Employment Offer Letter (ADGM) — Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) | IndexLaw Templates
Employment offer letterAbu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM)
Employment Offer Letter (ADGM)
An offer of employment for an Employer registered in the ADGM hiring an Employee under the ADGM Employment Regulations 2024: role, indefinite or fixed term, probation, salary, hours, leave, end-of-service gratuity or elected pension scheme, notice, repatriation flight, confidentiality, intellectual property, optional restrictions, ADGM law and ADGM Courts. Whether the individual is an employee or an independent contractor is settled by the decision card (worker_classification), from the facts, not assumed from the label.
What it covers
Employment by an entity registered in the Abu Dhabi Global Market, indefinite or fixed term, full-time or part-time.
Sponsored expatriate employees and UAE or GCC nationals, with optional allowances, bonus, pay in lieu, garden leave and post-employment restrictions.
What it does not cover
Employment by a mainland UAE employer, or in another free zone, including the DIFC.
Secondments into ADGM from another employer, and temporary work permits.
Self-employed consultants and contractors.
Senior executive service agreements needing regulated-function, equity incentive or change of control terms.
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INDEXLAW / CONTRACT LIBRARYAGREEMENT TEMPLATE
Employment Offer Letter (ADGM)
Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM)
Highlighted blanks are the details your parties fill in.
Parties
This agreement is dated the date on which it is signed by the last of the parties.
This agreement is made between [TO BE CONFIRMED — Employer legal name and details] (the "Employer") and [TO BE CONFIRMED — Employee full name, nationality and address] (the "Employee").
Key Terms
"Role" means [TO BE CONFIRMED — Job title].
"Reporting Manager" means [TO BE CONFIRMED — Reporting manager (name or title)].
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"Place of Work" means [TO BE CONFIRMED — Place of work].
"Basic Salary" means [TO BE CONFIRMED — Basic salary per month] per month.
"Allowances" means [TO BE CONFIRMED — Monthly allowances (for example housing and transport)].
"Working Hours" means 40 hours a week, Monday to Friday.
"Annual Leave" means 20 working days in each leave year.
"Probation Period" means six months.
"Notice Period" means 30 days.
"Bonus Scheme" means [TO BE CONFIRMED — Bonus scheme or commission plan].
"Other Benefits" means [TO BE CONFIRMED — Other benefits (for example annual flight, education allowance)].
"Restricted Period" means six months.
"Restricted Business" means any business that competes with the Employer in supplying products or services with which the Employee was materially involved during the last 12 months of the employment.
Definitions
"Employment Regulations" means the ADGM Employment Regulations 2024 and any rules made under them, each as amended or replaced from time to time.
Offer and Role
The Employer offers to employ the Employee in the Role on the terms of this agreement, and the Employee accepts that offer by signing it. The Employee will report to the Reporting Manager.
The Employee must perform the duties of the Role and any other duties consistent with the Role that the Employer reasonably assigns, comply with the Employer's lawful instructions, and act honestly and in good faith in the Employer's interests.
Nothing in this agreement reduces any right the Employee has under the Employment Regulations. Where the Employment Regulations give the Employee a greater right than this agreement, the Employee has that greater right.
Conditions of Offer
Where the Employee needs a work permit or residence visa to work in the Abu Dhabi Global Market, this offer is conditional on the Employee obtaining them, with the Employer's sponsorship, through the ADGM Registration Authority and the competent immigration authority, including passing any required medical fitness test. The Employee must promptly provide the documents, attested certificates and information reasonably required for that purpose.
The Employer bears all costs of obtaining, maintaining and cancelling the Employee's ADGM work permit, residence visa and identity card and will not recover them from the Employee.
This offer is also conditional on the Employer receiving references, and any qualification or background check appropriate to the Role, that it reasonably considers satisfactory, obtained in accordance with applicable law.
Term
The employment starts on the Start Date and continues until it is ended in accordance with this agreement.
