UAE: 300 Commodore workers await unpaid wages three years after co. liquidated, despite court rulings in their favour
Summary
Date Reported: 1 Feb 2021
Location: United Arab Emirates
Companies
Commodore Contracting Co. - EmployerAffected
Total individuals affected: 5600
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Bangladesh , Construction , Gender not reported ) , Migrant & immigrant workers: ( 129 - India , Construction , Gender not reported ) , Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Pakistan , Construction , Gender not reported ) , Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Syria , Construction , Gender not reported ) , Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - United Kingdom , Construction , Gender not reported )Issues
Wage TheftResponse
Response sought: No
Action taken: Workers tried to approach company management but did not receive a reply and took their complaint to the Labour authorities. Some workers received partial payments but were not paid in full and were in financial crisis. Some workers returned to their home countries and were still struggling to receive their owed wages, compensation or end-of-service benefits. three years after the company closed. Some workers were dependent on loans from friends and others returned to their homes with accumulated debts.
Source type: NGO
https://www.flickr.com/photos/acousticsam/13093914864/
" 'Nobody is taking responsibility': Former UAE Commodore workers fight for denied compensation after company liquidation," 1 Feb 2021
5,000 labourers were housed in a camp built for the purpose, along with another 600 professional employees—including engineers, human resource practitioners and electricians—who lived either in the community or just outside. A court ruling forced management to pay off camp residents at the end of 2018...
300 professional workers who had been living outside the camp continued to wait. When even court rulings in their favor were not honored, they took their grievances to the Ministry of Labour...
ImpACT International obtained a list of 129 Indian employees who went to court and were promised settlements. Of those, only 14 have received the full amount pledged. At the other extreme, 47 have not been paid anything at all. The remainder received partial payments; although the court awarded amounts as high as 392,000 AED to the workers, no one received more than 49,000 from the company...
Another employee commented to ImpACT: “The Commodore group was very big, but they claim they don’t have money to pay us. They say they liquidated with zero fixed assets except for a few vehicles and materials. How is that possible?”