Written vs Unwritten Employment Contract: Am I Protected?

Its surprising when you start asking around and realize that it is more common than not that employers have employees working with them with no actual formal written employment contract. Irrespective of whether a physical contract has been put into place, the employee employer relationship will still be governed by Omani Labour Law promulgated in Royal Decree 35/2003- however no physical contract forms doubt and uncertainty which can lead to lack of job security for the employee.

As of Article 21 of the Omani Labour law, employers are required to have a written agreement between them and their employees to be put in their files and a copy is to be given to the employee. This duty is on the Employer.

Not having a physical contract can result in the employer having costly difficulties for his business which could have been easily avoided. These include:

1. Firing your Employee and Notice Periods

If no contract has been drafted the Omani Labour will apply meaning that the notice period for termination shall be 30 days (Article 37). This restricts the employer and does not allow flexibility for what fits within the work environment. This also means that the contract is of unlimited duration and will continue to be renewed automatically as it does not have a defined duration in a physical contract.

2. No Probation Period

The law stipulates that the employee may be “appointed under a probation period” (Article 24), and this period is restricted to a maximum of 3 months. This means that the employer cannot benefit and fire the employee under a probation period and is bound to give 30 days notice as of Article 37 and must have reasonable grounds to do so.

3. Fluctuating Work Environment

A written employment contract specifies the roles and duties of the employee and what is considered part of their job responsibilities and who they are to report to etc.

Business requirements are consistently fluctuating and this may result in the employee being asked to perform tasks that our out of his/her working routine or usual responsibilities may change. If there is no clear job description or what is required of the employee the employer may be stuck with a stubborn employee arguing that this is not what he/she is hired for.

4. Non-compete Clauses

As an employer, the idea that their employee may resign and start up a competing business in the same field using their own trade secrets and taking away current and prospective clients away from the business is worrying. The employee could alternatively go work with a competitor and

take away current clients which will cause detriment to the employer.

This can be easily avoided by having a clause in an employment contract that restricts the employee from working in the same field of their current workplace for a period of time.

HOWEVER, this is not very straightforward for employers as they must make sure their non-compete clauses are carefully drafted as courts tend to struck down non-compete clauses if they are “unfair” to the employee and restrict him/her from earning a living.

Conclusion

These are only a few of the general issues that may arise from not having a well-constructed employment contract between employer and employee that governs their relationship. It is always advised that the employer has a written contract to avoid any disputes and paradormirmejor.org uncertainty which will most likely turn into a costly concern for the business.

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