Probation
The employment starts with a probationary period equal to the Probation Period, which may not exceed six months. During it, either party may end the employment by giving the other at least one week's written notice, or without notice for cause.
Place of Work and Hours
The Employee's normal place of work is the Place of Work. The Employer may require the Employee to work at another location in the same city, or to travel on the Employer's business, as the Role reasonably requires.
The Employee's normal working hours are the Working Hours, with the rest and prayer breaks the Employment Regulations require. The Employee's working time will not exceed 48 hours in each seven-day period unless the Employee consents in writing. If the Employee is Muslim, during Ramadan the Employee's normal working hours are reduced by 25% each working day, with no reduction in pay.
Remuneration
The Employer will pay the Basic Salary monthly in arrears by bank transfer, within 14 days after the end of each month, and will give the Employee a written pay statement for each payment.
The Employer will also pay the Allowances, at the same times and in the same manner as the Basic Salary. The Allowances do not form part of the Basic Salary for calculating the end-of-service gratuity or other amounts based on basic wage, except that the basic wage used for those calculations is never less than the minimum share of total wages that the Employment Regulations set.
The Employer may make deductions from the Employee's wages only where the deduction is required by law or the Employee has agreed to it in writing in advance, as the Employment Regulations permit.
The Employee is eligible to participate in the Bonus Scheme on its terms. Unless the Bonus Scheme expressly provides otherwise, any bonus is at the Employer's discretion, does not form part of the Basic Salary, and a bonus paid in one year does not create an entitlement in any later year.
The Employer will reimburse the reasonable expenses the Employee properly incurs in performing their duties, in accordance with its expenses policy and on production of receipts.
Leave
The Employee is entitled to the Annual Leave, with full pay, in each leave year running from the Start Date or another date the Employer notifies, pro-rated for any part year, and to paid leave on official public holidays. Leave is taken at times agreed with the Employer.
The Employee may carry untaken leave forward for up to 12 months, and may always carry forward at least five days, as the Employment Regulations provide. On termination, the Employer will pay the Employee for accrued but untaken leave, and may deduct pay for leave taken in excess of accrued entitlement where the Employment Regulations permit.
The Employee is entitled to sick leave and sick pay as the Employment Regulations provide; sick leave during the probationary period is unpaid. The Employee must notify the Employer of the absence and provide a medical certificate from a registered medical practitioner if the Employer asks.
The Employee is entitled to maternity, paternity, bereavement and any other leave that the Employment Regulations provide, on the terms they set.
Health Insurance and Benefits
The Employer will provide the Employee with health insurance that meets the requirements of applicable law in the emirate in which the Employee is employed.
The Employee is entitled to the Other Benefits, subject to the rules of any relevant scheme or insurance policy as in effect from time to time.
End of Service
If the Employee completes at least one year of continuous employment, the Employee is entitled on termination, whatever the reason for it, to an end-of-service gratuity calculated on the basic wage in accordance with the Employment Regulations. This does not apply to an Employee who is enrolled in a UAE pension scheme as a UAE or GCC national, or who has chosen in writing to join a pension or savings scheme that the Employer offers in place of the gratuity.
If the Employee is a UAE or GCC national, the Employer will register the Employee with the relevant UAE pension authority within 30 days after the Start Date and make the contributions the law requires, unless the Employee provides that authority's written approval not to participate.
Outside Interests
During the employment, the Employee must not, without the Employer's prior written consent, work for another person or be engaged or interested in any business that competes with the Employer or that would materially interfere with the performance of their duties, except as a passive holder of listed securities.
Policies and Procedures
The Employee must comply with the Employer's policies and procedures, including its disciplinary rules and grievance procedure, which are available from the Employer's human resources function. They do not form part of the Employee's contract unless they say otherwise.
