Sunday 31 / August / 2025
Muscat: Both local and expat employees working in Oman’s private sector can’t be terminated on their first violation of a work order or instruction, as stated under the Labour Act and Disciplinary Standard.
If the employer still does so, it will be termed as an abusive dismissal, said top lawyers.
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 whether an employee’s violation of work orders and instructions is a direct reason for termination of service.
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“To explain the right process to follow, we first have to distinguish between disobeying the employer’s work orders, which include verbal and direct orders, and secondly, violating work instructions, which are mainly the written rules,” said Dr. Mohammed Ibrahim Al Zadjali, Chairman of Mohammed Ibrahim Law Firm.
“Regarding the first matter, the Omani Labour Act states the obligation to obey the employer’s orders in paragraph 2 of article 27. This article obligates an employee to execute the agreed work as per his/her employer’s orders, under the condition of satisfying four basic requirements.”
“The first requirement states that the orders shall not be contrary to the work contract, i.e. they shall relate to the employee’s job description. The second states that they should not violate the law. While the third one states that they should not violate ethics or morals, the last one says they should be safe, and not expose the employee to any danger,” Al Zadjali added.
Another expert of the law firm said that disobeying orders does not authorise the employer to terminate the employee’s service and any direct termination for this reason will be considered as abusive.
“The Omani Labour Act 35/2003 does not directly state any particular sanctions to be applied if the employee disobeys his/her employer’s orders, especially after satisfying all the four requirements mentioned above. But such sanctions have been included in the Disciplinary Standard issued by the ministerial decision 129/2005. This Standard specifies the maximum punishments that the employer can grant to an employee. Of course, lower sanctions are possible as well,” the expert explained.
He continued to describe the sanctions, saying if the employee disobeys his/her employer’s orders for the first time, 50 per cent of his/her salary for the day will be deducted.
“If it happens for the second time, one day’s salary will be deducted. However, if it occurs for the third time, two days’ salary will be deducted. Lastly, if it is repeated again, that is the fourth time, three days’ salary will be deducted – considering all of these occur within a period of six months,” the expert said.
“It is important to add that in order to impose these sanctions, the employer will have a disciplinary policy in his/her company, duly approved by the authorities, the Employees’ Welfare Department of the Ministry of Manpower, and of course, this policy will include a section about the Employer’s Order Violations,” the expert added.
Moreover, another expert of the law firm said that the situation of violating work instructions is different. “These instructions can be divided into two categories: general instructions, and work & employee safety instructions,” the expert said.
He added that punishments for these instruction violations are also not stated in the Oman Labour Act, but in the Disciplinary Standard (Ministerial decision 129/2005).
“This ministerial decision requires the general instructions to be written in both Arabic and English and clearly displayed at the workplace. Upon their first violation within a period of six months, one day’s salary will be deducted, while two days’ salary will be deducted the second time. Whereas, if it occurs again, three days’ salary will be deducted and five days’ salary will be deducted for the fourth violation,” he explained.
He said it is to be noted that violating the work and employee safety instructions is stricter.
“On the first violation, an employee will be given a written notice. However, if the same violation occurs for the second time within a period of six months, the employee can be legally terminated without any after-service gratuity, as stated in article 14 of the above mentioned ministerial decision.”
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.
