The head of the Dubai Labor Court, Judge Jamal Al Jabri, revealed that the conditions imposed by the Corona crisis in relation to remote litigation, imposed a new reality that will not change after the crisis, which is remote litigation, and the promotion of smart communication in recording cases, consideration and adjudication.
He said that the labor court will implement a hybrid system after the resumption of office hours in the courts, which runs in two parallel lines: the basic is remote litigation based on modern and smart technologies, and the second is to consider the case in the traditional way with the parties attending the court.
He revealed the registration of more than 3678 labor cases since the resumption of work remotely in the courts on April 18, and 931 cases were adjudicated, pointing to overcoming the obstacle of limited culture, and the lack of familiarity with a group of workers with modern technologies by providing intelligent presence in virtual halls in a highly Ease.
In detail, Al-Jabri told «Emirates Today» that the labor court began early on the experience of remote litigation, as Dubai courts in cooperation with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation launched in November 2018 the “remote litigation” technology initiative to consider and adjudicate labor cases electronically The parties to the labor lawsuit are: the worker and the employer, or their representative, in addition to the judge, in the event that the parties to the dispute reach a dead end to settle the dispute amicably through the "Consensus" Center of the Ministry of Human Resources, as the judge is contacted to open the session electronically without trouble. .
He added, "The idea started to bring the parties together with the judge in a consensus center to consider the cases of one day, then we decided to move to the stage of smart work, and we allocated a mini hall equipped with cameras and technologies for communicating with the parties to the conflict, and we started looking at the cases of one day from a distance," pointing out that 593 cases were settled in one day, with an estimated value of seven million dirhams.
He pointed out that the labor court was intending to implement the same step before the occurrence of the Corona crisis with the Jebel Ali Free Zone as one of the major authorities in terms of the number of employment, as it includes more than 70 thousand workers, and the idea was not to leave the workers from the free zone and provide them with litigation From a distance through a small hall in which the case is registered, and through which the judge communicates with the parties to the dispute.
Al-Jabri added that Dubai Courts have been working diligently since 2018 on the smart case file, which relies on modern technologies from the beginning of registering the case, through consideration and adjudication without using any paper documents, and then the Corona crisis came to speed things up.
He explained that «there is a great challenge facing the labor court, and the Director General of Dubai Courts showed his understanding of this, and he told the heads of the courts before launching the remote litigation last April that he would not hold the labor court accountable for the results in light of its dealing with simple categories that may be difficult to use for modern technologies, but we accepted the challenge And we achieved a very satisfactory rate, and we started the first week with limited sessions via the website, and then we noticed an excellent interaction and a remarkable presence by the workers, so we set out to work at our full potential. ”
Al-Jabri pointed out that 15 partial labor departments worked remotely since the Dubai courts resumed their work with this smart mechanism, and during the period from April 19 to date, 3678 cases were examined, and 931 of them were dismissed, indicating that the system is wonderful in its simplicity as it is to provide halls Hypothetically, just like the traditional halls, and all that the worker or party to the lawsuit requires to enter the website and choose the court, then click on the link of the department that is considering its session, and interact and communicate the case as if it were inside the court.
He stated that «the only obstacle that was overcome was to find an alternative mechanism for advertising companies in the traditional way through the judicial advertiser's approach to their headquarters, and we replaced them by alternative methods such as e-mail, fax, and others».
Al-Jabri said that Al-Adeed centers concerned with providing related services to the workers category have gradually resumed their activity during the recent period, and 50% of the court employees have resumed their traditional duty, in implementation of the Dubai government’s decision, stressing that the work wheel cannot be turned back, an important positive aspect of this The difficult crisis is to ensure the effectiveness of smart remote litigation, which will represent the main course of action in the current period and the post-Corona stage, along with the traditional mechanism for considering cases, according to a hybrid system that serves all groups.
Labor issues and smart solutions
The head of the Dubai Labor Court, Judge Jamal Al Jabri, stated that judges and secretaries were looking at cases remotely from their homes during the crisis period, as well as parties to the case from business owners or their representatives and workers, pointing out that the only change would be the transfer of judges and secretaries to Smart halls in the court building, and after completing the virtual sessions they can consider the claims of individuals who prefer the traditional method.
Al-Jabri explained that labor issues in general are not complicated like commercial cases, and mainly depend on the availability of documents such as labor contracts and payroll regulations, and other documents that are arranged in outsourcing centers such as al-Adeed, so they align well with smart solutions, and in the provision of an easy mechanism For litigation remotely, they will not constitute any obstacle for workers to benefit from this best option.
The labor court faced the obstacle of "limited culture" with smart and innovative solutions.