Legal Clinic

I am working in a private clinic as a Staff Nurse. Regarding maternity leave our new supervisor says… only for the first pregnancy and delivery is the 68 days maternity leave applicable. For the second pregnancy and delivery only 30 days of maternity leave can be given as per the ministry rule. And he allows us to take only 30 days maternity leave after the second delivery. I think this is not correct.

Name withheld
Answer: The company is lying because the Kuwait Labor Law does not differentiate first, second or third pregnancies. Article 24 of the Kuwait Labor Law clearly states that “A pregnant woman shall be entitled to a paid maternity leave of 70 days not included in other leaves, provided she gives birth within this period”.

This means you can get your annual leave also even after availing the maternity leave in a particular year.

Well, according to the law, you can have as many children as you want and for each pregnancies you are entitled to 70 days paid leave.

Send your legal queries to [email protected] or [email protected]

My brother, working in Kuwait, was robbed by a Kuwaiti man in police dress during residency checking in Mangaf area in 2013.

The man also took the Civil ID. We lodged a complaint with the police at that time and got a new Civil ID issued.

To our dismay, we found that someone has used that old Civil ID to purchase some products from a mobile telephone company, which claimed money from my brother.

We gave the details to the mobile telephone company and provided all the documentation like police complaint and proof of my brother being outside Kuwait during the time of purchase.

The company seemed to accept our explanation and informed us they would clear the dues against my brother.

Now, we have found that the company has filed a case and got a travel ban on my brother and is asking him to pay KD 642 including all the penalties. We found this while planning to travel to India.

We are not sure how the company can sell a device/service when the person who took the service and the photo in the Civil ID is different? The signature on the application itself is in Arabic with a Civil ID of an Indian national.

It is the company’s mistake to sell some merchandise to a person carrying someone else’s Civil ID … how can they file a case even after we had submitted all the papers they asked for ? Your feedback in the above case will be highly helpful.

Name withheld
Answer: The mobile telephone company is totally wrong in this case and you should take legal action against this firm.

Once you have provided all the information on the theft of your Civil ID card, the company has no right to take any action against you nor hold you responsible for any equipment it sold to a person who was carrying a copy of your card without verification of the document.

There are two things you can do:

1. File a complaint with the Consumer Protection Society.

2. File a case in court against the mobile telephone company.

In this case you will need a lawyer to fight your case. If you can’t afford one, you should approach the Kuwait Lawyers Society which may depute a lawyer to take your case.

You have all the documents to prove that you did not make the purchase from the mobile telephone company.

You also have a copy of the police report which clearly states that the card was stolen much before the transaction between the “thief” and the mobile telephone company took place.

The problem here lies in the fact that some companies try to cover up their mistakes by blaming others. In your case the company could have easily checked that the person carrying your Civil ID card was clearly not the owner of the card.

Had it fulfilled this “basic requirement” it could have saved a lot of trouble for everyone. Now, you have got to fight back by filing a complaint against this firm with the Consumer Protection Society or by filing a case in court.

Send your legal queries to [email protected] or [email protected]

I am a specialized Indian dentist working in a private clinic in Kuwait since June 1st of this year. It has been three months since I joined this clinic. I have not been paid a single month’s salary yet.

Though I have been asking about this from my employer almost every other day, he just responds by asking me to wait.

I also have a salary account with a private bank here, but with no salary deposited so far. I find it very difficult to wait any longer and I wish to get a release from here and also my pending salary. Can you please advise me what I must do?

Name withheld
Answer: You should approach the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor by filing a complaint with the Labor Office in your area.

Companies are required, by Kuwait Labor Law (Article 56), to pay the salaries of their employees by the 7th of each month and legal action — on complaints — can be taken against those firms which are in violation of this law.

In case the company continues to take the same course and fails to pay your salaries, legal action can be initiated against the firm. On the same complaint the ministry can — if it deems necessary — also sanction your release so that you can join another firm.

At the onset I wish to make clear that I don’t have any intention to twist the law to suit any purpose. My objective is just to understand the law so that I can claim my rights.

The best source is the respected Arab Times on which we can rely for any valuable advice. I just want to understand how much I should be paid in the below situation:

a) Date of Joining – May 1, 2016

b) Leave from July 3 to July 10, 2016 (Eid holidays fall in between)

c) Company deducted 7 days salary from my July salary considering the above period as unpaid leave (as I have not completed 9 months service).

Is it correct to deduct 7 days salary from monthly salary … i.e if the monthly salary is only KD 500, then salary paid was KD 500/26 x 19 days = KD 365.384 Only.

How much should I get as the July salary in the above scenario?

Name withheld

Answer: Before we calculate your salary for days you worked in the month of July, we will again publish the reply we gave earlier on the issue of official holidays falling in the paid annual leave and the unpaid leave.

