The UAE Federal Supreme Court has overturned earlier court rulings that upheld the medical retirement of a government employee shortly before her death, ruling instead that her service legally ended on the date she passed away.
The court invalidated an administrative decision that had placed the employee on medical retirement around four months prior to her death, finding that the move was not supported by the mandatory medical procedures required under federal law.
According to Emarat Al Youm, the case was filed by the employee’s heirs following her death in January 2024. They argued that she was unlawfully retired in October 2023 without a formal recommendation from an authorised medical committee, a key requirement for terminating service on health grounds.
The heirs asked the court to review the medical basis of the decision, including whether the employee’s condition truly rendered her unfit for duty and whether a competent committee had recommended either an extension of sick leave or termination. They also sought to have the retirement decision cancelled and her service officially recognised as ending due to death.
Lower courts rejected the claim and upheld the retirement decision. However, the Federal Supreme Court ruled that those courts misapplied the law by accepting a termination decision that lacked an approved medical committee report confirming medical unfitness.
The Supreme Court explained that while short-term sick leave can be granted based on a medical report, extended leave or termination for health reasons requires a formal assessment by a medical committee. In this case, the employer relied on a recommendation labelled as a “health status review for retirement,” which merely described the employee as “eligible” — a term the court said did not establish medical unfitness.
As a result, the court ruled that the retirement decision had no legal foundation. It annulled the termination on medical grounds and ordered that the employee’s service be considered to have ended due to death, effective from the date she passed away.
