Dubai employees who asked to leave work blame management for storm-damaged cars

Disgruntled employees of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce are still waiting to have their cars removed from a company car park after last week’s storm.

A worker of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce has asked the firm to compensate her and her colleagues for the damages to their cars.

DUBAI // Employees of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce are irate that their cars have yet to be removed from a company car park in Jebel Ali, which was flooded by the heavy downpours last week.

A staff member said the vehicles had become inoperable because the management did not act in a timely manner.

“We asked to be dismissed early but we were told that we’ll get a warning if we did, so we stayed and now we don’t have cars,” she said.

She has asked the company to compensate her and her colleagues for the damages caused to their cars.

“They should’ve just let us go early. We wouldn’t be in this situation without cars if they didn’t warn us [not to leave],” she said.

Another staff member expressed concern that the damages to the vehicles might not be covered by insurance.

“It was an awful day walking through the water puddles and the mud. A little preparedness would’ve gone a long way,” said another employee.

A spokesman for the chamber said it had given its employees plenty of assistance.

“We’ve rented car recovery trucks and we’ve paid our employees compensation for transportation,” he said.

“There are still a few cars left at the parking lot that we’re trying to move.”

The affected staff members said they hoped the matter would be resolved in an amicable way.