How to File a MOHRE Complaint in 2026: Steps, Deadlines, Decisions and Appeals

A MOHRE complaint is a formal labour claim filed with the UAE Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation when an employer or a worker in the private sector breaks the employment contract or the Labour Law. Unpaid wages, withheld gratuity, a refused cancellation and unpaid leave are the most common examples. MOHRE contacts both sides and tries to settle the dispute. If that fails, it decides claims of up to AED 50,000 itself, and refers larger claims to the labour court. Filing has no fee, and most workers do it without a lawyer.

This guide explains how to file a labour complaint, step by step, and what happens after you do. Every rule, deadline and figure comes from the law or an official service page, checked on 23 September 2026. It covers:

• who can file, what you can claim, and which channel to use (website, app, phone or service centre);
• every deadline, from the 30-day filing window to the two-year limit and the 15 working days to challenge a decision;
• the amicable settlement stage, the MOHRE decision, the court referral and enforcement;
• your job and visa while the case runs, employer complaints, domestic workers, free zones, DIFC and ADGM;
• two infographics, worked cases, the mistakes to avoid, and the questions people ask us most.

MOHRE complaint: find your route first

Before you file anything, find the row that fits you. The right door depends on who employs you and what you are claiming, not on how serious the problem feels.

Labour complaint UAE: the law behind the process

Knowing which rule says what helps when an employer, a typing centre or a friend tells you something different. These are the texts that govern a labour complaint (UAE mainland) today.

MOHRE complaint and labour dispute help in Dubai: our service and fee

You can file a MOHRE complaint yourself, and for a simple salary claim many people do. Where we add value is in the preparation, the follow-up and the visa side that runs alongside. MIRDXB PRO is a Dubai PRO services company with an office in Al Barsha 1. Our labour dispute and MOHRE complaint service is the “we file it for you” version of this guide.

What we do

• Check your file before anything is filed. We confirm that your employer is on the mainland (MOHRE) and not in a free zone, DIFC or ADGM. We also check your work permit and residence status, and whether an absence report exists.
• Build the claim sheet. Each head of claim (salary, leave, gratuity, notice, ticket) is set out with a figure, a basis and a document. We use the published rules and link the calculation, for example the gratuity calculator.
• File the MOHRE complaint through the right channel, with the right category and claim amount, and keep the MOHRE complaint number and confirmation.
• Prepare you for the settlement call or meeting, with your minimum, your documents and the questions to ask.
• Track the deadlines, including the 14 days to register a referred case and the 15 working days to challenge a MOHRE decision.
• Handle the status side: temporary work permit, work permit cancellation, residence cancellation or transfer, and your family’s visas.
• Work under power of attorney if you have already left the UAE or cannot attend.

How it works

1. WhatsApp us a short summary: employer, dates, what is owed, and whether you are still working.
2. Send copies of your contract, payslips or bank statements, and any messages with the employer.
3. We tell you the route (MOHRE, free zone, DIFC or ADGM), what you can realistically claim, and our fee, in writing.
4. We file and follow the MOHRE complaint, keep you updated at each stage, and tell you when a lawyer is the better choice.

What it costs

MOHRE’s complaint service card lists no fee, and worker claims up to AED 100,000 carry no court fees. Where any government fee applies, for example a temporary work permit or a residence transaction, it is passed on at cost. Our service fee depends on the work involved. We quote it in writing before we start. See our fees page for how we price.

Why residents use us

• We publish our sources. Every rule in this guide links to the law or the official service page.
• We cover the labour side (MOHRE) and the visa side (GDRFA in Dubai, ICP in the other emirates), so nothing is left open.
• We tell you when you do not need us, for example when the confidential salary complaint or a phone call to 80084 is enough.
• We see clients at our Al Barsha 1 office by appointment, and you can whatsApp us any time, 24 hours; office open Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 18:00 (Dubai time).

