Employment Litigation

We work hand in hand with our Dispute Resolution team, including Arabic-speaking advocates, to represent clients in employment-related disputes across the UAE, including before the DIFC Courts and the ADGM Courts, as well as UAE labour courts and arbitration tribunals. We have a strong employment litigation practice in the DIFC Courts, where we act alongside leading King's Counsel to provide strategic advocacy on complex, high-value and reputationally sensitive matters. Our DIFC work regularly involves discrimination claims, the enforcement of restrictive covenants and the protection of confidential information. Our broader practice covers unlawful termination, end of service gratuity disputes, and bonus and commission claims, and we act for both employers and senior executives. Our litigation specialists combine deep knowledge of UAE labour law and DIFC Court procedure with a commercial, solution-focused approach, and we regularly advise on early-stage strategy to manage risk and resolve disputes efficiently. We have a strong track record defending clients in claims before the UAE labour courts and the DIFC Courts, and regularly pursue appeals to the higher courts where required to protect our clients' interests. 

• Secured an urgent interim injunction in the DIFC Courts in a high-value restrictive covenant dispute.
• Acted for a multinational client in a complex DIFC Court dispute raising novel issues of continuity of service and disability discrimination. Working alongside leading King's Counsel, secured a strike out of key elements of the claim at the preliminary hearing.
• Advising on the merits of appeal in relation to an employment claim for a global logistics and freight forwarding operator.
• Providing employment litigation advice to an American multinational payment card services corporation.
• Represented a Petroleum company in a case filed by a former employee in the local labour courts after his mandated retirement during the pandemic, where the employee raised a duplicate claim against the company for over 1 million AED.
• Advised a client in the defense of a labour claim before the Dubai Courts stemming from the termination of an employee who demanded commission when bonus had already been issued.
• Advised a client in a significant case before the Dubai Labour Court concerning a claim of AED 9 million related to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).