Emirates Law: Joining competitor and holding benefits

Query: I am employed in a company. My employer is asking me to sign a declaration that I will not join any of his competitors for two years. Is it legal for a company to demand such a declaration? I don’t want to sign any such document. Does the labour law oblige an employee to sign such a clause? Can my employer refuse to release my end-of-service dues in case I don’t sign such a clause?

Answer: Article 127 of UAE Labour Law states as follows: “Where the worker assigned to a worker allows him to become acquainted with the employer’s clients or to become familiar with the secrets of his business, the employer may require him to refrain, after the termination of his contract, from competing with him or participating in any enterprise competing with his own.

“Such an agreement shall be valid only on condition that the worker is at least 21 years of age at the time of its conclusion that the agreement is limited, as regards the time, the place and the nature of the business, to the extent necessary to safeguard the employer’s lawful interest”.

Therefore, the above article entitles the employer to request the worker to sign on the non-competition clause but the Labour Law does not oblige the worker to agree with such clause.

Finally the employer as per the labour law has no right to hold the employee’s end of service benefits in case he does not sign such clause.

Questions answered by Advocate Mohammad Ebrahim Al Shaiba of Al Shaiba Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Dubai International Airport expected to surpass Heathrow by 2020

UAE's Dubai International Airport is expected to surpass London's Heathrow International Airport as the world's third busiest international airport by 2020, with Heathrow expecting to handle 90 million passengers p/a and Dubai International expecting to handle 98 million passengers p/a by 2020. 

Director of media relations of BAA Airports, Simon Baugh stated, "Dubai International, unfortunately, will probably overtake us as the third busiest international airport at some point of time in this decade." He further said that Heathrow is aiming to achieve 99.3% of total capacity and cannot accommodate additional services because the UK Government has banned evening services, from 23:30 to 6:00, but Dubai, however, can accommodate such services.

 

Dubai Airports plans to invest USD7.8 billion on airport expansion to increase the airport's capacity from 60 million to 90 million passengers p/a by 2018. One of its expansion plan includes the construction of Concourse 3, the world's largest dedicated A380 facility, which is scheduled for completion by the end of 2012.

Ski Dubai: online competition to name snow penguins

Ski Dubai launched a competition to name two snow penguins. Winners will accompany the trainers and spend full day with the Penguins.

To participate in the competition, enter at http://www.skidubaipenguins.com/competition_video/

The online competition is live and will close on June 7.

Facebook to open regional office in Dubai

Facebook is ready to open its office in Dubai next week. This announcement came just days after launching one of the biggest and most turbulent share listings in Wall Street history.

Its office will be located Dubai Internet City, with a focus on winning advertising revenue from the region, daily newspaper The National revealed.

Like rest of the world, Facebook is the most popular social-networking site in the UAE, with 54 per cent of the population using the site, according to the Arab Media Outlook and Arab Advisors Group.

The company which was listed on Friday on the Nasdaq in New York, raising US$16 billion (Dh58.77bn).  But its shares experienced a turbulent ride since the offering, falling yesterday for a third day in a row yesterday. In early Tuesday trading on the Nasdaq in New York, the shares hovered at about $33.01, 3 per cent down from Monday's closing price.

Doubt has been cast over Facebook's business model. GM's pullout its $10m Facebook advertising budget, raised concerns over Facebook's valuation and long-term prospects. It did, however, say it would continue to use the site's free functions.

While some advertisers in the Middle East, including Emirates Airline, opted not to discontinue advertising on the website. Analysts have, however, noted that digital advertising revenue is relatively low in the region.

In the first three months of this year, Facebook's earnings fell to $205m from $233m in the same period last year. The company's revenue increased to more than $1bn in the first three months of the year.

Facebook was launched by its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, and several colleagues, at Harvard in 2004 and now has more than 900 million users around the world. The site reported net income of $1bn last year.

Ajman with speedy development

Ajman Municipality  divided the city of Ajman into six sectors and 44 residential areas in a bid to facilitate rapid development in the emirate.

"The division of the city would contribute a great deal in attracting investors and tourists", according to Yahaya Ibrahim Al Reyaysa, Director General of Ajman Municipality.

Its identity and heritage is taken care in the division of the city as the roads, bridges and highways will be named after the country’s leaders, while some names will reflect the national culture.

Al Reyaysa also explained that all the six sectors will be surrounded by main roads to facilitate easy access. These roads will divide the sectors and areas, like, Al Zora road will divide Al Jarf residential areas from Al Jarf industrial areas to ensure comfort, peace and stability for the residents.

The municipality also planned numbers of green belts and residential parks in all residential areas.