We act for employees and for employers

Most labour disputes in Dubai are about money that was agreed and not paid, and the system for dealing with that does not need a lawyer to begin. It does need documentation. We help either side prepare before anything is lodged: assembling the contract, the WPS history and the correspondence, calculating what is genuinely owed including gratuity, and presenting the file so the settlement stage has something concrete to work with. We will tell either side honestly when its position is weak.

Raise it in writing first

Before you file, put the problem to the employer by email or another documented message. It costs nothing, it sometimes resolves the matter, and if it does not, it becomes evidence. Verbal complaints leave no trail. Waiting also costs you: months of unpaid salary are harder to resolve than one, and records fade.

The evidence that carries most weight

Where salary was paid through the Wage Protection System, non-payment is visible in the system rather than a matter of one side’s word against the other’s. That is usually the strongest evidence available, and it is the first thing we pull together, alongside the registered MOHRE contract, bank statements, payslips and any signed acknowledgements.

What employers get wrong in a labour dispute

If you are an employer facing a complaint, send us the contract, the WPS records and the dates. We will tell you what is plainly owed, what is genuinely disputed and how to approach the settlement stage.

Before you file a labour complaint: check five things

Most MOHRE complaints that stall do so because something basic was not checked first. Ten minutes on these five points saves weeks.

1. Is your employer on the mainland? Your work permit or labour card shows who issued it. A MOHRE work permit means the MOHRE route. A free zone, DIFC or ADGM permit means a different door (see the sections below). Our guide to the MOHRE labour card shows where to find this.
2. Are you in MOHRE’s database? The service card makes this a condition: the employee must be registered with the Ministry. If you were never given a MOHRE work permit, say so when you call 80084; that is a violation to report in itself.
3. Is an absence (work abandonment) report open against you? It changes what you can ask for, including the temporary work permit. See how to check an absconding case.
4. Is a formal complaint the right first step? If you are still employed and the only problem is late salary, MOHRE’s confidential salary complaint may be better. It requires that you have no pending complaint or court case, so it is used before, not alongside, a formal complaint.
5. What exactly are you owed? Work out each amount now. The AED 50,000 line decides whether MOHRE or a court rules on your claim, so the total matters.

Who can file a MOHRE complaint

The MOHRE complaint service is not only for workers. Article 54 of the Labour Law lets the employer, the worker or “any beneficiary” of either raise a dispute over rights under the law, and MOHRE’s service card is addressed to employers and employees alike.

What you can file a labour complaint about

The trigger is simple. Article 1 of MR 47/2022 lets either party complain when the other “fails to fulfil his obligations”, under the contract, the Labour Law or the rules issued under it. In practice, labour complaints fall into a handful of types. The MOHRE form asks you to choose a category and, where money is involved, to enter the claim amount.

Safety, accommodation and heat-stress breaches, and similar workplace violations, can also be reported to MOHRE without a personal money claim. That is covered in the section on reporting violations.

MOHRE complaint deadlines: every clock that matters

Almost every avoidable loss in a labour dispute is a timing loss. These are the periods set by the law and by MOHRE, in the order you meet them.

How to file a MOHRE complaint online (website)

To file a MOHRE complaint online, use the service “Register Labour Complaints – Private Sector Employees”. The service card says it is available 24/7, lists no fee and gives 14 working days as the completion time. This is the sequence as the form currently runs.

1. Open the service page on mohre.gov.ae (Services, then Register Labour Complaints – Private Sector Employees) and start the application.
2. Enter your name and mobile number and request the one-time password (OTP). MOHRE sends it by SMS or email.
3. Enter the OTP and choose the user type: employee, or establishment if you are the employer.
4. Identify yourself. Employees give their labour card (work permit) number, person code, passport number, nationality and date of birth, and the Emirates ID number. Employers give the establishment or licence number. The system then shows the employment record MOHRE holds.
5. Check the record. If the employer, job title or salary shown is wrong, note it; it may be part of your complaint.
6. Add the labour complaint. Choose the category, describe the breach in plain dated sentences, and enter the claim amount. If you want your work permit cancelled, say so expressly.
7. Attach supporting documents if you have them, such as a resignation or termination letter. The service card lists these as documents supporting the claim, “if any”.
8. Confirm with the OTP and submit. Save the MOHRE complaint number and a screenshot of the confirmation.