Confidentiality
During and after the employment, the Employee must not use or disclose any trade secret or other confidential information of the Employer, its group companies, customers or suppliers that the Employee obtains through the employment ("Confidential Information"), except in the proper performance of their duties, with the Employer's written consent or as required by law. This does not apply to information that becomes public other than through the Employee's breach.
Nothing in this agreement prevents the Employee from making a disclosure required by law, reporting a suspected breach of law to a competent regulator or authority, or making any other disclosure that applicable whistleblowing law protects.
Intellectual Property
All intellectual property rights in any work, invention, design or other material the Employee creates in the course of the employment, or using the Employer's resources or Confidential Information, belong to the Employer. To the extent they do not vest in the Employer automatically, the Employee assigns them to the Employer for their full term, throughout the world, for all purposes and in all media. The Employee must promptly disclose such material to the Employer and sign the documents the Employer reasonably requests to confirm or register its rights.
To the extent the applicable law allows, the Employee waives, or agrees not to exercise, any moral rights in such material in a way that would prevent the Employer and its successors and licensees from publishing, adapting or modifying it, or from using it without naming the Employee, in the normal course of their business.
Data Protection
The Employer will process the Employee's personal data in accordance with its employee privacy notice and the ADGM Data Protection Regulations 2021. The Employee must comply with the Employer's data protection policies when handling personal data in the course of the employment.
Termination
After any probationary period, either party may end the employment by giving the other written notice of at least the Notice Period or, if longer, the minimum notice the Employment Regulations require for the Employee's length of service.
The Employer may pay the Employee instead of all or part of the notice period, a sum equal to the Basic Salary and any Allowances for that period, only if the Employee consents in writing on or after the date notice is given.
During all or part of any notice period, the Employer may require the Employee not to attend work and not to perform some or all of their duties. The Employee remains employed and continues to receive full pay and benefits during that period.
Either party may end the employment with immediate effect for cause, where the other party's conduct is such that a reasonable employer or employee would consider immediate termination warranted, as the Employment Regulations provide.
Within 21 days after the termination date, the Employer will pay the Employee all wages and other amounts due, other than variable pay deferred by written agreement, and will give the Employee an employment reference stating the dates of employment and the Role. The Employer will cancel any work permit and residence visa it sponsored, at its own cost, and the Employee must cooperate with that process.
When the employment ends, the Employer will provide the Employee, within 30 days after the termination date, with a one-way flight to the Employee's country of origin or another country agreed with the Employee, unless the Employment Regulations exclude that entitlement, including where the employment ended for cause or the Employee obtains other employment or visa sponsorship in the United Arab Emirates.
When the employment ends, or earlier if the Employer asks, the Employee must return all property of the Employer, including documents, devices and Confidential Information, and must not keep any copy.
Restrictions after Employment
For the Restricted Period after the employment ends, the Employee must not, in competition with the Employer, solicit or deal with any person who was a client of the Employer, and with whom the Employee had material dealings, during the last 12 months of the employment; or solicit any senior employee of the Employer with whom the Employee worked during that period to leave the Employer. The Restricted Period is reduced by any period of garden leave.
Each restriction in this Restrictions after Employment clause is separate. The Employee confirms that each is reasonable and no more than necessary to protect the Employer's legitimate interests in its Confidential Information, client connections and workforce stability.
Notices
A notice under this agreement must be in writing and may be given by hand, by courier to the Employer's registered office or the Employee's last known residential address in the United Arab Emirates, or by email to the Employee's work or personal email address or to the email address of the Employer's human resources function.
General
This agreement is the entire agreement between the parties about the Employee's employment and replaces any earlier offer or arrangement. Any change to it must be in writing and signed by both parties, except a change of an administrative nature, which the Employer will record in writing and notify to the Employee before it takes effect.
Governing Law and Disputes
This agreement and any non-contractual obligation arising out of or in connection with it are governed by the laws of the Abu Dhabi Global Market.
The ADGM Courts have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising out of or in connection with this agreement or the employment.