Public sector staff in Oman allowed to own business, keep their job

Muscat: Public sector employees will now be allowed to establish small or medium businesses without having to resign from their jobs, according to a circular uploaded on the official Twitter account of Riyada, the Public Authority for Small and Medium Enterprise Development.
In a move to encourage Omani youth to establish their own businesses in the future, the employees will be entitled to unpaid leave for one year, which can be extended up to four years.
The circular said the Oman Cabinet Council had taken a decision to allow government sector employees to resign or take unpaid one year leave in order to better run their own business. The decision was taken during a cabinet meeting held on the 19th of last month .
The decision stipulates that certain conditions needed to be met by the employees in order to be relieved from service. The government employees can go for one of the two options. Either they resign to establish their business or they go on leave, according to the circular. It also noted that in order to resign, employees have to meet certain conditions. An employee has to give a three-month notice in advance once they submit the resignation letter.
Resignation letter
Moreover, the resignation letter should be attached to the document that provides an approval from the authorities concerned to establish a business.
The circular also explained that the employee should have completed at least three years in service and not have completed more than 15 years. Besides, the age of the employee should not exceed 45 years.
On the other hand, the resignation letter should be responded to within a period of not more than 30 days or otherwise it would be deemed approved.
The employee can get a full year’s salary at the end of service, the circular noted, as the person cannot apply for any public sector jobs until he completes three years after the end of his service.
The employee can also benefit from an unpaid year’s leave on the condition of applying for that leave three months before the leave starts. For this option, the employee should complete only one year in service and is entitled to get a response for a period of 30 days.
In case an application is rejected, the authorities concerned should explain the reason behind their decision to the employee. This is a one-time chance for government sector employees as the one year can be extended to four years on condition that the employee applies for it three months before his leave ends.
The employee can also work in the government sector during the period of his unpaid leave, but on certain conditions.