Within the purview of the labour law, such coercion is a sort of forced labour, which is not allowed in the UAE, said Humaid bin Deemas, acting director-general in the Ministry of Labour.

“The labour law empowered the ministry to administratively cancel the labour card unilaterally in case the employer does not report to the ministry within a week from being summoned, on the basis of the employee’s complaint,” he noted, adding that the action will not exclude the employee from commitment to the rest of the law, such as the six-month ban in the event of not having completed three years in service.

“A worker who is unwilling to continue his work, should lodge a complaint with the ministry, which will, in turn, notify the employer to report to it within a week from the date of being notified,” Bin Deemas pointed out.

The ministry will immediately proceed for cancellation of the labour card in case the employer does not respond, but in the event of response from the employer, provided he says there is litigation between him and the employee, the ministry gives the employer a maximum of one week to get a court order banning the employee from leaving the country, on the grounds of his claims that there are financial problems and other matters, he said.

Otherwise, according to Bin Deemas, the ministry will cancel the labour card within a maximum of 14 days.

It is not allowed to restrict the freedom of the employee by forcing him to remain in service or prohibit from leaving the country, he said, adding that the court does not often order banning the employee from travel, except in very special cases. The elaboration was made by Bin Deemas at the open day at the ministry on Monday, after a sponsor protested to the ministry for cancellation of a labour card of his employee without his knowledge, on the pretext that the employee owed him money which he had borrowed from him.

The employer, however, confessed that he did not report to the ministry on the appointed day, which prompted the section concerned at the ministry to terminate the labour relations of the employee with his place of work.

The ministry had taken action on the grounds that the employer did not respond to the notification for reporting to the ministry to get the order that bans his employee from travelling.

The employer, moreover, claimed that he had lodged a complaint with a police station against the employee, and it was learnt  that the complaint was submitted after he learnt that the employee had complained against him with the ministry and the order cancelling the labour card had been issued.

This was construed that the complaint lodged by the employer could be malicious and was intended to restrict the freedom of the employee, he added.