COVID-19: Employers in Oman advised to adopt best practices for staff amid return to work

Merge 104.8  |  28 May 2020

Oman’s Supreme Committee for COVID-19 has advised employers to adopt policies and best practices for the protection of staff, after a decision was passed down yesterday [Wednesday, May 27] by the Committee that would see 50 per cent of public sector employees return to workplaces from Sunday, May 31.

Cover image photo credit: Oman News Agency

The Supreme Committee also announced the lifting of lockdown measures in Muscat Governorate as of Friday, May 29 — with the exception of Muttrah Wilayat which will remain under health isolation until further notice.

At the meeting, which was held at the Interior Ministry under the chairmanship of the Minister of Interior, Sayyid Hamoud bin Faisal al Busaidi, the following directives were underscored to employers, as Oman News Agency (ONA) reports:

“The Committee also urged public and private establishments to set policies, regulations, and procedures to ensure the protection of their respective employees, beneficiaries, and customers against infection with the disease.

The Committee also decided to terminate the enforcement of its decision discharging employees of working from their offices. It decided that not less than 50 per cent of employees should attend at the workplace with effect from Sunday, May 31, 2020, though some of the employees may benefit from their outstanding days of annual leave, said the statement.

Accordingly, Heads of Units (ministers and their counterparts) have the discretion to take any decisions deemed necessary to secure the regular performance of their respective government units, including standard flow of services, said the statement, which required Heads of Units to set precautionary measures to curb the spread of the disease.”

The Supreme Committee also expressed the necessity of individual responsibility to the public in helping to curb the spread of COVID-19, stating as per ONA:

“[The Committee] also valued His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik’s commendation of efforts undertaken to combat coronavirus disease and alleviate its health, social, and economic impacts, as well as His Majesty the Sultan’s appreciation for positive public comportment and total cooperation with the departments concerned.

The Committee reiterated His Majesty the Sultan’s call upon members of the public to continue their collaboration and cooperation to combat the coronavirus pandemic prevailing in the country and the whole world. In particular, it underscored His Majesty the Sultan’s emphasis on full compliance with the decisions and instructions issued by the departments concerned on this issue.

In light of the steady rise in the number of people catching the disease in the Sultanate, the Supreme Committee underlines the role of every individual, and society at large, in prevention against the disease, notably through commitment to precautionary measures.”

(Source: ONA)

(Also read: #BREAKING: Muscat lockdown to end Friday, 50% of public sector employees in Oman should return to work.)