Kuwait’s Rules on Firing, Resigning and Termination from job.

Maybe your manager has been cutting corners, or maybe you’ve been thinking about walking out of a job that’s gone sour. Either way, the question that keeps you up at night is usually the same one: will I still get my end-of-service money if I leave, or if they let me go?

The Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) has just put out an advisory that answers exactly that. It lays out, article by article, when a contract in Kuwait ends automatically, when a worker can walk away without notice and keep their benefits, and when an employer can dismiss someone without warning.

If you’re working in Kuwait on a labour contract, this one is worth reading properly, not skimming.

So what exactly triggers an automatic end to a contract?

PAM’s advisory lists a handful of situations where a contract ends by operation of law, meaning neither side has to do anything extra to make it official. These are the worker’s death, a proven inability to continue performing the job, exhausting all available sick leave, the establishment closing down for good, or a final court ruling declaring the employer bankrupt.

None of these need the worker to resign or the employer to issue a dismissal letter. The law treats the contract as finished once one of these things happens.

When can a worker leave without notice and still get paid out?

This is the part most expats will care about most. Normally, if you want to resign from an indefinite contract, you’re expected to give notice. But PAM confirmed there are situations where you can leave immediately, with no notice period, and still keep your end-of-service entitlement.

These cover cases where the employer broke the terms of the contract or breached the Labour Law itself, where the worker was assaulted by the employer or someone representing them, or where there was a serious threat to the worker’s safety or health. All of this is subject to the legal conditions attached to each case, so it’s not automatic just because you feel mistreated, there has to be a genuine breach or threat that fits what the law describes.

If you’re in one of these situations, it’s worth reading up on how a formal complaint works before you act. We’ve covered how to file a complaint through the Sahel app against your employer, which is the official route PAM expects workers to use when something has gone wrong at work.

And when can an employer dismiss someone without notice?

The law works both ways. Employers are allowed to end a worker’s service without notice, but only in the serious cases the Labour Law specifically names. For indefinite-term contracts, the standard rule is that termination needs to come with the proper notice period. Dismissal without notice is the exception, reserved for situations the law treats as serious enough to skip that step.

PAM’s advisory references Articles 41, 44, 46, 48, 49 and 50 of the Labour Law as the legal basis for all of this, depending on which scenario applies. Different articles cover different circumstances, so the exact article that applies to your case will depend on whether you’re the one resigning, the one being let go, or whether the contract ended automatically.

What if you think a dismissal was unfair?

PAM was clear on this point: workers keep the right to challenge a dismissal if they believe it wasn’t justified. That usually means raising it with PAM or through the labour courts rather than just accepting it and walking away.

This matters because a dismissal that’s ruled unjustified can affect what you’re owed, including notice pay and end-of-service benefits. If you’re unsure whether your notice period or indemnity has been calculated correctly, it helps to check the numbers yourself rather than take your employer’s word for it.

What this means if you’re an expat in Kuwait

This advisory affects almost every expat working under a Kuwait labour contract, not just those currently in a dispute. It’s the kind of thing worth understanding before trouble starts, not after.

If you’re an expat thinking about quitting because conditions at work have become unbearable, the key is documentation. Keep records of anything that could count as a breach of contract or the Labour Law, whether that’s unpaid wages, unsafe conditions, or mistreatment. Walking out with proof in hand is a very different situation to walking out and hoping PAM agrees with you later.

If you’re the one facing dismissal, check whether your contract is indefinite and whether you were given proper notice. If you weren’t, and your situation doesn’t fall under the serious cases the law allows for instant dismissal, you may have grounds to challenge it.

We’ve already written in detail about the new notice period and end-of-service rights rules, which pair well with this advisory since they cover how much notice you’re entitled to and how indemnity is worked out. If you want to run your own numbers before relying on what HR tells you, our end-of-service indemnity calculator explainer walks through exactly how the calculation works.

In one of my friend experience, you always get tough time in Kuwait.

Quick answers