Question:
A questioner asks: 6 months ago, I filed a labour complaint against my employer to claim my late salaries and commissions. Currently, the labour case is before the Court of Appeal, and before this court, the employer stated that he dismissed me from service. My question is, am I legally entitled to claim my delayed salaries for a period of 6 months after filing the lawsuit and the rest of my dues before this court, or to file a new complaint against the employer before the Ministry of Labour? Please advise.
Answer:
To answer this question, I would advise the questioner that:
You must file a new complaint against the employer before the Ministry of Labour, because the new requests shall not be accepted in the appeal and the court will reject any new request in appeal as per Article 167 of the Federal Law No 42 of 2022 on the Civil Procedures Law which states the following:
(“The appeal transfer the action in its state in which it has been before the issuing the appealed decision in relation to what the appeal has prosecuted only. The new requests shall not be accepted in the appeal, and the court shall decide on its own accord with the disapproval. However, it shall be possible to add to the principal request the wages, salaries and the rest of attachments which are due after submitting the final requests before the court of first instance and what exceeds of the indemnities after submitting such requests, likewise it shall be possible, with the principal request’s matter remaining as is, to change its reason and adding thereto”).
This is because the Court of Appeal’s response to what was not decided by a Court of First Instance, is a violation of the principle of litigation on two levels.
The Court of Appeal does not have the power to change the content of these requests or to create new requests that were not submitted to it by the litigants. The application is considered new if it is more than or different from the previous application presented before the first Instance Court in the matter or the litigants, or exceeds it in its amount, unless the increase is what is stipulated in the aforementioned article.”
