Kuwait: Holiday-for-cash scheme gets underway

Cairo: Several Kuwaiti government ministries have embarked on implementing a scheme allowing their employees to swap their accrued holidays for money, a Kuwaiti newspaper said.

Last April, the Kuwaiti government issued a decree permitting employees to be paid in exchange for their unused holidays.

The ministries have already cut the holiday durations proposed for the swap from their employees’ balances as a step before offering cash for them, Al Anba newspaper said, citing well-informed sources.

“The holiday-sale mechanism is handled upon an application from the employee without setting a cap on the number of swapped days,” the sources said.

However, the minimum remaining holiday balance should be 30 days, they added.

“The cash disbursement will be determined at each ministry in coordination with the Finance Ministry,” they added without further details.

Last month, Al Anba reported that the scheme will apply to all government employees including expatriates.

Eligible employees have to meet certain conditions. They include that the civil servant should have been in the service for at least five years and that the holiday balance should not be less than 30 days until the end of the Gregorian year, according to the report.

Another condition is that the employee’s last two performance evaluation reports should be excellent.

Last February, the Kuwaiti government promised parliament to take measures and amend a civil service law in response to a parliamentary proposal allowing employees to be paid in return for unused holidays.

It is not clear many employees in the country of around 4.6 million would benefit from the scheme.

Foreigners make up nearly 3.5 million of Kuwait’s overall population of 4.6 million.