Legal Clinic

I have been working here in Kuwait for 3 years plus now. My first company gave me a release but now I got a better offer from another company and they want me to start immediately. I’m in my 6th month now. My question is, if I leave, should I pay my current employer? And is it true that I should finish 9 months before I can transfer to another sponsor?

Name withheld

Answer: Under the Kuwait Labour Law, you can ask for a release from your employer at any point in time if you possess a university degree and was hired locally. If you are a non-degree holder, however, you are bound by the law to work one year for your new employer if you are hired locally. The law under this dispensation does not talk about any monetary compensation but only talks about the period to serve.

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Currently am on family Visa 22, I got a offer from a reputed private company. Can my Visa be transferred to Visa 18? Here is my Visa status and duration. Past Visa status: 22/7/14 — 06/05/16 — Visa 22 07/05/16 — 24/04/17 — Visa 18 Current Visa Status: 25/04/17 — till date — Visa 22 I got an offer from a reputed bank, can my Visa be transferred to Visa 18 ?

Name withheld

Answer: You will not have any problem in transferring your Visa 22 to Visa 18. The most important ingredient here is that your sponsor (either your father or husband or who ever he is) is willing to release you to take up the job offer by the bank.

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I am an Indian living in Kuwait for past 4 yrs on family visa and I am a degree holder too. Now my question is, is there any chance to change my visa to 18 without going to India for visa transfer?

Name withheld

Answer: No, you don’t need to go to India to effect the visa change. All you need is a release letter from your sponsor (husband or wife or whoever) so that the company offering you the job can apply for a work permit for you. After completing this process, you then sign a contract with the company and provide the required documents to the company representative known in Arabic as mandoub who does the rest of the work at the Immigration Department and the Public Authority for Manpower as well as the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour..

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This is to get an information regarding the new rule for the dependent Visa. I would like to know what is the minimum salary required for taking Visa for my family. I am an engineer working with KD 350 monthly salary.

Name withheld

Answer: The minimum salary required to be eligible to apply for a family Visa remains KD 450 per month. Your KD 350 monthly salary is therefore not enough to qualify you to bring your family to Kuwait on family Visa.

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You can sue a beauty salon if it ruined your hair, made you bald and caused you enormous loss! I think what is really horrible is that they ask you to pay for hair dyeing service after burning your scalp because they used unsafe products and gave you the color you do not want.

It’s not just that. Enormous loss comes when your hair is totally spoiled such that neither oils nor treatments can help bring back its healthy look… My friend faced a similar situation when she decided to dye her hair blonde with white highlights as it was the trend at the time.

Unfortunately, the hair dyeing specialist was not a ‘specialist’! She didn’t know how long she should keep the color on the hair or when to wash it. My friend’s scalp got burned due to excessive usage of chemicals in one hair dyeing session. She lost a lot of hair, up to the extent that she does not want anyone to see it. She is wearing a turban to cover it. She is seeing doctors to treat her scalp because it became very sensitive and red due to the excessive usage of chemicals. She is almost bald. It is very sad. What is even worse is that she paid more than KD 100 to the beauty salon, thinking she should pay regardless of the result. Here is where she committed a mistake.

Beauty salons are not only obliged to exert tremendous efforts and work hard in attending to the customers, they must ensure the result is as promised and as what the customer wants. If a beauty salon offers ‘shades of blonde’ colors, then it should be done exactly as described or shown to customers. Shades of blonde and some brown will not be accepted!! If beauty salons promised perfect color without chemicals, then they must do so; or else, it is their mistake. If a beauty salon ruined your hair, you should not pay. You can sue the salon for the damage caused by filing a criminal case at the nearest police station. Once the criminal case is presented to the court, the judge will ask you to go to the Forensic Medicine Department to examine your scalp in order to make sure that what happened to you is due to the dyeing session and you are not framing up the salon. After that, the case file is referred back to the court for the judge to see the forensic medicine report and consider it the main evidence for judgment. Financial compensation will be granted to you in accordance with the Civil Law once the beauty salon is found guilty. My friend’s compensation reached KD 15,000 because her medical condition is complicated — it is very difficult to grow her hair back to how it used to be prior to the salon incident. Please pay attention to your health and be careful who you deal with.

By Atyab Alshatti, Esq.

Email: lawyeratyabalshatti@ gmail.com

I am working in a private organisation in the Banking sector. On my work permit designation is Accountant with salary of KD 250. My wife and daughter already have a valid residence on my sponsorship. So I planned to change my company and another company is offering me salary KD 400. So my question is if I change my company to another company can I get easily renewal of my wife and daughter’s resident permit.

Name withheld

Answer: We don’t think you will have any problems in renewing the residences of your wife and daughter if you change your current company. Since your wife and daughter are under your sponsorship even though you are earning KD 250 per month, this means that you brought your family to Kuwait when the KD 450 per month requirement was not in forced. Since the law in forced now is not applied retroactively, you can continue renewing their visas even though you don’t meet the salary cap.

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I am an engineering graduate and have been working with a company since July 1, 2006. I had been hired locally as an engineer. I have submitted my resignation on Nov 21, 2017 requesting my last working day as Feb 21, 2018 (3 months notice period) , as per Kuwaiti labor law. I had sent the resignation letter by email to the GM and submitted a hard copy to the DGM of the company.

Till date I have not received any approval or a signed copy confirming my last day with the company. Although I had a meeting with the GM and he verbally approved my resignation.

