Kuwait

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Kuwait - Compensation & Benefit Legislation

CAPITAL

Kuwait

CLIMATE

Dry desert; intensely hot summers; short, cool winters.

LANGUAGES

Arabic (official), English widely spoken.

LEGAL SYSTEM

Kuwait has a civil law system with Islamic law significant in personal matters. Kuwait has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction.

CURRENCY

Kuwaiti Dinar (1 US Dollar = 0.30730 KWD as of March 15, 2002)

KUWAIT - COST-OF-LIVING

ERI's Relocation Assessor is a recommended source for cost-of-living data.

KUWAIT - EMBASSY/CONSULATES

U. S. Embassy at Kuwait City

P.O. Box 77

13001 Safat, Kuwait

Unit 69000

APO AE 09880-9000

Kuwait City, Kuwait

Telephone: [965] 539-5307 or 539-5308

Fax: [965] 538-0282

http://www.usembassy.gov.kw/

Embassy of the State of Kuwait at Washington D.C.

2940 Tilden Street N.W.

Washington D.C. 20008

Telephone: (202) 966-0702

Fax: (202) 364-2868

http://www.embassy.org/embassies/kw.html

KUWAIT - HOLIDAYS

New Year's Day
National Day (February 25)
Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice)
Birth of the Prophet
Leilat al-Meiraj (Ascension of the Prophet)
Eid-Al-Fitr

KUWAIT – LEAVE

Annual Leave: Minimum of 14 workdays of paid leave each year.

Maternity Leave: 70 day – 100% of pay (paid for by employer).

KUWAIT - MINIMUM AGE

The legal minimum age is 18 years for all forms of work, both full- and part-time. Employers may obtain permits from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor to employ juveniles between the ages of 14 and 18 in certain trades. Juveniles may work a maximum of 6 hours a day on the condition that they work no more than 4 consecutive hours followed by a 1-hour rest period.

(Section 6.d. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Kuwait – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

KUWAIT - MINIMUM REMUNERATION

There is no legal minimum wage in the private sector.

In the public sector, the monthly minimum wage is approximately $742 (226 dinars) for citizens and approximately $296 (90 dinars) for noncitizens.

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Kuwait – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)

KUWAIT - REMUNERATION

ERI's Geographic and Salary Assessors are recommended sources for international remuneration covering 189 countries.

KUWAIT - REPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES (2001, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE)

Section 6 Worker Rights

a. The Right of Association

Workers have the right to join unions. Nonetheless, the Government restricts the right of freedom of association by stipulating that there be only one union per occupational trade, and that unions may establish only one federation. The International Labor Organization (ILO) long has criticized such restrictions.

Approximately 52,000 persons, less than 5 percent of a total work force of 1.2 million, are organized into 15 unions, 13 of which are affiliated with the Kuwait Trade Union Federation (KTUF), the sole legal trade union federation. The Bank Workers Union and the Kuwait Airways Workers Union, consisting of approximately 4,500 workers, are independent of the KTUF. The law stipulates that any new union must include at least 100 workers, of whom at least 15 must be citizens. Both the ILO and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) have criticized this requirement because it discourages unions in sectors that employ few citizens, such as the construction industry and the domestic servant sector; only 7 percent of employed citizens work in the private sector. Despite past draft proposals under consideration for more than 10 years, and KTUF complaints, no new labor law was enacted during the year.

The new draft Labor Law was submitted in November to the Council of Ministers. At year's end, it was waiting to be passed on to the National Assembly for approval, which was expected to take place in early 2002.

The Government's pervasive oversight powers further erode union independence. The Government subsidizes as much as 90 percent of most union budgets and may inspect the financial records of any union. The ILO has criticized the legal prohibition on any union from engaging in political or religious activities, which are vaguely defined. The law empowers the courts to dissolve any union for violating labor laws or for threatening "public order and morals," although such a court decision may be appealed. The Amir also may dissolve a union by decree. By law the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor is authorized to seize the assets of any dissolved union. The ILO has criticized this aspect of the law. Although no union has been dissolved, the law subordinates the legal existence of the unions to the power of the State.

