8,849 Kuwait firms flagged over late salary payments

Nearly 9,000 companies in Kuwait are flagged right now for not paying staff properly.

That’s the headline number from the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM), the government body that tracks private-sector wages. It also means tens of thousands of other firms are doing things right – and PAM has just laid out exactly when an employer is, and isn’t, allowed to cut your pay. If you work in the private sector, this is worth five minutes of your time.

This comes shortly after PAM said it would shut the files of companies that don’t pay salaries on time, so these numbers give a clearer picture of how big that problem actually is.

So what exactly did PAM announce?

PAM runs a system that monitors how companies pay their staff across Kuwait’s private sector. According to the authority, 100,252 employer files are registered in this system in total.

Of these, 51,844 files belong to employers with fewer than 5 employees. The remaining 48,408 files belong to companies with 5 or more employees – and it’s this larger group PAM focused on in its latest figures.

Within that group of 48,408 files, 39,559 are compliant with salary rules. The other 8,849 are flagged for payment issues. PAM did not break down, in this statement, what stage those flagged files are at or what happens to each one next.

This builds on PAM’s earlier wage protection work. We covered the new system to protect private-sector salaries when it launched, and later explained how Kuwait’s salary payment system actually works for both workers and employers.

When can your employer legally deduct your salary?

Alongside the numbers, PAM set out 13 valid reasons an employer can deduct money from an employee’s pay. These include:

• Unpaid leave, whether taken inside Kuwait or abroad
• Childcare leave
• Sick leave
• Partially paid leave
• Suspension from work
• Leaving the workplace without permission
• Refusing to work
• Absenteeism
• Other reasons linked to an employee’s professional conduct or status

PAM was clear that these aren’t automatic. Employers must submit documents proving the deduction is legal and justified before they can take money off anyone’s salary.

Is there a limit on how much can be deducted?

Yes. PAM set a firm cap: an employer cannot deduct more than 25% of an employee’s salary in any single month, even where the deduction is justified and documented.

This matters because it stops an employer from cutting a large chunk of someone’s pay in one go for things like unpaid leave or absenteeism. Even a legitimate deduction has to stay under that 25% ceiling, spread out if needed over more than one month.

What this means if you work in Kuwait

If you’re an expat worker on an Article 18 visa (the standard private-sector work visa) or a Kuwaiti employee in the private sector, these figures are a reminder that salary problems are still common here, even with PAM’s monitoring system running. About 1 in 5 of the larger companies checked are flagged.

It also gives you something concrete to point to if your own pay is late or wrongly reduced. If your employer deducts money without showing you documentation, that deduction may not be legal under PAM’s own rules. And no deduction, even a valid one, should ever take more than a quarter of your monthly pay.

If you’re unsure whether your employer’s file is among the flagged or compliant ones, you can read our guide on what Kuwait’s digital salary system means for expat workers, which explains how the tracking actually works from your side.

What should you do if you think your salary is being wrongly deducted?

1. Check your payslip against your contract and ask HR for the reason behind any deduction.
2. Ask your employer to show the documentation that justifies the deduction – they’re required to have it.
3. Confirm the deduction is under 25% of your monthly salary.
4. If you believe the deduction is unfair or undocumented, you can file a complaint. Our step-by-step guide on making an online complaint through the Sahel app walks through exactly how.
5. If salary issues continue, note that Sahel also lets you report several labour violations directly to the ministry.

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