Allowances ( Food, Housing + Overtime)

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First of all I would like to thank the Arab Times for giving advice via the Legal Clinic. It’s really a great service and very helpful to us expatriates … keep up the good work. You are kindly requested to advise on the following:

The company every month pays us a basic salary of KD 600 + Housing Allowance KD 150 + Food Allowance KD 100 = Total Gross Salary KD 850 per month.

My questions:

1. If the company pays a housing allowance of KD 150 every month, and the employee goes on vacation or emergency leave is he eligible to receive same while on vacation?

2. If the company pays a Food Allowance of KD 100 every month, and the employee goes on vacation or emergency leave is he eligible to receive same while on vacation?

3. If employee signs a contract for 10 hours as a regular work day for 6 days a week, is the employee eligible for overtime after 10 hours of work… is this fair as per Kuwait Labor Law.

Your feedback on the above will be highly appreciated.

Name withheld
Answer: Yes, you are entitled to the housing allowance as long as you are working for the company, regardless of whether you are on duty or on short /long leave.

The food allowance issue has to be mutually decided between the employer and the employee but if it is mentioned in your contract that the food allowance will be given every month then the allowance can’t be stopped regardless of whether you are on leave or not. But please remember that you CAN’T be made to sign a contract to work for 10 hours a day.

This is against the Kuwait Labor Law. You can only be made to work a maximum of 8 hours a day. If anything more than 8 hours is mentioned in your contract the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor will cancel it. If you are made to work more than 8 hours you must be paid for that extra work.

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This news has been read 11089 times!