According to June government statistics, 975,961 foreigners were employed in the country. They constituted over 80 percent of the work force but only 10 percent of the unionized work force. The Labor Law discriminates against foreign workers by denying them voting rights and by permitting them to join unions only after 5 years of residence, although the KTUF states that this requirement is not enforced. The KTUF administers an Expatriate Labor Office, which is authorized to investigate complaints of foreign laborers and provide them with free legal advice. Any foreign worker covered under the Labor Law, which excludes domestic servants, may submit a grievance to the Labor Office regardless of union status. However, such services are not utilized widely.

In November two senior members of the ILO Secretariat advised the Government on how to improve its labor situation. At the ILO's urging, the Government agreed to ratify the remaining two of eight conventions from the ILO's Declaration of Basic Rights at Work. In addition to other areas of ongoing concern, the ILO officials also pointed to problem areas where the Government could make improvements, including the low wages and widespread abuse of domestic servants and the lack of a minimum wage for workers, who must pay health, education, and other fees to the Government. The ILO officials commended the Government for progress in increased freedoms for existing trade unions and improved rights for workers, such as sick leave and end-of-service benefits.

The law limits the right to strike. It requires that all labor disputes must be referred to compulsory arbitration if labor and management are unable to reach a solution (see Section 6.b.). The law does not contain any provision ensuring strikers freedom from legal or administrative action taken against them by the State. However, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has proved responsive to sit-ins or protests by workers who face obvious wrongdoing by their employers.

In September 300 foreign workers staged a one-day work stoppage at a fast food restaurant chain, complaining that they had not been paid for nearly 9 months. The workers filed a complaint with the Ministry of Social Affairs and received prominent coverage in the local press.

Unions may affiliate with international bodies. The KTUF belongs to the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions and the formerly Soviet-controlled World Federation of Trade Unions.

b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

Workers have the right to organize and bargain collectively, subject to certain restrictions (see Section 6.a.). These rights have been incorporated in the Labor Law and, according to all reports, have been respected in practice.

The Labor Law provides for direct negotiations between employers and "laborers or their representatives" in the private sector. Most agreements are resolved in such negotiations; if not, either party may petition the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor for mediation. If mediation fails, the dispute is referred to a labor arbitration board, which is composed of officials from the High Court of Appeals, the Attorney General's office, and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor.

The Civil Service Law makes no provision for collective bargaining between government workers and their employer. Technically, wages and conditions of employment for civil service workers are established by the Government, but in practice, the Government sets the benefit scales after conducting informal meetings with officials from the civil service unions. Union officials resolve most issues at the working level and have regular access to senior officials.

The Labor Law prohibits antiunion discrimination. Any worker who alleges antiunion discrimination has the right to appeal to the judiciary. There were no reports of discrimination against employees based on their affiliation with a union. Employers found guilty of antiunion discrimination must reinstate workers fired for union activities.

There are no export processing zones.

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

The Constitution prohibits forced labor "except in cases specified by law for national emergency and with just remuneration"; however, many unskilled foreign workers are treated like indentured servants (see Section 6.e.). The Constitution prohibits forced and bonded labor by children. However, there are reports of young boys being used as camel jockeys, as well as girls working as domestic servants (see Section 6.d.).

Foreign workers generally may not change their employment without permission from their original sponsors unless they have been in the country for over 2 years. However, in August the Government imposed a 3-month moratorium that temporarily waived restrictions on laborers and domestic workers, allowing them to transfer their residency sponsorships to new employers without penalty. Domestic workers particularly are vulnerable to abuses stemming from restrictions on transferring sponsorship because the Labor Law does not protect them. In many cases employers exercise control over their servants by withholding their passports, although the Government prohibits this practice and in some instances has acted to retrieve the passports of maids involved in disputes.

