Legal team gives its opinion on current circumstances

KUWAIT CITY, March 25: An employer has no right to compel employees to take leave without pay, reports Al- Seyassah daily quoting a legal source. The same source said the law obliges the employer to pay the wages of his workers throughout the period of disabling the facility for any reason as long as he wishes to continue their work with him.

The study prepared by the ‘Taher Legal Group’ added “if the establishment is unable to continue it is possible to terminate the work relationship while the worker retains his entitlement to the endof- service gratuity”, noting that “by agreement it is permissible to give employees in institutions obligated to close their annual leave with pay however the court has the final say in such matters if a dispute arises.”

The study prepared by legal experts Abdulaziz, Khaled, Jamal Taher Al- Khatib and Fawaz Khaled Al-Khatib addresses concerns about the mechanism of dealing with vacations and salaries for workers in the private sector in the event of continued conditions and the inability to pay them in future due to lack of liquidity, and legal issues related to the current conditions, both in dealing with rumors, news and false data or regarding mandatory decisions of the Ministry of Health, as well as decisions of the public authority.

The legal experts reviewed the legal articles related to the effects and repercussions of the measures taken by the state on the private sector in light of the exceptional circumstances that the country is going through due to the spread of the new Corona virus epidemic, especially that these procedures entail a severe loss to the sector, especially small and medium enterprises, as well as the rights of lessors and tenants in these conditions.

The sources pointed out that “temporary closure is an emergency that allows the tenant to resort to the court to request a moratorium on the implementation of the obligations in the event of the owner’s disapproval, and that stopping the rent or obligations in general is not acquired or automatic right but rather as a result of exceptional circumstances subject to the court’s discretion”, pointing out that it is possible to claim the owner reduces the rent until the causes of the emergency conditions and the force majeure are removed.