Question : Can I recover the employee hiring fees in part or full if a new employee is fired due to poor performance or if he resigns from his duty?
Answer :
According to UAE’s Ministry of Labour the entire cost of hiring an employee is to be borne by the concerned Employer. As per ministerial order 52 or 1989 : Article no 6 of UAE law an individual or company is not allowed to recover the cost of employment from an employee at the termination of employment; whether the employee is fired by the employer or the employee desires to leave on his own accord.
Further, the law also empowers the candidates to lodge a legal complaint if any such proceedings are done to recover the cost of employment from them like Visa Cost, Salary, travel allowance etc. Companies that have multiple complaints of this nature may also have trouble hiring foreign employees in future.
Question : Can I seek refunds (full or part) from employment agencies if the employee leaves or is fired?
Legally and Ethically, Yes you are allowed to do so.
This strictly depends on the agreement between your company and your recruitment agency. Most of the recruitment agencies do not entertain refunds. But most of them do have a replacement candidate options if a newly appointed candidate leaves the job.
As far as the policies of MME Recruitment Consultants is concerned we do not refund but we do offer a replacement candidate without additional costs. But the VISA expenses and other government formalities that need to be redone for the new candidate will be applicable again.
Please refer to terms and conditions in our employment agreement for further details. We provide recruitment solutions in Dubai, Saudi Arab, Oman, Jordan, Qatar and other gulf countries and we rarely face such situations. Proper talent scrutiny and personal interviews with client beforehand weeds out chances of such cases.