Annual leave is a right of the worker related to public order, and he may not waive it explicitly or implicitly, and there is an obligation on the employer to give him those leaves even if he did not ask for them. His work is not forfeited by statute of limitations, and the burden of proving that the worker has taken his leave or received the corresponding amounts rests with the employer.
The Kuwaiti legislator regulated the rules for granting workers annual paid leave in the Private Sector Labor Law No. 6 of 2010.
Paid annual leave period
The legislator grants the worker the right to a paid annual leave of thirty days, and he is not entitled to leave for the first year until after he has spent at least nine months in the service of the employer. Official holidays and days of sick leave are not included in the annual leave.
The worker is entitled to a leave for the fractions of the year, which is calculated on the basis of what he spent of it at work, even if it was in the first year of service.
Pay for annual leave
The labor law in the private sector requires the employer to pay the worker the wages due for the annual leave before taking it, and the worker is entitled to cash compensation for the days of his combined annual leave in the event of the expiry of his contract, and the worker may not waive his annual leave with or without compensation.
The employer may recover the wages paid to the worker for his annual leave, if it is proven that he worked during that time for another employer.
Compilation of annual leave
The worker has the right to accumulate his annual leaves, not exceeding two years, and he is also entitled to take the annual leaves in one payment after the approval of the employer. With the approval of both parties, it is permissible to collect annual leaves for more than two years.
Determining the date of annual leave
The Kuwaiti private sector labor law granted the employer the right to determine the date of the annual leave for the worker, and gave him the right to divide it with the consent of the worker after the first fourteen days of it.
Paid leaves according to the labor law in the private sector
Study leave
The employer may grant the worker a paid study leaves to obtain a higher qualification in a higher field, provided that the worker works for the employer for a period similar to that of the study leave, with a maximum of five years. in the event that the worker violates this condition, he is obligated to return the wages he received during the leave period in proportion to the remainder of the period that must be spent at work.
Pilgrimage leave
A worker who has spent two consecutive years in the service of the employer has the right to a paid leave of twenty-one days to perform the Hajj, provided that he has not performed the pilgrimage before that.
Leave for the death of a relative
A worker whose first or second degree relative dies is entitled to a leave with full pay for a period of three days, and a working Muslim woman whose husband dies is entitled to several leave with full pay for a period of four months and ten days, and she may not practice any work for others during the period of the leave, as well as A non-Muslim working woman whose husband dies is granted a twenty-one-day leave with full pay.
Leave to attend conferences and periodic meetings
The employer may grant the worker a paid leave to attend international conferences and periodic and social meetings. The Minister shall issue a decision on the conditions and rules for granting this leave.
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