuss with them. Through verbal warning, you can mention that if you continue the same behavior, we will no longer provide company accommodation for you.

Try it!
Raghav

Srikanth,

You have just unearthed a commonly occurring problem. Like Ramesh has rightly mentioned, one has to act with a high level of caution while dealing with alcohol since the laws here are stringent. In a staff accommodation, it becomes even more necessary for several reasons. One, as a visa sponsor, the organization risks goodwill if anything unwanted is discovered in a labor check. Second, an employer's image as "preferred" is at stake.

Please note here that termination should be the last possible solution sought when all possible options have been exhausted. Try to discipline the employees. Take the matter to the BU managers who can also help in disciplining the individuals. If nothing else works, then the only option left would be to terminate the employee.

Regards, Shaila