After submission, a MOHRE officer examines the labour complaint and contacts both parties. The outcome is sent to you by text message. The service card says you can follow up on the application through MOHRE’s channels, so keep the number to hand.

Filing a MOHRE complaint online through the app

The MOHRE smart app (search “MOHRE UAE” on the App Store or Google Play) offers the same MOHRE complaint service. The UAE government portal lists the app as a channel to file a labour complaint and track its status. The steps mirror the website: identify yourself, check the employment record, choose the category, enter the claim, and submit. The app is usually the easiest way to track progress and see messages, so install it even if you file elsewhere.

By phone: 80084 and 600590000

• 80084 is MOHRE’s Labour Claims and Advisory Call Centre. The UAE government portal points workers to it for “any labour-related grievances or legal matters”. It is also the number to call if you are unsure whether you have a claim, or which category it falls under.
• 600590000 is MOHRE’s general call centre. The portal lists it for complaints by UAE citizens.

In person: service centres and Twa-fouq labour centres

If you do not have a smartphone, or your case is complicated, you can file in person.

• Twa-fouq (Tawafuq) centres are licensed by MOHRE to handle labour complaints from employers and workers and to work towards an amicable settlement. MOHRE lists a Dubai centre on Manama Street, Ras Al Khor Road (04 507 0333). MOHRE’s page says the centres make recommendations, while MOHRE takes the final decision, and that services are offered in three main languages, with certified translators for others. Check the opening hours before you go.
• MOHRE-approved business service centres, many still known as Tasheel centres, process MOHRE transactions for establishments and workers. Our guide to Amer vs Tasheel explains which centre does what.

If you are outside the UAE, or cannot attend

Leaving the country does not end a claim, but a MOHRE complaint that nobody follows up tends to go nowhere. The practical answer is a representative in the UAE, acting under a power of attorney. The Ministry of Justice issues digital powers of attorney to people inside or outside the country. The representative can file, take calls, attend the settlement meeting and receive the decision. Make sure the POA names MOHRE, the courts, and GDRFA or ICP if your visa still needs closing.

Documents for a labour complaint (UAE checklist)

MOHRE’s online form needs very little to open a file: your identity details and, for employers, the licence number. What wins a labour complaint is the evidence behind it. Gather this before you file.

How to write the claim: one line per amount

The single biggest improvement most people can make is to itemise. A labour complaint that says “they owe me money” invites a counter-figure. A labour complaint with separate lines, each with a basis and a document, is settled line by line, and any disagreement is confined to the line in dispute.

Check the total against the AED 50,000 line. If you are just above it, check the figures carefully rather than rounding up. A claim within the line is decided by MOHRE; one above it goes to court if it is not settled, which takes longer.

What happens after you file a MOHRE complaint

The service card and the law set out the stages. This is what each one looks like from the complainant’s side.

The amicable settlement stage of a MOHRE complaint

Most disputes end here. MOHRE reported that it settled 98.6% of labour disputes amicably in 2025. For the first half of 2026, Gulf News reported MOHRE figures of 185,793 disputes settled amicably (98.6%) and 2,481 referred to the courts (1.4%). A settled dispute is not always settled in the worker’s favour, but the numbers show where your effort should go: into this stage, not into planning a court case.

Claims up to AED 50,000: the MOHRE decision

If the dispute is not settled and the claim is AED 50,000 or less, MOHRE decides it. This power has existed since 1 January 2024. The current rules are in Article 54 as rewritten by Decree-Law 9/2024.

Claims above AED 50,000: referral to the labour court

For larger claims, MOHRE’s role is to try to settle. If it cannot within the period in the Executive Regulation, it refers the dispute to the competent court (Article 54(4)). The referral goes with a memorandum containing a summary of the dispute, the arguments of both parties and the Ministry’s recommendation. That is one more reason to take the settlement stage seriously: what you put in front of MOHRE shapes the first document the judge reads.

