I worked in a company for a period of 11 years continuously. I had been given two different contract agreements. For the first 5 years, I was on a fixed contract basis and the company paid me a salary of KD 220 per month including the terminal benefit.

In continuation of my service with another contract on an unlimited basis, the company paid me a salary of KD 350 per month. Now I transferred to another company. During my final settlement I found that the previous company had not calculated my first 5 years of contract period for the service benefits, since the terminal benefit was paid along with the monthly salary as mentioned in the first five-year contract.
Now I wish to know whether the first contract document which shows the terminal benefit was paid to me every month is valid now as per the new Kuwait Labor Law.

Moreover, the company is deducting the unpaid leave period from the total service and only for the remaining days, the calculation is made for the service benefits. Is this the normal procedure?
In this situation what is my calculation as per the law? Could you please clarify whether my service period can be considered as 11 continuous years or not? And give me the calculation.

Name withheld
Answer: The company is right on both counts. You were under a special contract and you took the money for your indemnity every month. Your previous contract ended long ago and before the current Labor Law was enacted.
You were currently working under the second contract so your service of only 6 years will be considered.
Secondly, when you are on unpaid leave you are not ‘in service’ and as such companies are under no obligations to consider such periods in the service. In fact many companies follow this procedure.