In January 2019 400 employees of Al Wasita Emirates Catering Services brought a legal dispute against their employer, alleging wages withheld for months. The migrant workers from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Egypt, Nigeria and the Philippines had also been housed in accommodaton with only intermittent supply of electricity and water, and had been surviving on discarded food.

After the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD) and Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) intervened to dispatch a mobile court to the workers' accommodation, the company offered workers two options: to take 50% of their wages and a paid flight home, or to pursue the case via a labour court.

Although many workers chose the former option, by April they were still awaiting wage payments and repatriation and were stranded in the UAE with many missing important family events.

[The company said] "there is no information on why the delay in settling the payments". "We are also waiting for the right answers."