Question:
I am a company owner. A month ago I discovered that one of my employees embezzled money from the company. My question: What is the appropriate action to take against the employee in this case? I also paid money for the training of this employee. Do I have the legal right to recover this training money? Please advise.
Answer: To answer such question, I would advise the questioner that:
You may dismiss him without notice after conducting a written investigation about the matter in accordance to clause 9 of Article 44 of the labor law which states that the employer may dismiss the worker without notice after conducting a written investigation with him and the dismissal decision shall be in writing and justified and the employer or its representative shall hand it over to the worker if the worker exploited his position in an illegal way to obtain personal results and gains.
Then you shall make a consultancy report from a qualified accounting expert to check the accounts of your company and the amounts the worker had embezzled. You will use such report to file a criminal complaint against the worker for breach of trust in order to protect your interests. Breach of trust is an offence under the UAE Penal Code (Federal Decree-Law No. 31 of 2021) in its Article 453, which imposes a prison sentence or fine to any person whoever embezzles, uses or dilapidates amounts, bills or any other movable property to the prejudice of those entitled whenever the said movable property are delivered to him on bases of deposit, lease, pledge, loan for consumption or proxy.
When the criminal court issues a statement that the worker is guilty, you may file a civil case to recover the money the worker had embezzled along with the training costs you paid (as a kind of compensation to what you had suffered) as well as any other compensation you want and able to prove, but this is a matter of the court to decide about the compensation in general and the training costs. The general Rule is that no one is entitled, to enrich himself to the detriment of another person, without just cause. If he does so, he is liable to restitute it, as per Article 318 of the Civil Transactions Law.