Some foreign workers, especially unskilled or semiskilled South Asian workers, live and work much like indentured servants. They frequently face poor working conditions and may encounter physical abuse. Domestic servants who run away from their employers may be treated as criminals under the law. However, the authorities usually do not enforce this provision. In some reported cases, employers illegally withheld wages from domestic servants to cover the costs involved in bringing them to the country.

There also are credible reports of widespread visa trading, a system by which sponsors agree to extend their sponsorship to workers outside of the country in exchange for a fee of $1,500 to $4,000. Middlemen, generally foreigners, use the promise of Kuwaiti sponsorship to attract workers from economically depressed countries, taking a commission and remitting the rest to the nominal sponsor. Once in the country, such workers are passed on to employers to the informal sector or find employment with parties that would otherwise be unable to sponsor them. Foreign workers who are recruited with these traded visas not only face possible prosecution for being engaged in illegal employment (that is, working for an employer other than their sponsor), but also leave themselves extremely vulnerable to extortion by employers, sponsors, and middlemen. Visa trading has resulted in growing numbers of unemployed foreign workers who buy visas to enter the country and then are unable to find work. Government efforts to crack down on visa trading; such as by closing front companies for visa traders, have not made significant progress. There are laws aimed at curbing visa trading, with penalties against both employers and visa traders, but the laws seldom are enforced. In June the Director General of the Immigration Department was suspended for signing 50 blank work residence permits, some of which subsequently were sold by visa traders. He was cleared after a 2-month investigation failed to show any evidence of criminal wrongdoing, but has been criticized for inadequate internal controls, which make visa trading possible.

For over 10 years, the ILO has criticized a 1979 legislative decree that requires prior authorization for public meetings and gatherings, and provides for a penalty of imprisonment including an obligation to work in a vocation of the prisoner's choosing within the prison system. The ILO also is critical of a 1980 legislative decree respecting security, order, and discipline aboard ships, breaches of which also may be punished by imprisonment with an obligation to work.

There were reports of young boys being used as camel jockeys (see Sections 5 and 6.d.).

d. Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment

Article 42 of the Constitution prohibits forced labor, including forced or bonded labor by children. In addition, the Labor Law prohibits child labor, forced or compulsory labor, and exploitation of workers. The Government has ratified 14 ILO conventions, including the conventions prohibiting servitude and forced labor, and its Labor Law enforces these conventions. Child labor is rare in the country. Some South Asian and Southeast Asian domestic servants are under age 18. Such underage workers reportedly falsify their ages in order to enter the country. There were reports of young boys being used as camel jockeys (see Sections 5 and 6.c.). Some small businessmen employ their children on a part-time basis.

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor is responsible for enforcing all labor laws. An informal two-tiered labor market ensures high wages for citizen employees, most of whom are in government white collar or executive positions, while foreign workers, even those in skilled positions, receive substantially lower wages. In June the visiting Bangladeshi Foreign Minister reported that the Bangladeshi domestic workers earn as little as $70 per month. There is no legal minimum wage in the private sector. In the public sector, the monthly minimum wage is approximately $742 (226 dinars) for citizens and approximately $296 (90 dinars) for noncitizens. However, noncitizens do not receive the same social benefits as citizens and must pay fees for education and health care, which are provided free for all citizens. Private sector wages range from as much as $10,000 (3,000 dinars) each month for top managers of large companies to between $500 to $2500 (150 to 800 dinars) for other skilled professionals and nonskilled workers. The public sector minimum wage provides a decent standard of living for a worker and family. Wages of unskilled workers in the private sector do not always provide a decent standard of living, with housemaids often making less than $145 (45 dinars) per month. To be eligible to sponsor family members for residency, government and private sector workers must receive a minimum wage of $1,300 (400 dinars) per month; for private sector workers, this represents a reduction of almost 40 percent from 2000, and is designed to encourage more foreign workers to bring their families to the country.

