Kuwait Labor Laws
Dude, people in Kuwait have it made! Check out these perks if you work in Kuwait:
- It is prohibited for employees to work more than 48 hours per week or 8 hours per day
- Employees get 14 days of holiday per year
- Sick Leave policy:
- First 15 days – get paid 100% of salary
- Next 10 days – get paid 75% of salary
- Next 10 days – get paid 50% of salary
- Next 10 days – get paid 25% of salary
- Final 30 days – do not get paid salary
- Employee gets 30 days of paid annual leave per year AND the employee is entitled to be paid in advance for their annual leave before going on leave
- If the employer terminates the employment contract the employee shall be entitled to the terminal indemnity (which means more money!)
- It is prohibited to employ females at night from 10 PM to 7 AM
- Female employees are entitled to a 2 hour break during work hours to nurse their babies
Now, if you have been keeping track, you can see that Kuwait employees get (14+15+30) 59 days off per year that are paid. Furthermore, their normal work week is from Sunday to Thursday (their weekend is on Friday and Saturday). This means 59 days off is just about 3 months off!!! That’s crazy, it’s almost a teacher’s schedule! And, if you really do take another 30 days off (which is about 1.5 months) due to being sick then you still get paid on average 50% of your salary.
Unfortunately, I don’t get these perks because I work for the government (only foreign and Kuwaiti companies have to comply with them). But dude, seriously these labor laws make me want to look for a position here with a private company. Imagine that, taking three months off in a year! I could fly back to LA and relax my butt off. They also don’t work more than 8 hours a day! And they also get paid much better than any government worker does (I know cause I audit their books and records). I’ve never seen such employee-friendly labor laws before in my life.
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