Kuwait: 150 food & beverage workers receive USD400k in unpaid wages & compensation after employer failed to pay salaries during COVID-19 pandemic, court rules
Summary
Date Reported: 1 Jan 2022
Location: Kuwait
Other
Not Reported ( Catering & food services ) - EmployerAffected
Total individuals affected: 150
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Egypt , Catering & food services , Gender not reported ) , Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Middle East & No. Africa , Catering & food services , Gender not reported )Issues
Wage TheftResponse
Response sought: No
Action taken: Kuwaiti court issued a ruling in favor of these employees, ordering the employer to pay them what they're owed in addition to compensation in the form of three months' worth of notification and flight tickets, amounting to around USD400K.
Source type: News outlet
pixabay
"Firm ordered to pay KD120,000 in arrears to workers," 1 Jan 2021
A Kuwaiti court has ordered a food company to pay nearly KD120,000 in overdue wages to its employees...
... in favour of more than 150 workers, mostly Egyptians, after their employer had shirked paying them their wages during the COVID-19 outbreak...
The court obligated the company to pay all due wages, three more months’ worth of notification and travel tickets in a compensation package amounting to KD120,000.
The employer was also ordered to issue a certificate of experience to each labourer according to the Kuwaiti labour law related to the private sector.
Lawyer Al Arbach accused the unnamed company of dealing arbitrarily with her claimants by denying them their financial entitlements during the pandemic in violation of the labour law, saying the act had negatively affected their lives. Foreigners account for nearly 3.4 million of Kuwait’s total population of 4.6 million.
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