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.

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LEBARON