It is very important to understand the different situations before coming to any conclusion.

When you take unpaid leave, you are not paid for the official holidays and weekends that fall within this leave.

In fact, even when you are on annual leave, you are not paid for these official holidays or weekends but there is a slight difference in both the situations.

Weekends and official holidays falling within the unpaid and paid leave are treated in two different ways. For the information of all our readers we will discuss both the situations.

According to the law, you are entitled to only 30 days paid leave.

The only benefit you have in this regard is that all the weekends and official holidays are added to you leave but you are not paid for these nor is any amount deducted from your salary for these holidays being added to your leave.

For example, when you take 30 days annual leave and four weekends plus three Eid holidays fall within those 30 days, you will be entitled to go home for 37 days.

But if the company wants you to take only a total of 30 days off, then you will have a balance of 7 days paid leave which you can avail later or add to your next annual leave.

In all cases, your annual leave salary will be calculated as follows : Monthly salary divided by 26 and then multiplied by your leave (total number of days after deducting the weekends and official holidays)

So, if the above case your sponsor allows you to go for 37 days (including the total 7 weekends and official holidays) then your leave salary will be monthly salary divided by 26 multiplied by 30.

But if you are given a total of 30 days off (including the total 7 weekends and official holidays) then your leave salary will be monthly salary divided by 26 multiplied by 23. And 7 days of your annual leave will remain in balance.

So, you can see that although you may get the extra days off, you don’t get any extra payment for these days. Things become worse when you take unpaid leave as all the weekends and official holidays that fall within these holidays are counted as part of the unpaid leave.

You neither get any extra days for these official off days nor are you paid for them. Now if you want to avail the official holidays or weekends in isolation whenever you want (even within the first 9 months) this becomes a totally different situation. Unless the company needs you (in which case it has to pay you overtime), you can leave the country for those days and go where ever you want.

Some companies don’t even require you to inform them of your plans but some do, so they can plan for any eventuality just in case they need your services and you are not available. Now coming to the calculation of your July salary, for which the correct method is as follows.

Please understand that calculations of monthly salary and paid annual leave salary are different :

Salary = KD 500 July = 31 days

Leave = 8 days (not 7 as Jul 3 to 10 is 8 days)

So you should get KD 500/31 x 23 (not 19) = KD 371

So, your pay will be deducted for the total number days you were away from the office on unpaid leave.

I have a problem regarding the 3-month notice period. I was terminated Aug 3 after which my company give me an option: first 1 month no work with pay and after 1 week all my settlement including indemnity would be paid.

I took this option because I believed that they would honor their word but now they are refusing to abide by this agreement.

Is this legal.

Now I have been given another option : you must work the 3 months period with pay. Is this also legal?

I have been told that even if I find a new job they will not allow me to start the new job until I complete the notice period.

Now they have told me that I will get the indemnity when my residence is already for transfer to the new company.

Is this legal?

Name withheld

Answer: First of all, the company is within its rights to make you serve the whole notice period.

It can let you go before that but this matter is totally at the discretion of the company and you can’t do anything about it.

Secondly, most companies adopt the same stand on the issue of indemnity and link it to transfer of residence. There is nothing wrong about it.

Kindly send your legal queries to [email protected] or [email protected]

Whenever I have a doubt regarding residence etc. I have contacted you and I am thankful to your kind response.

This time the issue is as below. Joined my current company on July 1, 2009. Most probably the last day of the service will be Dec 31, 2016.

It is not a resignation but the company will be terminating me because they are downsizing the organization. Total salary per month KD 790.

In this scenario what will be the termination benefits plus the amount and the method of calculation.

Name withheld

Answer: In this case, as your services are being terminated, you will get your full indemnity plus you have to be paid for any balance of annual leave.

The indemnity will be calculated as follows:

Service: 9.5 years

Salary: KD 790

For the first 5 years you get 15 days salary for each year = 75 days … but these days have to be divided by 26 (working days in a month) = 2.88 months salary

For the next 4.5 years you get one month’s salary for each year = 4.5 months salary

Total indemnity = 7.38 months salary = 7.38 x KD 790 = KD 5,830.200

You are entitled to the full above amount.

Kindly send your legal queries to [email protected] or [email protected]

I would like to ask about the rights of nurses working in Kuwait’s private clinics. I’ve been working in Kuwait for almost 9 months now as a derma nurse in one of the private clinics in Maidan Hawally.

I was hired in the Philippines by an agency in October 2015.

Since I have started here they are giving the salary late and now it has come to the point that there is almost a one month delay in the payment.

We have still not received the July salary.

The situation at the clinic does not seem to be stable as it is struggling to get patients. We signed a 2-year contract in the Philippines that stated we would get our annual leave pay every year and free ticket after completing the 2-year contract.

