Know Oman: Here is all that you need to know about resignations

Muscat: Employees working in Oman’s private sector have a legal right to submit their resignation during the course of their contractual period, a senior lawyer in the Sultanate has said.
According to Dr. Mohammed Ibrahim Al Zadjali, Chairman of Mohammed Ibrahim Law firm, this rule applies to both local and expatriate employees working in private firms.
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In a series of articles about Oman’s rules and regulations, entitled “Know Oman”, experts guide readers on their rights and responsibilities while working and living in Oman.
Speaking exclusively to the Times of Oman, representatives of Mohammed Ibrahim Law Firm, a leading legal office in Oman, explained the law regarding resignation.
“As stated in article 43, section 4 of the Omani Labour Law, an employee has a legal right to resign during the contractual period,” said Al Zadjali.
However, you may wonder if an employer can challenge or refuse his/her employee’s resignation, or if the resignation can be withdrawn once submitted by the employee.
“Article 43 of the Labour Law says that the contract of work shall terminate in any of the following cases, including resignation, which means that as soon as the resignation is submitted, the employment relationship is considered as finished,” explained another spokesperson of the law firm.
“Resignation is an employee’s right, and (on the contrary to the termination), it is not subject to examination by the courts – an employer cannot apply to the court asking to cancel his/her employee’s resignation, with exception for the legal notice period.”
“So, in practice, the employer has no legal right to choose between accepting and rejecting the resignation. Sometimes, employees make errors when they submit their resignations terming them as ‘resignation request’. But resigning is an employee’s right and should be termed as ‘resignation’ or ‘resignation letter’ instead,” the spokesperson added.
On the other hand, the employee may want to think twice before submitting the resignation, as he/she has no legal right to withdraw it at a later stage, informed the expert of the law firm.
“Of course, in practice, a situation may occur where the employer and employee agree to cancel the resignation and the employee returns to work.
“However, one should be careful as legally, such a situation is considered as a new employment contract,” the expert explained.
Both employers and employees might ignore the effect of withdrawing the resignation, and consider such a situation as continuation of the previous contract.
“In this case, no new employment contract is signed between both, even if legally, this should be the case. And in such a situation, if no details of salary and benefits are specified in the (new) contract, then the whole wage perceived by the employee should be considered as basic salary,” the expert said.
He added that it should be noted that according to the freedom of contract, the employer in Oman has the legal right to terminate the service of an employee at any time. “This decision can always be challenged in the Omani courts by the employee against his/her employer,” he affirmed.
Mohammed Ibrahim Law Firm ([email protected]) was established 11 years ago and is serving clients through its offices in Muscat and Sohar, as well as operating on a request basis in other areas, such as Duqm.
It offers legal representation across a wide range of practice areas that include labour law, corporate, commercial, contracts, banking and finance, international trade, foreign investment, insurance, maritime law, construction and engineering contracts, international arbitration, intellectual property and more.