Please advise, since I submitted my resignation and I have email read receipts of the same. Can I stop coming to work from Feb 22, 2018 or join a new employer, without any legal implications?

How do I get my transfer papers and my indemnity cleared from my current employer. The current employer is also demanding me to submit my passport with them. Please advise if it is legal to do so?

In addition I would also like to add that the company is going through difficult times and many of the partnering entities (Vendors & Suppliers) have made it evident to stop any further cooperation with them.

My current salary is basic KD 850 plus car allowance KD 50. Please help me to calculate my indemnity for the above said period ie from July 1, 2006 to Feb 21, 2018. Since the company is facing financial issues I have heard that they are paying the indemnity in installments. I also have two bank loans amounting to around KD 8,000. As you know once I leave the job, my salary will no longer be credited to the bank. Will I face a travel ban in the event that the company does not clear my indemnity in one shot, which in turn should be redirected to close the loan? I have no other means of repaying this loan. I had acquired this loan based on a salary continuation certificate issued by the company. Is it possible to transfer the loan on to the company’s name?

I have some good offers from employers in other countries, will I be able to move out of Kuwait unless I clear the loan? Kindly advise at the earliest.

Name withheld

Answer: If by the effective date of your resignation is due and there is no positive development on the part of the company, then we advise that you file a case with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour through the Labour Department in your area and they will compel the company to grant you the release or they will unilaterally grant you the release. Until this is done you will be breaking the law if you stop going to work or join another company without a release.

In the event of acquiring a release, your indemnity will be worked out as follows: Total salary (KD 850 + KD 50) = KD 900; Service 11.5 years. For the first five years you get 15 days pay for each year = 75 days. But these 75 days have to be divided by 26 (working days in a month) = 2.88 months salary. For the remaining 6.5 years service you get one month salary for each year = 6.5 months salary. Total = 6.5 + 2.88 = 9.38 months salary = 9.38 X KD 900 = KD 8,442.

As you have completed over 10 years of service, you will get the above amount regardless whether you resign or your services are terminated. With regard to your bank loan, we advise that you meet your bankers and put the issues before them and hopefully a workable solution could be found to the satisfaction of both parties. As for taking a job outside Kuwait without settling your bank loan we advise that you don’t entertain that idea since you will be breaching the loan agreement entered with the bank and will face the necessary consequences regardless of where you are.

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I need advice to apply for a driving licence. My designation is ‘personnel officer’, my actual salary is KD 450, but in my work permit only KD 270 is mentioned. With this salary am I eligible to apply for a driving licence in Kuwait?

Answer: No, you can’t apply for a driving licence because the salary mentioned in your work permit is far below the KD 600 a month to be eligible.

I am a nurse working in a private medical company. I am getting KD 350 salary. In my work permit it is also mentioned KD 350. I have done bachelor degree, I have attested the degree certificate. I have been living in Kuwait for the past 5 years. Am I eligible to get driving licence, please explain.

Name withheld
Answer: Yes you can apply for a driving licence even though your salary of KD 350 per month is below the KD 600 required for eligibility. You are however, exempted from this salary requirement because you are a nurse which is one of the professions the Traffic Department exempts from meeting the salary and other requirements. However, for your application to be accepted you have to first apply to the Director-General of the Traffic Department for a waiver.

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Can you please answer my below questions:
I was working in Kuwait on 18 visa before 1.5 years back for 2 years. When I left I cancelled my visa. Now I have got an offer from a company. I just want to know that if I apply for work visa will it be easier for me to get the work visa as I resided in Kuwait 2 years ago?

My degree certificate already attested from Kuwait embassy in India. Shall I need to attest my degree certificate again from Kuwait embassy in India.

Name withheld

Answer: You cannot apply for a work visa on your own as it is the company which gave you the job offer which has to do that on your behalf. Before they offered you the job offer, we believe that they were sure that they had a slot for you out of the quota of workers allowed them by the Public Authority for Manpower. What is important is you and the company meeting the requirements to be granted a work visa. Your previous stay in Kuwait will have no relevance here. You don’t need to attest your certificate again, the old attestation is good enough.

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VIDEO OF THE DAY

While the Kuwaiti Labor Law provides that either the employer or employee can terminate an employment agreement during the probation period without a notice and if terminated by the employer then they must settle any end of service benefits. While many parties understand this legal concept, many are confused when it comes to determining when the probation period commences and terminates.

There are many disputes in this regard because an employer or employee may attempt to terminate the agreement beyond the probation period because they did not accurately calculate the days. This typically arises when an employee commences work prior to the contracted start date. For calculation purposes, the date that the employer starts paying the employee shall determine the first date of the probation period. For example, if the employment contract specifies Feb 1, 2018 as the start date with a 90-day probation period but employee reports to work on Jan 15, 2018 (and wages are paid from such date), the probation period shall start on Jan 15, 2018 and end on April 15, 2018.

The labor law further specifies that if a contract is of a fixed term and one party terminates beyond the probation period without cause, then the terminating party shall be liable to the other party for damages. However neither party is liable to the other for more than the employee’s wages for the remaining period of the contract. For example (using the probation period mentioned above), if an employer or employee cancels a 1-year fixed term employment contract (monthly salary of KWD 350) without cause on April 16, 2018 or beyond, then the terminating party can be liable to the other for upto KWD 3,150.

It is very important to confirm your dates and consult with a lobor attorney before submitting a termination notice to make sure your rights are protected.

email: [email protected]

By Najmah Mateese Brown, Esq.