What the worker must do after referral

MR 47/2022, Article 3 puts these duties on a worker whose labour complaint is referred to court:

• Register the case with the court within 14 days of the referral being approved.
• Do not work for another employer without a temporary work permit from MOHRE.
• Apply to cancel the original work permit within 14 days of a final judgment.

What protects you while the case runs

• No court fees on worker claims up to AED 100,000 (and claims by heirs), at any stage, including execution (Article 55).
• Wages during the dispute. MOHRE may oblige the employer to keep paying the worker’s wages for up to two months while the dispute runs (Article 54(5)).
• The court must move quickly. The Court of First Instance sets a hearing within 3 working days of receiving the application (Article 54(7)).
• You are not tied to the employer for ever. If the labour complaint has stopped you working, the work permit is cancelled six months after referral to the court (MR 47/2022, Art. 4).

Court procedure itself is outside the scope of this guide, and a claim of this size is where a lawyer usually earns the fee. We coordinate the MOHRE and visa side with your lawyer.

Enforcement: when the employer still does not pay

A MOHRE complaint decided in your favour is not yet money in your account. If the employer ignores it, there are two routes.

1. Execution. A MOHRE decision on a claim up to AED 50,000 has the force of an executive instrument, stamped for enforcement. It is enforced through the courts’ execution procedures like a judgment, and Article 55 exempts worker claims up to AED 100,000 from fees at the execution stage too. A court judgment on a larger claim is enforced the same way.
2. The workers’ protection insurance. Under Ministerial Resolution No. 318 of 2022, the insurance covers up to AED 20,000 per worker: wages for the last 120 working days, end-of-service gratuity and the cost of returning home. It pays where the employer defaults, based on a MOHRE decision or a labour court ruling. That is another reason to get a formal outcome rather than a verbal promise.

If the company has closed or the owner has left, speed matters more than anywhere else. See company liquidation and visa cancellation for how a closure should be handled.

Your job and visa while the MOHRE complaint runs

A labour complaint does not freeze your immigration status. The visa side needs managing in parallel, and the choices you make in the first week decide how smoothly it goes.

Keep going to work unless you leave the proper way

Stopping work is the most expensive mistake in this process. An unexplained absence of more than 7 consecutive days is what a work abandonment report is built on (MR 47/2022, Art. 6). A report blocks the temporary work permit (Art. 3(d)) and, if proven, can mean a one-year ban on a new work permit (Art. 8), subject to the exemptions in the Executive Regulation. See our labour ban guide for those.

If the employer’s breach makes staying impossible, the Labour Law has a route. Under Article 45, a worker may leave without notice where the employer breaches its obligations and does not remedy the breach, after notifying MOHRE 14 working days in advance, and keeps their end-of-service entitlements. Our notice period guide covers the notice rules around this.

The temporary work permit

While a labour case is running, a worker can get a temporary work permit from MOHRE to work for another employer until the case is resolved. The UAE government portal says so, and MR 47/2022 Article 3(d) sets the exception: not where the worker has been reported absent from work. Your new employer applies for it. See work permit types in the UAE for how the temporary permit fits among the other permits.

Cancellation when the employer will not cooperate

A complaint can ask MOHRE to cancel your work permit. Where the employer cannot be reached within 5 working days (extendable by 5 more), MOHRE can cancel the permit at the worker’s request (MR 47/2022, Art. 5). The residence is then cancelled at GDRFA (Dubai) or ICP (other emirates), and your residence visa grace period starts. The full step-by-step, including fees and what to do from abroad, is in our guide to visa cancellation without sponsor. Where the employer does cooperate, the normal process is in how to cancel an employment visa.

When the employer files a labour complaint against a worker

MOHRE’s labour complaint service describes itself as open to “employers and employees” wherever one party breaches its contractual obligations. An establishment files a labour complaint with its establishment or licence number, through the same channels, and the same stages and thresholds apply.

