KUWAIT CITY, Aug 21: The Ministry of Education has confirmed that it will strictly enforce penalties for non-compliance with official working hours and attendance fingerprint requirements. Following the integration of the Ministry's fingerprint system with the Civil Service Bureau, the new "third" fingerprint attendance system has been implemented. The administrative and educational authorities are now monitoring late coming and instances of non-compliance, preparing to enforce financial penalties as stipulated by regulations starting with the salaries for September.

Educational sources have revealed that the Ministry has initiated monitoring employees' adherence to the fingerprint system following its integration with the Civil Service Bureau. Attendance departments within the Ministry’s central office and educational districts are closely monitoring compliance with presence and departure protocols, utilizing fingerprint devices to confirm presence during official working hours. Failure to comply will lead to salary deductions per legal regulations.

According to the Civil Service Law, employees are permitted a delay of up to 105 minutes per month. Excessive delays are penalized, with deductions ranging from a quarter of a day to a full day, depending on the duration of the delay. The most recent circular from the Civil Service Bureau states that if an employee does not verify their presence within sixty minutes after the first two hours of their morning attendance, it will be deemed an unauthorized absence. This absence will be included in the monthly delay calculations.

Initial reports from the Ministry of Education indicate that lateness has been recorded for approximately 500 employees. Some employees have inadvertently missed fingerprinting, which could also result in salary deductions despite their presence at work.

The Ministry has emphasized that there will be no leniency in applying penalties for failure to adhere to official working hours or the fingerprint system. Salary deductions for August's infractions will be reflected in September's pay.