The Practice Note discusses the requirement of written employment contracts in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).

DIFC Law No. 2/2019 DIFC Employment Law, as amended by DIFC Law No. 4/2021 and DIFC Law No. 2/2022, outlines certain minimum requirements in employment contracts.

In addition, this Practice Note will also look at some of the common clauses contained in DIFC employment contracts, such as restrictive covenants and confidentiality provisions and provides a comparative analysis with the equivalent provisions set out in Federal Decree-Law No. 33/2021 on Regulation of Labour Relations, together with Cabinet Decision No. 1/2022 on the Implementing Regulation of Federal Decree-Law No. 33/2021 Regarding the Regulation of Employment Relationship.

DIFC: The Dubai International Financial Centre.

Regulations: Legislation made by the Board of Directors of the DIFC Authority that are binding in nature (as defined in schedule 1(2)(e) of DIFC Law No. 2/2019 as amended).