Contract clarification via email enforceable by law?

Hi, I would appreciate it if someone could advise me on this.

A clause in my new contract is very ambiguous and the employer has clarified my exact entitlement in this regard via email. Would this email assurance hold up legally if they try to enforce that particular clause in their favour rather than mine? I know in other countries it would but I'm not sure about Oman. I don't want to sign the contract only to find I've been tricked into agreeing to something that is a deal-breaker for me.

I would really appreciate any advice you can give on this matter.

Hi ramisa01,

Email messages are accepted as evidences in the court of law, here in the Sultnate. Yes, they are.

One key issue to bear in mind is, if the email correspondence is in any other language other than Arabic, then the court would ask for an Arabic version of the communication to be presented (since all proceedings in the court would be in Arabic only).

And there exactly is where the ptoblem lies. A statement in the email can be translated to give many different and very varying meanings.

So in a sense, the evidence can be twisted and coloured to aid and suit the convenience of the petitioner, or the defendent, as the case may be.

A clever lawyer can and may manipulate the facts very effectively by this means.

So it is any day better to get the clarifications clearly addressed in your employment contract, in your own interest. Ulimately, for any employee the primary document of reference is their employment contract. Therefore if that piece of document is comprehensive, a lot of hassles can be avoided later on.

If your prospective employer is intentionally being ambiguous, then you have reasons to worry. On the other hand, if the employer's intentions are honourable, then let them put down everything in black and white in the employment contract. Why shy away ?

Thank you for that. I think he is purposely being ambiguous. He said that part of the sentence in question covered other employees in the company and didn't refer to me as the company has one standard contract. But I've heard that in the past everyone has fallen under the less favourable option. And you are right about the contract needing to be comprehensive. My last sponsor company gave me a 5 page contract where everything was clearly explained. This is a basic contract with the terms set out but no explainations. He said the contract is drafted according to Oman labour law but that means nothing.