8,849 Companies in Kuwait flagged for not paying staff salaries

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 24: The Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) revealed that 8,849 employer files are currently flagged for salary payment issues, while 39,559 files comply. This concerns companies with five or more employees out of 48,408 files. PAM stated that the total number of files registered in its wage-payment monitoring system is 100,252 and 51,844 files belong to employers with less than five workers and 48,408 files belong to those with five or more workers. It also announced 13 valid grounds for salary deductions like unpaid leave (whether taken locally or abroad), childcare leave, sick leave, partially paid leave, suspension from work, unauthorized departure from the workplace, refusal to work and absenteeism, among other reasons related to the professional status of employees. The regulations mandate submitting documentation to substantiate the legality and justification for any deduction. Furthermore, strict limits apply, such that the maximum amount to be deducted from an employee’s salary in any month is 25 percent, provided documentation confirming the legitimacy of the deduction is attached.

By Fares Ghaleb Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff