Payment for notice period

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I joined my previous company on Aug 1, 2011. The salary mentioned in the offer letter was KD 750 as a complete amount, with an annual leave of 30 days and a probation period of 100 days.

The company stamped my residence on Jan 1, 2012 and to my surprise they mentioned an amount of KD 600 only in the ethanamal (work permit).

They used to give me KD 150 sometimes as cash and sometimes as cheque. In 2013 they gave me an increment of KD 100. On Jan 18, 2015 I sent an email to the company saying that I would like to resign and requested if I could be relieved from my duties with a one month notice.

On Jan 19, 2015 I received an e-mail from company which stated that my resignation had been accepted. On Jan 20, 2015, the company send another e-mail asking me to send a formal letter of resignation and with a relieving date of 31st Jan 2015. Now my previous company has done a calculation and is instructing me to pay back an amount equal to 83 days for not serving my notice period which they did not inform in advance.

Please let me know how the company should handle me in this situation as they had agreed to relieve me without raising any objection to the transfer of my residence and now they are asking me to pay back my notice period amount for 83 days. Please let me know what is the correct calculation. My final salary at the time of resignation was KD 850.

Name withheld
Answer: You have not made things very clear but we will try to answer your question as best as we can. From your letter it seems that you may or may not have been paid a salary for the additional 83 days of the notice period that you did not serve. If you were paid, you are obligated to return the salary that you received for this period because you requested not to complete the notice period after submitting your resignation.

If the company had terminated your services and then asked to leave immediately things would be different as in such a case the company would be obligated to pay you for the whole notice period. On the other hand, if you are trying to say that the company is just asking you for payment for the unserved period of the “3-month notice period” then the company is wrong on the issue.

The company allowed you to leave earlier and did not even ask you to serve the onemonth notice period you had requested. According to the Labor Law, the company can (if you resign) either ask you to serve the 3-month notice period; ask you to pay for the unserved part of the notice period; or let you go (through mutual agreement) whenever you want without asking you for any payment.

So, the company can’t ask you to pay for the 83 days because it accepted you request without mentioning any payment. If it had wanted the payment it should have asked for it when it accepted your resignation. It should have said clearly that you had to pay for any duration of the unserved notice period. If the company insists on the payment, you should file a complaint with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, through the Labor Office in your area.

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