Aqid ERPWorking hours (articles 64 and 65)
- No more than 48 hours a week or 8 hours a day, except where the law allows.
- During Ramadan, 36 hours a week.
- No more than five consecutive hours without a break of at least one hour, which does not count as working time. Banking, finance and investment may work eight hours straight.
Overtime, rest days and holidays (articles 66 to 68)
- Overtime is paid at the ordinary wage plus 25 %, within limits of two hours a day, three days a week, 90 days and 180 hours a year.
- The weekly rest day is 24 consecutive paid hours after six working days. A worker who works it is paid an extra 50 % and given another rest day.
- Article 68 gives 13 paid official holidays: the Hijri New Year, Isra' and Mi'raj, three days of Eid al-Fitr, the Day of Arafat, three days of Eid al-Adha, the Prophet's Birthday, National Day, Liberation Day and the Gregorian New Year. A worker who works one is paid double and given another day off.
A worked example
A monthly wage of KWD 600 and an 8-hour day. The Labour Law works a day's pay as the monthly wage divided by the actual working days, without the weekly rest days; with a six-day week that is about 26, the figure used here (check the basis in your contracts). In one month the worker does 10 hours of overtime, works one official holiday and one rest day. Each line is worked from the unrounded rates and rounded to the fils:
| Daily wage: 600 ÷ 26 | KWD 23.077 |
|---|---|
| Hourly wage: ÷ 8 | KWD 2.885 |
| Overtime: 10 hours × 125 % | KWD 36.058 |
| Official holiday worked: an extra day's wage | KWD 23.077 |
| Rest day worked: an extra 50 % | KWD 11.538 |
| Added to the month's pay | KWD 70.673 |
Sick leave (article 69)
With a medical certificate, a worker's sick leave in a year is paid on a sliding scale:
- 15 days on full pay.
- 10 days on three-quarters pay.
- 10 days on half pay.
- 10 days on a quarter of the pay.
- 30 days without pay.
Annual leave and maternity leave
Law No. 85 of 2017 rewrote article 70: a worker is entitled to at least 30 days' paid annual leave a year, the first year's once six months' service is completed, and part-years in proportion. Weekly rest days, official holidays and sick leave falling inside the leave are not counted in it.
Leave can be carried over for up to two years (article 72), leave still owed when the contract ends is paid in cash (article 73), and a worker cannot give leave up (article 74).
A woman is entitled to 70 days' maternity leave on full pay, not counted against her other leave, and the employer may grant up to four months more unpaid at her request (article 24). Check other absences, such as Hajj leave, with the Public Authority for Manpower.
How Aqid ERP helps
In Aqid ERP's payroll, leave balances, leave requests and expense claims flow into the monthly run, and employees see their own payslips, in Arabic and English and in three-decimal dinars. Each run posts salaries, PIFSS and the indemnity accrual to the ledger by cost centre or branch. Have a payroll adviser check your first run.