Your manager can’t pay lower than agreed salary in Kuwait

Picture a worker who signed a contract for a fixed salary, only to be told months later that the pay is being quietly trimmed. That’s exactly the situation the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) is now telling employers they cannot create.

PAM has put out a clear message: once a wage is agreed in an employment contract, it stays fixed for the whole contract period. An employer cannot lower it while the contract runs, no matter the reason. This comes straight from Article 28 of Kuwait’s Labour Law, and PAM is making sure both sides know it.

This is not a brand new law. But PAM is spelling it out again now, and it lands right after the authority’s fresh word on salary deduction limits for loans and debts, announced just a day earlier on 30 October. Together, the two announcements paint a fuller picture of how much of your pay an employer can legally touch, and when.

So why is PAM saying this now?

PAM released the reminder in an awareness publication titled “Clarity of Rights Ensures a Stable Employment Relationship.” It reads like a plain explainer, aimed at stopping confusion between employers and workers over what counts as a fair deduction and what doesn’t.

It also comes at a time when PAM has been pushing hard on salary issues generally. As we reported on 24 October, 8,849 companies were flagged over late salary payments, and on 21 October, PAM said it would shut the files of firms that don’t pay wages on time. The wage-cut clarification fits into that same push: make sure workers get paid properly, in full, and on schedule.

The labour minister also warned companies directly over late salaries to expatriate workers, as we covered on 26 October in our piece on the minister’s warning to firms over unpaid wages. Read alongside that warning, this latest clarification makes clear PAM isn’t just chasing late payments. It’s also closing the door on employers trying to lower pay quietly instead of paying late.

What exactly counts as a deduction, and what’s the limit?

PAM’s publication breaks the rules into two separate buckets, and it’s worth understanding the difference.

1. Money owed to the employer itself – for example, a loan or advance the company gave the worker. The employer can deduct a maximum of 10% of the wage to get this back. Charging interest on this amount is against the law, under Article 59(a).
2. Other debts – this covers any attachment, assignment, or deduction to settle debts that aren’t owed to the employer, no matter how many separate debts there are. All of these combined cannot pass 25% of the total wage.

These two limits stack on top of each other. So in theory, a worker could have up to 10% deducted for an employer loan, plus up to 25% for other debts, within the boundaries PAM has set.

When a worker has several debts competing for that 25% share, the law gives first priority to alimony. If a worker owes spousal or child support alongside other debts, that payment gets settled before the rest, as set out in Article 59(b).

Who does this actually affect?

This applies to any worker in Kuwait on an employment contract covered by the Labour Law, citizens and expats alike. It matters most for anyone who has taken a loan or advance from their employer, anyone with existing debts being recovered through wage deductions, and anyone worried their pay might be quietly reduced without a proper legal basis.

If you’re in debt and also paying alimony, this rule is especially useful to know, since it decides who gets paid first when your wage can’t cover everything.

Kuwait’s digital salary system already lets authorities track what workers are actually paid each month, which makes it harder for an employer to get away with a quiet wage cut that breaks Article 28.

What should you do if your wage gets cut?

If your employer lowers your agreed salary without your consent and outside these rules, that’s a breach of your contract. Workers who believe they’re facing an illegal deduction or a wage cut can raise it through PAM’s channels, including the Sahel app’s labour complaint service we’ve covered before, such as our guide on filing an online complaint against your employer and the newer ‘Report Me’ service for labour violations.

Keep a copy of your contract and your payslips. These are your proof of what you agreed to and what you were actually paid, and they matter a lot if you ever need to raise a dispute. For more on where your pay stands if things go wrong at the end of a job, see our piece on what to do if your employer doesn’t pay your indemnity.

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