Domestic Worker Rights in Oman

Oman's Ministerial Decision No. 574/2025 — issued in October 2025 under the RD 53/2023 umbrella — establishes the most comprehensive domestic-worker framework in the Gulf to date. It replaced the outdated MD 189/2004 and gave domestic workers (DWs) formal legal standing for dispute resolution under the Labour Law, with a three-month grace period from October 2025 for employers to transition.

Covered professions (expanded scope): nannies, household domestic workers, drivers, gardeners, agricultural workers, residential guards, home nurses, cooks, and animal caretakers.

Core protections under MD 574/2025:

• Minimum age: 21 years. Employers cannot hire DWs below 21.
• Working hours: maximum 12 hours per day, with at least 8 hours rest per day. Overtime requires the worker's written consent.
• Rest day: 1 full day off per week, specified in the contract.
• Annual leave: minimum 21 days paid leave per year (less than the 30-day mainstream rule, but a major improvement over the pre-2025 position).
• Sick leave: up to 30 days paid per year.
• Wages: paid within 7 days of due date, in Omani Rials or the agreed currency, via bank transfer or signed receipt.
• Deductions permitted only for (a) damage caused by worker negligence, (b) court-ordered fines, or (c) loan repayment — and capped at 25% of total wage.
• End-of-service gratuity: available after 2 years' minimum service (vs 1 year for mainstream workers), calculated under the Labour Law Article 61 formula — a distinctive MD 574/2025 provision.
• Passport confiscation is prohibited without the worker's written consent.

Employer obligations: provide adequate housing, food, health insurance, and transportation; maintain employment records for at least 1 year after contract end; arrange the worker's return home within 30 days of contract termination unless services transfer; cannot charge any recruitment fees; and cannot assign work outside the licensed job description.

Contracts must be in Arabic (or an Arabic version) and registered electronically through the Ministry of Labour platform.

Dispute resolution — the distinctive feature: disputes are adjudicated under Oman's Labour Law, and domestic workers are exempt from judicial fees at all stages of litigation. There is no financial barrier to filing a complaint — rare anywhere in the region.

WPS exclusion: domestic workers remain explicitly excluded from Oman's Wage Protection System. Wage records depend on bank transfers or signed receipts rather than an electronic WPS trail — this is the framework's biggest gap.

Embassy resources: POLO at the Philippine Embassy, plus Indian, Indonesian, Sri Lankan, and Ethiopian embassies in Muscat, maintain domestic-worker desks for emergency shelter and repatriation support.

Worked example — Fatima, Filipino nanny in Muscat, 2.5 years at OMR 200/month: her employer confiscates her passport and refuses to return it. Under MD 574/2025, Fatima files a complaint at the Ministry of Labour — exempt from judicial fees — citing the passport-confiscation prohibition. Simultaneously, POLO provides emergency shelter and legal support. If her employment is terminated, she is entitled to gratuity for 2.5 years of service: applying the Article 61 split, her pre-31 July 2023 service is half a month per year for the early period, and the post-2023 portion is 1 month per year. For a late-2022 start at OMR 200: roughly 0.5 × 200 × 2 (old-law years) + 1 × 200 × 0.5 (new-law partial) = approximately OMR 300.