The Power of the Employer to Terminate Employment Contracts: A Comparative Study between the UAE and Egypt

Abstract

Labour law grants an employer the power to terminate an employment contract without the worker’s consent when he is guilty of serious misconduct. This power can also be exercised when the employer has legitimate cause even if the worker has not committed any misconduct. This article compares how legislators in the UAE and Egypt regulate this power. The Emirati legislator has recently passed Law No. 33 of 2021, which updated the dismissal causes list and enabled the employer to terminate definite term contracts for a legitimate cause. The Egyptian legislator is currently debating the employer’s power to terminate employment contracts in a discussion of the bill on employment law, which will soon replace the current Labour Law No. 12 of 2003. The article concludes that the various legal rules in the UAE and Egypt can be transplanted to balance the rights of employers and workers.