Still, if you break the law, you can be dismissed instantly. If you become involved in an altercation serious enough to warrant police attention, for example, or if you’re found guilty of drunken driving, your employer will probably dismiss you.
If you’re made redundant, the termination clause in your contract will determine what happens next. Your employer may enhance the specified severance package if he feels you have been a valuable asset to the company or if it will cause serious financial hardship for you to have to leave Oman.
Note that you cannot legally be dismissed or made redundant while you are traveling outside Oman.
Disputes
Arabs sometimes make extreme judgements based on personal ‘chemistry.´ If they don’t like you, they’re likely to look for excuses to terminate their association with you. It’s obviously in your interest to try and resolve disputes yourself before you go to the authorities. Even if you ‘win’, you may destroy your furture career prospects in the process.
Expatriates should avoid legal issues whenever possible. They are time consuming and frequently lead to more problems than they solve.
If a dispute arises that you cannot resolve with your employer, take your case to the Ministry of Labour. If the Ministry agrees with your interpretation of events, they will take the matter up with your employer on your behalf. In general, the Ministry can be relied upon to make fair judgements. Be aware, however, that delays could cost you a great deal of money. Fortunately, serious disputes are rare.
Don´t ever count on union support. Trade unions are illegal in Oman, and even the employee associations that exist within most companies can only represent employees from their respective companies (they cannot band together - that would be a union). In general, disgruntled association members meet with little success in achieving their objectives, unless, of course, their objective is to change jobs!