Amid confusion over end-of-service payment, the employees of Petrofac UAE, who were laid off last week, have received just 19 days' salary, which employees claim is a breach of contract. There is still no guarantee over the leave balance and other entitlements, including gratuity, according to reports.
The UK-based energy company laid off over 200 employees last week after it lost a two-gigawatt Dutch offshore wind transmission programme. The staff were laid off during a Town Hall meeting on November 18, with November 19 set as their last working day.
According to the Petrofac staff, they had expected the payment for 19 days, but the company has breached the contract. As per the three-month notice-period contract between the employees and the company, payment for three months has to be paid under the UAE labour rules for terminated staff. “My notice period is three months. If I resign, I must serve three months. If the company terminates me, they must pay me three months’ salary,” an employee told Khaleej Times.
Though there is no official word from Petrofac about the end-of-service benefits, including gratuity, employees said they were informed that the full settlement process would take up to 14 days from the date of termination. A detailed statement of account, covering all dues, airfares, leave balance, and any remaining payments, would be issued before December 3, the staff claimed.
The report added that he estimated his own gratuity to be around Dh600,000, adding that collectively, terminated employees may be owed more than Dh27 million.
Meanwhile, reports are that Petrofac is gearing up for more crisis after it lost another contract. Orlen Lithuania, the refining and import arm of Poland’s Orlen Group, has terminated a contract worth almost €1 billion with the company citing prologed delays and growing concerns about the UK contractor’s ability to deliver a strategic refinery upgrade in Mažeikiai, according to Gulf News.
However, Petrofac has claimed that its operations across its UAE project portfolio are right on track, despite the developments.
