IMPLEMENTATION OF STANDARD DOMESTIC LABOR CONTRACT

UNCLAS KUWAIT 000849 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR NEA/ARP, INL/HSTC AND G/TIP E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM ELAB KU TIP SUBJECT: IMPLEMENTATION OF STANDARD DOMESTIC LABOR CONTRACT DELAYED TO ALLOW KUWAITI EMBASSIES TIME TO RESTRUCTURE REF: A. 05 KUWAIT 4914 ¶B. 05 KUWAIT 3603 Sensitive But Unclassified. Not for Internet Distribution ¶1. (U) The GOK has decided to again delay the implementation of its standard domestic labor contract until August. The three-party contract is between the worker, the employer/sponsor, and the Kuwaiti recruitment agency and clearly spells out wages, benefits, breaks and other working conditions. It must be signed at the Kuwaiti embassy in the worker's home country, so that the GOK will have a copy and can certify the contract's validity. ¶2. (SBU) Brigadier General Abdullah Al-Ruweih, General Manager of the Immigration Department, told PolOff and LES PolAssistant on March 11 that Kuwaiti embassies had complained that they were not ready for the bureaucratic onslaught of contract implementation. In response to PolOff's question about what would happen between now and August that would enable the embassies abroad to handle the added work, Al-Ruweih had no specific answer and said they simply needed to figure out a way to do it. ********************************************* For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait?cables Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ ********************************************* LEBARON