The Labor Law establishes general conditions of work for the private sector, with the oil industry treated separately. The Civil Service Law also prescribes additional conditions for the public sector, which consists almost entirely of citizen workers. The Labor Law limits the standard work week to 48 hours with 1 full day of rest per week, provides for a minimum of 14 workdays of leave each year, and establishes a compensation schedule for industrial accidents. In July the Government initiated a new program of unemployment allowances for citizen graduates who are unable to find jobs in the public sector or with private companies, providing regular payments until such positions are found. Domestic servants, who specifically are excluded from the Labor Law, frequently work long hours, greatly in excess of 48 hours.

The ILO has urged the Government to extend the weekly 24-consecutive-hour rest period to temporary workers employed for a period of less than 6 months and workers in enterprises employing fewer than five persons. The law pertaining to the oil industry provides for a 40-hour workweek, 30 days of annual leave, and sick leave. Laws establishing work conditions are not applied uniformly to foreign workers.

The Government has issued occupational health and safety standards; however, compliance and enforcement appear poor, especially with respect to unskilled foreign laborers. To decrease accident rates, the Government periodically inspects installations to raise awareness among workers and employers, and to ensure that they abide by the safety rules, control the pollution resulting from certain dangerous industries, train workers who use new machines in specialized institutes, and report violations. Workers have the right to remove themselves from dangerous work situations without jeopardizing their continued employment, and legal protection exists for both citizen and foreign workers who file complaints about such conditions. However, the Government never has devoted sufficient attention to worker safety issues, which has resulted in poor training of inspectors, inadequate injury reports, and no link between insurance payments and accident reports.

While the law mandates that all outdoor work stop in the event that the temperature rises above 122 degrees Fahrenheit, there have been allegations that Government's meteorological division falsifies official readings to allow work to proceed; the Meteorological Division consistently has denied these allegations. In August the official temperature was reported above 122 degrees Fahrenheit on several occasions, but work reportedly continued at many outdoor locations. At the Ahmadi Port refinery, work continued in intense heat despite the collapse of three workers. Refinery shift supervisors reportedly asked for postponement of outdoor activities until the evening, but management refused their request.

Employers often exploit workers' willingness to accept substandard conditions. Some foreign workers, especially unskilled or semiskilled South Asian workers, live and work much like indentured servants, are unaware of their legal rights, and generally lack the means to pursue a legal remedy. They frequently face contractual disputes and poor working conditions, and may face physical and sexual abuse. Most are in debt to their employers before they arrive in the country and have little choice but to accept the employer's conditions, even if they breach the contractual terms. It is not uncommon for wages to be withheld for a period of months, or to be decreased substantially. Many foreign workers are forced to live in "housing camps," which generally are overcrowded and lack adequate cooking and bathroom facilities. Workers are housed 10 or more to a room in squalid conditions, many without access to adequate running water. The workers are only allowed off the camp compound on company transport or by permission of the employer. Foreign workers' ability to change their employment is limited, and, in some cases, employers' possession of foreign workers' passports allows them to exercise control over such employees (see Section 6.c). Many foreign workers go heavily into debt and cannot afford to return home.

The Labor Law discriminates against foreign workers by limiting their ability to join unions (see Section 6.a.). The KTUF administers an Expatriate Labor Office, which is authorized to investigate complaints of foreign laborers and provide them with free legal advice. However, these services are not utilized widely. Any foreign worker may submit a grievance to the labor office regardless of union status.

The Labor Law provides for employer-provided medical care and compensation to both citizen and foreign workers disabled by injury or disease due to job-related causes. Once a worker files a claim, the courts decide the amount of compensation, which is paid in one lump sum rather than monthly payments. Workers, especially foreigners, have had difficulty enforcing such decisions. The law also requires that employers provide periodic medical examinations to workers exposed to environmental hazards on the job, such as chemicals and asbestos. Foreigners must pay high fees for medical care, both yearly and each time medical care is provided. Many employers deduct the medical fees from employees' salaries. Adequate and affordable health care remains a problem for many foreign workers. No health insurance system exists.

