The second dialogue session of the Arbitration Forum titled: "The Arbitration Clause in Individual Employment Contracts from the Perspective of Arab Legislations"
ACT Conflict Resolution held the second dialogue session of the Arbitration Forum on Wednesday 18/01/2023 under the title: “The Arbitration Clause in Employment Contracts from the Perspective of Palestinian Legislation and Comparative Law.” This session stems from the belief of the importance of highlighting the legal issues related to the subject of arbitration as an alternative mean of dispute resolution for the purposes of finding appropriate solutions and spreading the culutre of arbitration in the society.
ACT hosted, through the arbitration forum via Zoom, Dr. Omar Al-Saktani from Morocco, a university professor and director of the Journal of Legal and Judicial Professions. He is also a practicing arbitrator on the list of arbitrators in the courts of appeal and a member of the International Center for Mediation and Arbitration. Joining us from Palestine Dr. Muhammad Abu Rumaila who is a university lecturer, practicing lawyer, international arbitrator, member of many local and international associations specialized in alternative means of dispute resolution, and executive director of Aman Group for Law Firms and Consultations, in a dialogue session prepared by Hiba Thouqan from Palestine, in the presence of 25 participants from various Arab countries.
In this dialogue, several questions were answered, the most important of which are: clarifying the concept of the individual work contract and the disputes that arise from this contract, and then addressing the validity of including the arbitration clause in individual work contracts and shedding light on the idea of public order contained in the arbitration law and its relevance in the rules The mandatory provisions contained in the Labor Law, which represent the minimum rights for the worker, all from the perspective of Moroccan and Palestinian legislation, and discussing the jurisprudential opinions supporting and opposing the arbitration clause in individual labor contracts, and then referring to the Palestinian jurisprudence and the problems that arose on this subject.
At the end of the session, we concluded that both Dr. Omar Al-Saktani and Dr. Muhammad Abu Rumaila are proponents of the idea that arbitration is permissible in individual labor contract disputes, whether it is an arbitration clause or an arbitration agreement, due to the many advantages that arbitration guarantees to the worker, as arbitration preserves the fixed rights of the worker and the arbitral tribunal is obligated to preserve the fixed rights of the worker through the Labor Law, in addition to the swift settlement and adjudication of the dispute arising in the individual work contract, compared to resorting to the judiciary, and many other advantages.
Many of the participants expressed their opinions on the issue of the arbitration clause in individual employment contracts through the applicable Arab legislation and their practical experiences, which led to the enrichment of this dialogue session with many opinions that raised many important topics.
We note that the ACT Conflict Resolution will organize a dialogue session on a monthly basis through the Arbitration Forum to highlight many issues and problems related to arbitration as an alternative means of resolving disputes.
Link for the meeting in full:
https://actadr.org/en/media/3224.html