Iran Govt ordered MTN Irancell to extend mobile coverage to disputed islands

Iranian mobile operator says it covers certain areas of the Persian Gulf via a roaming agreement with Etisalat. The Iranian government has ordered the country's second-largest telcoms operator MTN Irancell to extend its network to cover Abu Musa and other disputed islands in the Persian Gulf, after Iranian visitors to Abu Musa received cellphone messages welcoming them to the United Arab Emirates, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

Iran and the U.A.E. both claim sovereignty over Abu Musa and two other Iranian-occupied islands near the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which one fifth of the world's crude oil supply passes. Tensions over the issue have risen after a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Abu Musa last month, the first by an Iranian president, sparked a storm of protest from the U.A.E. and other GCC countries.

Now reports that Irancell's coverage doesn't extend to Abu Musa have caused anger within Iran, specially parliament speaker Ali Larijani called it  for a "serious and public" investigation into the matter.

Irancell's public relations manager Arash Karimbeigi was quoted in Iranian newspapers as saying that the company has an agreement with the U.A.E.'s Emirates Telecommunications Corp to provide coverage in some areas of the Persian Gulf that are out of Irancell's range, resulting in Iranian visitors to Abu Musa receiving SMS messages from the Etisalat network welcoming them to the U.A.E.

"It was a technical problem ... the Iranian Foreign Ministry has given directives to Irancell to enhance the coverage over Iranian territories ... and not to fall in a similar mistake in the future," Alireza Enayati, director of the Persian Gulf affairs at the Iranian foreign ministry told Zawya Dow Jones in a telephone interview.

Telecommunication Company of Iran (MCI-Hamrah Aval) is the largest while Irancell is the second largest mobile phone operator in Iran, in which South Africa's MTN Group holds a minority 49% stake with the remainder owned by Iran Electronic Development Company, with 28% share of the local market.

Dubai Helishow 2012 would be held in November

The 5th addition of the International Helicopter Technology & Operations Exhibition, also known as Dubai Helishow , will take place on November 6-8, the Domus Group, organisers of the show announced

The show will be held at its new venue the Grand Stand, Meydan Hotel, Meydan Racecourse, Dubai, under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai.

The Helishow is the industry’s third largest exhibition in the world after Heli Expo-USA, and Helitech-UK.  Around 85 exhibitors around the world have confirmed their participation to date while more are expected. Lockheed Martin and Gulf Helicopters will also be exhibiting at the show. Exhibitors will display product offerings and technological solutions for use within the commercial, military, air medical & rescue and civil defence sectors.  

Its main purpose is to highlight the achievements and advancement of helicopter technologies and services and to address the specific requirements in the Middle East region. 

The show will host two conferences to be organised by Tangent Link, focusing on different inland and offshore emergencies and security issues pertinent to the Middle East. 

The first conference, titled ‘High-Rise Firefighting & Rescue’, taking place on day one of the event, will look at the international emergency services first responders, civil and government helicopter operators, helicopter and firefighting equipment manufacturers in the event of fires in high-rise and mega-buildings. It also highlights the solutions, tactics, technologies and the systems explored along with introducing new ideas to help meet the increasing requirements of specialist fire protection and rescue field. 

On the second day, ‘Heli-borne Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance (ISR)’ will discuss how effectively manned and unmanned air assets are operated in the airborne ISR solutions role. 

Abdulla A. Abulhoul, director of Dubai Helishow at the Domus Group, said: “Our vision is to contribute to the development of the helicopter industry and its associated trade in the Middle East region through bringing together the leading key industry suppliers and distributors worldwide. We were pleased by the achievements and business deals accomplished through the last Helishow and we are expecting an expansion in both the participation of the exhibitors and visitors for this year.  

“The trade show is the perfect setting for networking and conducting business deals for helicopters and its associated products from direct suppliers,” he added.

In 2012: Ramadan would be from 21st July in UAE

An astronomer in UAE forecasted that Muslim's fasting month of Ramadan might start on Saturday, July 21, and the Eid Al Fitr would be on August 19.

Ibrahim Al Jarwan from Astronomy Researcher and Supervisor of Sharjah Planetarium, said that the start of the crescent moon will be on Thursday,  July 19, 2012, at 8:24 am (UAE time), and the sunset will be at 5:09 pm, while the moon will set two minutes after sunset.

''The crescent moon of Shawwal 1433 will born on Friday August 17, 2012, at 5:54 pm local time, and the sunset will be at 6:49 pm same day," he added.

According to Al Jarwan, sighting the crescent would be impossible on Thursday night, but it would be visible on Friday night, therefore, Saturday, July 21 would be the first day of Ramadan, he anticipated.

Light rain and sandstorm changed the hot weather of Emirates

Emirates weather slightly changed after fresh sandstorms light rains which will cool down the hot weather of Emirates.

NCMS forecast reads: “Hot weather in general and hazy at times, with a chance of some towering clouds over the eastern mountains by afternoon, may extend over some interiors, and associated by some rain.”

The National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) is forecasting the hot and hazy weather to continue for some more days.