Legal Clinic

I joined a multinational company in Kuwait as sales executive in September 2017. They terminated my contract in May 2018 and my last working day with them was in August after I served the 3 months notice period. Total time with the company is 10 months and 15 days. I have not taken any annual leave during my time with the company and as such, I have 20 days annual leave pending. Could you please advise if I am eligible for 15 days indemnity, and if I can encash my annual leaves, as my contract was terminated by the company.

Name withheld

Answer: Yes, since you have been forced by the company you are entitled to 15 days salary as indemnity. You can also encash the pending 20 days annual leave.

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I saw one news item on Arab Times about reduction of duration of visit visa from 3 month to 1 month is it true? Also I want to know one thing my wife is in Kuwait on a 3 month visit visa which is valid upto Sept 14, after Sept 14, I want to extend it by one month, is it possible or not due to the new rule. Please reply me early as possible.

Name withheld

Answer: Yes, it is true that the duration of all kinds of visit visas has been fixed at one month without the possibility of extension except on medical grounds where a two-week extension can be granted under the old system where you had the 3-month visit visa for your wife, there was no window for extension so just prepare your wife to leave Kuwait on or before September 14 as no extension will be granted.

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I have one question, that I couldn’t find in Law of Labour in the Private Sector No. 6 of 2010. Quoted from your achieve regarding the term of working day in the link: http://www.arabtimesonline.com/ news/payroll-calculation/ “So, while calculating overtime, annual leave and indemnity we take the working days as 26.

So, if an employee has 30 working days paid leave a year the salary is first divided by 26 and only then multiplied by 30 to arrive at the leave salary”. My question, if plan to resign from our company.

How many days in the term of “a three month” notice that we need to fulfill to abide the Law? Is it 3×26 days as per above achieve or is 3×30 days?

Name withheld

Answer: Three months means three months, nothing more nothing less. This means that if you begin your notice period on Sept 1, you will work upto Nov 30. Within this period you will continue to enjoy the offdays as usual and these will be counted as part of the notification period.

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I work for a private company which is a wellness centre. I finished my 1 year service with them & still going on. I am planning to have a baby. I handle machines with radio frequency (RF), but once I am pregnant, I cant treat clients with RF as it not safe for the foetus. My job description is not just limited with the treatments I give. Will it affect my job security? Do they have the right to terminate me from job because I am pregnant? Waiting for reply.

Name withheld

Answer: Under Kuwait Labour Law, pregnancy should not form a basis to be dismissed from one’s job or to suffer job insecurity, having said the preceding, we must point out that in spite of the Labour Law not every employer or even employee will want to go by the letter and spirit of the provisions of the law.

The realization that functional breaches might at work places has given use to the institution of mechanism to address these breaches when they occur.

Answering your question directly, your company cannot terminate your appointment when you become pregnant, but if they do, you can take them on as the law is on your side. Luckily for your job description is not just limited to the treatments that you give. And hence, in the event of you becoming pregnant you can apply to be put on other schedules that will not require you to handle machines with radio frequency (RF)

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I am working in Kuwait as an Assistant Mechanical Engineer since 2012. The salary on work permit is KD 594 and designation Assistant Mechanical Engineer. I would like to know if I am eligible for driving licence in Kuwait or not.

Name withheld

Answer: To qualify to get a driving licence you have to meet the following conditions:

1. University graduate

2. KD 600 monthly salary

3. At least 2 years stay in Kuwait

However, if you belong to some profession you are given exemption if you do not meet some or all of these conditions.

What we are sure of is that ‘engineer’ is one of the designations that can seek exemption from meeting these conditions. We cannot say the same applies to ‘assistant engineer’.

So, all that we can say is that test the waters by putting in an application for driving licence and who knows you may be lucky to have your application go through by being offered an exemption.

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My name is Abhijith, nationality Indian, In my iqama in Kuwait the name is misspelled and surname is totally different. Actually my name is only ‘Abhijith’ as per passport but in iqama its written as ‘Abhijth Prahalad’. Will there be any problem at immigration while travelling to India and return to Kuwait. Kindly help with your valuable reply.

