I shall be very much obliged if you would kindly give me the necessary information to clear my doubts: My daughter has been working in a private hospital in Kuwait as a physiotherapist from Nov. 01, 2013 on the following conditions mentioned in the employment contract signed on Aug 13, 2013:

1. The employee shall be under probation for a period of 4 months commencing from the date of starting work.

2. The term of the contract is for two years commencing from the date of employee starts work. The contract shall be automatically renewed for a similar period unless the employee notifies the employer in writing of her intention not to renew the contract before at least 3 months from the date of its expiry or the employers notify the employee in writing of his intention not to renew the contract 2 weeks before the date of its expiry.

3. The employee shall be entitled to a remuneration from the employer of a monthly salary of KD 250 which is payable at the end of every month. Free sharing accommodation will be provided.

In the background of the above terms & conditions, I wish to clear my following queries.

1. Whether my daughter can resign from the present employment on Feb 1, 2016 with a 3 months notice as she has completed her two-year contract.

2. Whether she can try to get an employment in MOH/KOC/other private hospital during the notice period?

3. If she is selected in MOH/ KOC/any private hospital, can the current present employer transfer her residence and also provide her a release without any objection?

4. Kindly also detail any other useful information, if any, for the awareness of the employee.

Name withheld Answer: You have not clarified a lot of things which would have made it easier to give you a very clear answer ... for example you have not stated whether you were hired from abroad or transferred to this company locally.

You have also not clarified whether your contract was a “fixedtime” contract or an open-ended contract.

In spite of these omission we will try to give you an answer although we will have to tackle the various possible situations. First of all, if you were hired from abroad, you will have to wait for completion of three years service before you can apply for a release.

You can’t even transfer to another employer unless you complete these three years even if the employer gives you a release. The only exception in this case is if you are a university degree holder and the employer gives you a release.

In such a case you can get a release even after one year of service. On the other hand, if you joined this company locally - and don’t have a fixed-period contract — you can ask for a release as soon as you complete one year’s service.

The employer can’t stop you from transferring to another firm But it seems, from what we gather from your question, you have a fixed-period contract which has been automatically renewed for another period of two years under the same conditions because you did not express a desire to leave the company three months before the completion of the contract.

In such a case, you will have to complete two years with the company and inform your seniors-in writing - three months before expiry of the current contract that you no longer wish to stay with the firm ... and don’t forget this time to clear this issue.

Your company can, however, let you go if it so wishes without any obligations on your side. If, however, the company decides to let you go after completion of three years service — if you were hired from abroad - or one year’s service if you were hired locally then there is no harm in you applying to a new company during the notice period. There is no law against it.