I have been working in my company for more than 3 years. Last October they reduced my salary by KD 200. My original package was KD 850. After a month of reducing my salary they terminated me. They also paid my notice period based on the reduced salary.

My questions are:
1. Can I ask the company to pay the KD 200 variance per month in my salary amounting to KD 1,000 for the 5 months including the notice period that they had deducted from my salary?

2. What should be the basis of my indemnity and unused leave computation? Is it with the reduced salary as it is the last salary or my original package which is KD 850 as per my work permit.
3. The company is calculating the daily rate based on the number of calendar days (30) instead of 26. Is this lawful?

Name withheld
Answer: You willingly fell into the trap set by your company and there is no one else to blame. You should not have accepted a cut in salary as a company can’t ‘legally’ reduce an employee’s salary without the consent of the latter.
But as you accepted the reduction, the company is correct in calculating both your indemnity and pending annual leave payment on the ‘last salary’. That’s according to the law.
But for the three years you are entitled to 15 days pay for each year which totals to 45 days. This should be divided by 26 and not 30 and multiplied by your last salary to arrive at your indemnity. In this respect your company is wrong.