What employers file about

• A worker leaving before the end of a contract, or without serving notice, where the contract or the law gives the employer a claim.
• An advance or loan, documented and signed, that has not been repaid.
• Damage or loss caused by the worker, where the employer can show it.
• A breach of a lawful non-compete clause. Article 10(3) says an employer’s case for this is not heard more than one year after the employer discovers the breach.

A labour complaint is not the same as a work abandonment report. An absence report under MR 47/2022, Article 6 is a separate procedure, for a worker absent without lawful reason for more than 7 consecutive days whom the employer cannot reach. Employers should read our employer’s guide to an absconding employee before using it.

Defending a complaint as an employer

Domestic workers: a different channel

Housemaids, nannies, private drivers, cooks and other domestic workers are not covered by the private-sector Labour Law. Their employment is governed by Federal Decree-Law No. 9 of 2022 on domestic workers, and their labour complaints go through a separate MOHRE service, “Register a Labour Complaint (Domestic Workers)”. That service card lists the MOHRE mobile app and service centres as channels, gives 14 working days as the completion time, and asks for the Labour Unified Number. The MOHRE call centre, 600590000, handles domestic worker enquiries.

In August 2024 the domestic workers law was amended on the same model as the Labour Law. As Khaleej Times reported at the time, MOHRE now decides disputes of AED 50,000 or less directly; either party may contest the decision before the Court of First Instance within 15 working days of notification; filing suspends enforcement; and disputes that cannot be settled go to the Court of First Instance rather than the Court of Appeal.

The substance is different, though: leave, working hours, end-of-service and other rights follow the domestic workers law, not the private-sector rules. If you employ a domestic worker, see our domestic worker visa service for the visa side.

Free zone employees: start with the free zone authority

If your work permit was issued by a free zone authority (Jafza, DMCC, DAFZA, Dubai South and the other free zones), MOHRE does not hold your employment file, and a MOHRE complaint is not your first door. The previous version of this guide said most free zone staff should file with MOHRE. That was wrong, and we have corrected it.

Jebel Ali Free Zone publishes its procedure, and it is typical:

1. The employee registers a complaint with Jafza’s labour section or customer service desk.
2. Jafza registers the case and notifies the employer.
3. Jafza makes every attempt to settle amicably within 10 working days of registering the case.
4. If that fails, Jafza transfers the matter to Dubai Courts, and the dispute is settled under Dubai Courts’ rules.

Other free zones run similar desks with their own timelines. Ask your free zone for its written procedure and keep a copy of every submission. The two-year limitation in the federal Labour Law is a court rule, but a free zone’s own process may have shorter internal steps, so act promptly. For how free zone and mainland employment differ, see free zone vs mainland.

DIFC and ADGM employees: separate law, separate courts

The Dubai International Financial Centre and Abu Dhabi Global Market have their own employment laws and their own courts. The federal Labour Law route in this guide, including MOHRE decisions and the AED 50,000 line, does not apply.

Reporting violations without a personal claim

Not every problem is a money claim. MOHRE’s channels also take reports of workplace violations. In September 2026, Gulf News listed eleven types that workers can report to MOHRE through the MOHRE app, the website or the Labour Claims and Advisory Centre on 80084:

• fake Emiratisation, and failure to meet Emiratisation requirements;
• forced labour and human trafficking;
• sexual harassment;
• failure to pay end-of-service benefits;
• requiring more than two additional working hours;
• breaches of midday heat-stress protection rules;
• labour accommodation violations;
• employing a worker in breach of the regulations;
• occupational health and safety violations;
• failure to grant annual leave, pay in lieu or carry leave forward.

For late salary, the dedicated confidential channel is MOHRE’s My Salary Complaint service. The service card describes it as a complaint about the establishment’s failure to pay wages on time “without disclosing the identity of the complainant to the employer”. No documents are required, there is no cost, it takes 14 working days, and it runs through the website and app. The conditions: you are registered in MOHRE’s database, and you have no pending complaint or court case. Our salary not paid guide sets out when to use it and what to do if it does not work.

