Focus on Litigation: Employment Letters

An issue in Oman which can cause many problems is the simple letter offering employment. To minimise these problems, it is important to bear several points in mind.

First, it can be helpful to make offers of employment time-limited, so that the recipient of the offer must decide whether to accept the offer within a reasonable timeframe, and cannot argue that the offer is still existing many months after the offer was made.

Furthermore, it is important to explicitly state in the offer letter that the offer of employment is subject to the fulfillment of certain standard conditions, such as the employee’s completion of a three-month probationary period (as set out in Oman’s Labour Law, Sultani Decree No. 35/2003), a reference check by the employer, and the employee’s passing of a medical examination.

In addition, it may be helpful to explicitly list in the employment offer letter examples of employee misconduct which would be grounds for fair and justified dismissal of the employee pursuant to the Labour Law.

The employment offer letter should be signed by both the employer and the employee before the employee begins work.