Name withheld

Answer: To prevent any future problems we advise that you got back to the Immigration Department and point out the mistake to them for rectification. You must do this as soon as practicable and your company representative (mandoub) will be of valuable assistance in this regard

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Hello sir I’m on visa 18 newly arrived in Kuwait. Wherever I get job in any company they are asking me for transferable visa but for new visa I can’t transfer for one year. So let me know if I can transfer any time because I have university degree certificate with me in how many months I can transfer my visa.

Name withheld

Answer: If you are a newly-arrived visa 18 holder, you are supposed to be working for the company that gave you the visa. The fact that you are now looking for a job in spite of you having visa 18 exposes you as someone who might have engaged in visa racketeering and hence broke the laws of Kuwait.

You risk being arrested if you continue exposing yourself by moving from office to office looking for a job when you should be working for the one who gave you the visa. The fact that you are a university graduate does not give you licence to do what the law frowns upon. A word to the wise is enough.

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I had signed a contract with my current employer back in February 2012 and then the employer made me sign another offer which paid less on April 30, 2012 without informing me of the change (basically they picked the offer they wanted me to go with). I completed my 6th year of employment with the company on April 30, 2018.

As of July 28, 2018, I received an offer from my employer which is breaking my current contract and I will not accept as the compensation is way less than what I’m currently entitled to.

My question is what will I be entitled to if I don’t accept the low pay contract. Will my employer have to pay me the 3 months severance pay?

Should the housing and transportation allowance be included in the severance pay?

How should my indemnity be calculated for six years of employment?

Does my employer have to cancel my work visa right away?

Name withheld

Answer: If as you say you won’t accept the new contract, (which you have the right to reject) then you may have to put in a formal resignation but in accordance with the Labour Law which requires you to give the company a three-month notice period before ending your relationship with them.

On the other hand if the company on their own initiative decides to fire you, then they are also required to give you the mandatory three month notice period.

If they fail to do that then the law requires them to compensate you with a three-month severance pay in addition to your indemnity which must include monetary compensation for unused leave days. The housing and transportation allowance must be included in the severance pay.

For the six years you have worked for the company your indemnity will be calculated as follows: 15 days pay for each of the first five years of service = 75 days pay but these 75 days have to be first divided by 26 (working days in a month) = 2.88 months pay.

One month pay for every year after the first five years = 1 month pay. Total = 2.88+1 = 3.88 month salary. As your service is over 5 years but less than 10 years you will get two-thirds of 3.88 months salary if you resign. On the other hand if the company fires you, you will get all the 3.88 months salary.

Please also note that the indemnity is calculated taking into consideration the latest remuneration which means the basic salary in addition to all allowances you receive on a regular basis.

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I have query about Haris asking for akramiya (goodwill) while renting a flat & asking for KD 5 or 10 extra other than rent every month. Last month I took a flat from another Indian family with household items and the Haris also asked for KD 250 akramiya.

After bargain he said give at least KD 150 or leave as more people are available to take this flat and are ready to pay more than KD 250 akramiya. So we agreed on KD 150 akramiya which I have already paid to him. At the same time of payment he also said there was KD 5 extra for removing garbage every month along with rent.

But a day later he changed his word and is now asking me to pay KD 10 extra every month for throwing garbage as he made this rule for all newly coming tenants, when I said he did not tell me this before, then he said if you don’t agree you can leave the flat. I have already taken the contract paper from him and did all cleaning of flat and going to shift my household items, now if I don’t agree to pay him extra KD 10 can he force me to leave the flat?

Name withheld

Answer: Since you have the signed rent contract with you, the Haris can’t force you to leave the flat and you must stick to the KD 5 verbal agreement he had with you as charge for collecting the garbage emanating from your flat.

If he is proving recalcitrant, tell him you want to have a chat with the owner of the building or the rent office in charge of the building on the issue of akramiya and the amount charge for garbage collections. We bet the Haris will recoil into his shell with this proposal since he is charging the akramiya on the blind side of the owner of the building, and is aware of the dire consequences of his actions if they come to light.

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My driving licence was issued based on the designation ‘computer engineer’. But after getting licence now I got job opportunity in another company and new company didn’t have engineer quota; so they will put my new designation as a driver. Kindly advise if I put my designation as driver will the licence get blocked or not?

Name withheld

Answer: You and the new company will be committing a fraudulent act if you go ahead with this ridiculous designation change from ‘computer engineer’ to ‘driver’ with the sole aim of acquiring a driving licence. Indeed, you can be charged for deceit of public officer if your are caught.

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