Domestic servants are not covered under the Labor Law. Those who flee their employers may be treated as criminals, although the authorities usually do not prosecute them. The 3-month moratorium, which began in August and lasted until November, lifted restrictions on transfer of sponsorship, allowing domestic workers to leave unsuitable employers (see Section 6.c.). In some reported cases, employers illegally withheld wages from domestic servants to cover the costs involved in bringing them to the country. It is also a common practice for employers illegally to withhold their passports. Maids pay the same amount or more than unskilled or semi-skilled workers for visas to work in the country.

Runaway servants often seek shelter at their country's embassy for either repatriation or assistance in dealing with employers. The numbers of servants in need of assistance remained high during the year as conditions for domestic employees remained poor. Some embassies house runaway servants: The Sri Lankan Embassy has approximately 500 nationals in its care, the Indian Embassy 25, the Philippine Embassy 300, the Indonesian Embassy 100, and the Bangladeshi Embassy 40. The total of 965 represents a decrease of 335 from last year, although embassies report that the numbers of domestic servants seeking assistance each month have not diminished; rather, the embassies have reduced the number of persons sheltered in their facilities by expediting repatriation.

Although most such workers sought shelter due to contractual or financial problems with their employers, some women also alleged physical and sexual abuse. The Sri Lankan, Indian, and Philippine Embassies all continue to report the steady occurrence of physical abuse and mistreatment involving domestic servants, including withheld salaries, overwork, and not being fed regularly or enough. Each government has attempted to register its nationals who arrive to work in the country as domestic employees and to regulate recruiting agents in their home countries, without much success. Limited services provided by the police facility designated to mediate between embassies, domestic workers, and employers made it very difficult for domestic servants to file complaints, receive withheld salary, or reach settlement in cases of mistreatment. Domestic servants must now deal with neighborhood police stations, whose personnel are untrained and inexperienced in handling their cases and often side with the employer.

Some countries either have warned their female citizens about such work conditions or banned them altogether from working in the country as domestic servants. The Government of India officially banned its nationals from working in Kuwait as domestic employees, but Indian nationals still buy visas and enter the country as domestic workers. In 2000 the Egyptian Foreign Minister warned women seeking employment in all Persian Gulf countries to "exercise caution" and to avoid being forced into illegal activities. In June the Bangladeshi Government lifted its ban on domestic servants coming to Kuwait.

There are also credible reports of widespread visa trading, a system by which sponsors agree to extend their sponsorship to workers outside of the country in exchange for a fee of $1,500 to $4,000.

The courts find in favor of employees in an estimated 90 percent of the labor disputes they hear, but this success did not result in improved conditions for foreign workers. No legal mechanism exists for foreign workers to enforce settlements. There is no compulsion for employers to obey court rulings, and workers often did not receive court-ordered compensation. Employers also reportedly use illegal methods to pressure foreign employees to drop cases against them; such as by withholding their passports, encouraging police intimidation and brutality, and filing criminal charges against them for fabricated crimes, such as theft.

f. Trafficking in Persons

The law does not specifically prohibit trafficking in persons, although laws against slavery, prostitution, forced labor, coercion, Kidnaping, and other acts could be used to prosecute traffickers. The Government has ratified international conventions that commit it to apply these laws to stop trafficking in the event that it should develop.

There were reports of two incidents in which procurers kidnaped domestic servants off the street and temporarily forced them into prostitution. In both cases, the kidnappers were arrested and the domestic servants released.

There have been unverified media reports that Bangladeshi gangs have forced a small number of unemployed South Asian women who entered the country as domestic servants into prostitution.

KUWAIT - SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security Office of International Programs:

http://www.ssa.gov/SSA_Home.html

KUWAIT - STANDARD WORKWEEK

The Labor Law limits the standard workweek to 48 hours with 1 full day of rest per week.

(Section 6.e. Acceptable Conditions of Work, Kuwait – Report of Human Rights Practices, 2001, U.S. Department of State.)