My question is if the clinic closes and the management is unable to pay the pending salaries where should we go for help and can we ask for a release even if we don’t complete 1 year with the company.

Is it still our right to receive annual leave pay since we have already completed more than 9 months with them?

Name withheld

Answer: Please remember that it is your right to receive the monthly salary by the 7th of each month.

If the clinic closes, you have the right to file a case against the company with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (through the Labor Office in your area) to get all your pending salaries.

In such cases, the Ministry allows the terminated employees to transfer to another firm.

You also have the right to receive both the annual leave pay plus indemnity for whatever period you have served if your services are terminated.

Kindly send your legal queries to [email protected] or [email protected]

Due to downsizing of our department, some of us have been issued termination letters with a 3 months’ notice period which ends in the 1st week of November 2016.

I had joined the company in September 2012 and was made to sign a contract with the following term stating “Indemnity will be one month salary based on basic salary and HRA only for each completed year of service, however in case of resignation from employment, provisions of the Kuwait Labor Law will apply”.

My current salary is KD 400 which is breakdown as follows:

Basic: KD 200
HRA: KD 115
Transport allowance: KD 85

My questions are:

1. How will my indemnity be calculated and how much will I receive.

2. According to the Kuwait Labor Law, is the indemnity calculated on basic salary and HRA as stated by the company or on the final salary you receive for the month.

3. Is the company right in stating the above terms on the contract?

4. Is the company right to breakdown my salary in the above format, where else in reality I don’t get any amount as allowance?

5. I have not availed my annual leave of 30 days and air ticket for this year. Am I entitled to the 30 days leave pay and the ticket amount.

Name withheld

Answer: The company is not right in its calculations because the Kuwait Labor Law clearly says that indemnity must be calculated on the last remuneration, which has been defined as the basic salary plus ALL the allowances received regularly.

Unfortunately, most of the companies calculate the end of service benefit on the basic salary which is totally wrong but even the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor – the custodians of the Kuwait Labor Law — turns a deaf year to the problem.

So, your indemnity — according to the law should be calculated on KD 400 (the final salary) plus the cost (divided by 12) of the air ticket.

This is a very important part of your salary because you receive it every year.

We have to divide it by 12 (number of months in a year) to get the amount to add to your monthly salary.

In view of the fact we don’t have the cost of the air ticket we can’t accurately calculate your indemnity. The company is wrong in including the above wording in the contract.

Please remember that anything against the Kuwait Labor Law will not be accepted by a court of law even if you have signed a contract.

The court will set aside the contract. In the end we would like to stress that you are also entitled to payment for all the days of annual leave you have in balance plus the cost of the air ticket if you fulfil the terms of the contract on this issue.

Kindly send your legal queries to [email protected] or [email protected]

My driving license will expire on 04-11-2016. I got the license a year ago and at that time my designation was engineer and the salary was KD 350.

Now my designation will change to Technical Assistant and salary will be KD 500.

I want to know if I can renew my driving license after my designation is changed and how many months before the expiry one can renew the license.

Name withheld

Answer: You should not face any problems in renewing your driving license because a change in only the following designations result in you losing the license:

1. Driver

2. Housewife

3. Mandoub (company representative)

4. Student

Normally, you can renew your license a couple of months before its expiry but sometimes due to the workload, the Traffic Department accepts such applications a few days before the expiry of the license.

Kindly send your legal queries to [email protected] or [email protected]

Please help out on the calculation of my indemnity. I was terminated by my company on Aug 16, 2016 … my joining date in this company was Dec 17, 2013.

What will be the total indemnity I will receive from my company … more over in my 2nd year with the company I didn’t go on annual leave.

I would like to know also if they will compensate me for the annual leave for my 3rd year of service … or they will make payment only for the 2nd year.

My salary was KD 650 … my basic salary was KD 550 with a KD 100 allowance. Kindly help me out.

Name withheld

Answer: Your indemnity will be calculated as follows:

Total salary: KD 650

Service: 2 years 11 months (as you were terminated on Aug 16 and with the 3-month notice period, your service ends on Nov 16).

The notice period has to be included in the service, whether the company wants it or not, even if there is a mutual agreement on not completing this period.

So you will get 15 days pay for each year of service = 43.75 days

But you have first to divide these days by 26 (working days in a month) and then multiply the result by the monthly salary = 43.75 / 26 = 1.68 months salary = 1.68 x KD 650 = KD 1,092.

As your services have been terminated you are entitled to the above full amount.

As you are entitled to annual leave once a year i.e. 11 months work and 30 paid days leave you are entitled to payment for the balance of your 30 days leave. = 30 / 26 x KD 650 = KD 750

Kindly send your legal queries to [email protected] or [email protected]