I have been working in the private sector since June 1991 and have gone, many times, on vacation commencing Feb 27.

Before the New Labor Law came into effect, the February salary was divided by 28 or 29 days and leave salary by 26 days. After the New Labor Law, the February salary was divided by 24 days and last year by 25 days because of the leap year with Fridays excluded from the calculation. The leave salary continued to be divided by 26 days.

This year the company says new instructions have been issued by the Labor Department and every month’s salary, including February, must be divided by 26 days and Fridays must be excluded from the calculations. Does this mean that Kuwait now has 30 days in February.

What about January, July, and December 2013. Will I now be paid an extra day’s salary?

Name withheld

I have been working for a private company in Kuwait since 1992 and earn a monthly wage of KD 650. I will be on vacation from Sunday, Feb 17, 2013, for 5 days and shall resume work on Sunday, Feb 24, 2013, because Friday and Saturday are weekly holidays. Working hours are 8 am to 5 pm.
The company says they are calculating my dues as per latest instructions received from the Department detailing the method of wage calculation for the private sector.
Daily wage: Salary divided by 26 days i.e. 650 ÷ 26 = KD 25 per day.
Feb 1-16 (13 days) 13 x 25 = KD 325.000
Feb 17-21 (5 days) vacation 5 x 25 = KD 125.000
Feb 24-28 (5 days) 5 x 25 = KD 125.000
Total KD 575.000
The four Fridays have been deducted from the calculation plus Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 which company says will be deducted because I will not be working the preceding week.
Last February 2012, I had taken leave and the company divided my monthly salary / leave salary by 25 days as February 2012 had 29 days with 4 weekends. This year, it seems, February has 30 days?
Name withheld

(Same answer for both above questions)

Answer: As the above two questions are on the same issue, we will give one answer to them.
First of all you must remember that only one day is to be counted as the weekend off and not two days regardless of the fact that you are getting two off days because legally, under the law, you are entitled to one day off per week and the second day has been given to you by the company after it divided the 6th day’s hours over the five days. This doesn’t mean it is your right.

Secondly, yes all the months must be considered 26 working days and the salary must be divided by 26 regardless of the length of the month. But this is only for the purpose of the leave salary and not the regular monthly salary.

For the regular monthly salary, it should be divided by the actual number of days of the month because now, unlike in the previous law, the weekly offs are now considered paid off days. Previously, these were considered as unpaid weekly off days.

It is surprising that people are complaining for the month of February and yet quietly accept the 26 working days calculation for the months of 31 days when on most occasions there are 27 working days in those months.

All said and done, the calculations in the second question are wrong. As this year February is of 28 days the daily salary must be calculated after dividing the month’s salary by 28 and the leave salary after dividing the month’s salary by 26.

But you must be paid for working on Saturday, Feb 23, because the company is closed on that day and you will be compensating for it by working the extra time over the rest of the five days.

 If the company doesn’t want to pay you for Feb 23, then it can’t make you work the extra time you will be putting in to compensate for the second weekly off day.

And no, you won’t be paid an extra day’s salary for the months with 31 days. If this was the case then the company should be allowed to deduct your salary in February because it is only 28 days for three years and 29 days in the leap year.