I availed 70 days paid maternity leave in June 2010 and I have been working for this company for the past 5 years. I want to go on my annual leave, but my company is not including this 70 days while calculating the leave salary eligibility. The HR department says that since maternity leave is already a paid leave, it cannot be included because it will amount to leave on leave. Please clarify.

Name withheld

Answer: Please do not link the maternity leave and the annual leave. You have to be paid for both according to the Labor Law enacted in February 2010.

You can only get maternity leave if you have a baby within those 70 days. Your annual leave can’t be joined to it but you don’t forfeit it like in the previous law.

Ask your company to have a close look at Article 24 of the Kuwait Labor Law.


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