What a MOHRE complaint costs

MOHRE complaint: six cases, worked through

These cases are built from the situations we see most often. Names and identifying details are left out, and the figures are the published ones.

1. Sales coordinator, two months’ salary unpaid, still employed

Still working, salary for two months not received, worried about being named.

Route: the confidential My Salary Complaint first, because she had no pending complaint and wanted to keep her job. The employer paid one month and promised the second. When the second did not arrive, she filed a formal labour complaint for the balance, itemised by month. It was settled at the first call. The lesson: the confidential route comes first; the formal MOHRE complaint is still there afterwards.

2. Site engineer, terminated, AED 38,000 claimed

Dismissed after four years; the employer offered AED 15,000 as a “full and final” figure.

Route: he refused to sign the release and filed a MOHRE complaint with five lines: last month’s salary, accrued leave, gratuity, notice pay and his ticket. At the settlement stage the employer accepted three lines and disputed the leave. Settlement failed on that line, and because the total was under AED 50,000, MOHRE decided it. Neither side challenged within 15 working days, so the decision became enforceable. The lesson: a low offer is often an incomplete calculation. Itemising exposes the gaps.

3. Operations manager, AED 140,000 claim

Senior employee, unpaid commission and gratuity, facts disputed.

Route: MOHRE complaint first, as the law requires. The employer disputed the commission scheme, settlement failed, and MOHRE referred the dispute to the court with its memorandum. He registered the case within 14 days of referral, with a lawyer, and started a new job on a temporary work permit. The lesson: above AED 50,000 the MOHRE stage still matters, because it produces the memorandum the court reads first.

4. Chef who stopped going to work

Unpaid for six weeks, he stopped attending; ten days later an absence report was filed.

Route: his wage claim was sound on the documents, but he now had to answer the report as well, and could not get a temporary work permit while it stood. With messages showing he had raised the salary problem before he stopped attending, we asked MOHRE to cancel the report under Article 7, then pursued the wages. The lesson: the strength of your claim and the strength of your position are different things. Walking out damages the second.

5. Employer whose settlement was not paid

A trading company agreed at the settlement stage to pay a former employee AED 72,000 in two instalments, then missed both.

Route: the former employee went back to MOHRE. Because the dispute was now about failure to comply with an earlier amicable settlement, MOHRE could decide it regardless of value (Article 54(2)), even though the claim was above AED 50,000. The lesson, both ways: for a worker, an ignored agreement is not a dead end. For an employer, agreeing to a schedule you cannot meet is worse than negotiating one you can.

6. Free zone accountant who filed with MOHRE

Employed by a Jafza company, she filed a MOHRE complaint online. Nothing happened for three weeks.

Route: her work permit had been issued by the free zone, so MOHRE had no employment file for her. She re-filed with Jafza’s labour desk; Jafza attempted settlement within 10 working days and then transferred the matter to Dubai Courts. The lesson: check who issued your permit before you file. The wrong door costs weeks.

What not to do in a labour complaint

What circulates online that is not true

How to verify every point in this guide

What we will and will not do

We will check where your labour complaint belongs before charging you, build an itemised claim from your documents, file and follow your MOHRE complaint, prepare you for the settlement stage, track every deadline, handle the work permit and residence side, act for you under power of attorney if you are abroad, and tell you plainly when you need a lawyer instead.

We will not promise an outcome that MOHRE or a court decides, inflate a claim, advise you to stop going to work, or suggest you leave the UAE with your file still open.

Related guides

• Salary not paid in the UAE: what to do, including the confidential salary complaint
• End of service gratuity in the UAE, the amount most often disputed
• Visa cancellation without sponsor, when the employer has disappeared
• How to cancel an employment visa, the normal route
• Notice period under UAE labour law
• ILOE claim process, income support if you lose your job
• What is MOHRE, the Ministry and its channels
• Labour ban in the UAE

Labour complaints, work permit cancellations and the visa steps that follow are what our PRO services in Dubai team handles.