هل يحق لصاحب عمل اتخاذ إجراء قانوني ضدي إذا قررت الانسحاب بعد الموافقة على عرض عمل؟

Dear Questioner,

Yes, they can take legal action. In theory, your relationship is not yet governed by the UAE labour law because you still did not sign an employment agreement. However, you did sign a contract and you did send it by email or accepted it via email.

What you did is gave a promise to join and withdrew from such commitment for your own interest sake. It may not sound as an illegal thing to do but what you did - maybe - has a negative effect on the company you signed with. Whether financially or morally and both make them eligible to take legal action against you for compensation. However, they will have to prove to the court the damage that occurred to them to be compensated.

On a separate note. It maybe not the best practice professionally and ethically to withdraw from a contract before it starts. You can reverse the situation and see yourself "You signed the offer letter, resigned from your job to join the new company and then they withdraw their offer" You would probably sue them as well.

I would highly recommend you to reach out to the new company, apologize and try to avoid the legal action as much as you can.