Kuwaiti MPs reject draft law allowing private sector firms to cut salaries by up to 50%

Kuwaiti lawmakers have rejected a draft law that would allow private sector companies to reduce the salaries of their employees by up to 50 per cent due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The amendment to the labour law also permitted companies to ask employees to take unpaid leave.

However, MPs rejected the proposal, stating that it does not protect the Kuwaitis working in the private sector, local daily Kuwait Times reported.

The proposed law, expected to impact roughly 600,000 people, allows companies to cut salaries retrospectively, which violates the constitution, the report quoted MP Abulkarim Al-Kandari as saying.

Several companies in Kuwait have already fired workers and cut salaries due to the impact of the pandemic.

The country is also aggressively looking to reduce its expat population, and according to estimates, about 1.5 million expat workers are anticipated to leave the country by the end of 2020.

Read: Kuwait doesn’t want to be an expat-majority nation anymore

Meanwhile Kuwaiti lawmakers approved amendments to the rent law, allowing tenants to delay their rent payments or approach the court to make the payments in installments due to the impact of the coronavirus.

The new regulation makes it more difficult for landlords to evict tenants, the Kuwait Times report added.

Kuwait reported 472 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, raising the total number of cases to 71,199.

It also reported three deaths due to the infection, with the overall death toll standing at 474.