🏥 Kuwait Sick Leave Guide: Paid Sick Leave, Salary Rates & Medical Certificates

If you become sick while working in Kuwait, one of the first questions is usually simple: how many sick-leave days can you take, and how much salary will you receive?

For private-sector workers covered by Kuwait Labour Law No. 6 of 2010 and its amendments, Article 69 provides a structured sick-leave entitlement during the year.

This guide explains the stages in simple terms, what happens to your salary at each stage, why the medical certificate matters, and what records you should keep.

This guide is intended for employees working in Kuwait's private sector under Labour Law No. 6 of 2010 and its amendments.

Government employees and domestic workers may be governed by different rules and procedures, so their entitlements should not automatically be calculated using the private-sector Article 69 structure explained here.

Article 69 gives an eligible private-sector worker sick leave during the year through several pay stages.

The statutory sequence is:

This creates a total Article 69 sequence of up to 75 sick-leave days during the year, but the salary payable is different across the stages.

The first 15 sick-leave days in the Article 69 sequence are with full wage.

For example, if a worker uses five qualifying sick-leave days, those days fall within the first full-pay stage.

If the worker later uses more qualifying sick leave during the relevant year, the cumulative number of sick-leave days becomes important because later days may move into another pay stage.

After the first 15 days, Article 69 provides the next 10 sick-leave days at three-quarter wage.

In simple percentage terms, this stage corresponds to 75% of the applicable wage for those sick-leave days.

That means days 16 through 25 of the Article 69 sequence fall within this stage.

After those 25 days, the next 10 sick-leave days are with half wage.

In percentage terms, this stage corresponds to 50% of the applicable wage for those days.

That covers days 26 through 35 of the sequence.

The following 10 sick-leave days are with quarter wage.

In percentage terms, this corresponds to 25% of the applicable wage for those days.

That covers days 36 through 45 of the Article 69 sequence.

Article 69 then provides a further 30 sick-leave days without wage.

These correspond to days 46 through 75 of the statutory sequence.

"Without wage" does not mean that an employee should simply stay away from work without documentation. The medical-certification requirements remain important.

The Article 69 sequence can therefore be understood like this:

This is a much safer way to understand the entitlement than assuming that every sick-leave day is paid at the same rate.

Suppose you have already taken 12 qualifying sick-leave days during the relevant year and later receive another medical certificate for five days.

Those five days do not necessarily all fall into the same pay stage.

The first three would complete the initial 15-day full-wage stage. The remaining two would move into the next Article 69 stage.

This is why employees should keep a record of sick-leave days already used.

Yes. Article 69 links qualifying sickness requiring sick leave to medical evidence.

The law refers to a certificate from the physician determined by the employer or the doctor responsible for a government health centre.

The exact administrative process can depend on where the certificate was issued and the circumstances of the case.

Article 69 also addresses disputes concerning entitlement to sick leave or its duration and gives importance to the medical certification process.

If your employer questions the leave, keep the original medical documentation, any authentication or approval records, and evidence showing when you informed or submitted the certificate to the employer.

For a significant dispute, verify the current procedure with the competent Kuwait authority.

Kuwait Government Online provides information about authenticating sick leaves through the General Medical Council.

The government service states that citizens and residents can authenticate sick leaves issued by the private sector for any duration. It also describes required documentation and procedures.

The exact authentication requirement for your situation may depend on the certificate and employer or authority process.

To estimate sick-leave pay, you need to know:

A simple estimate should allocate the days across the Article 69 stages instead of applying one percentage to the entire period.

Imagine that a worker has already used 10 qualifying sick-leave days and then takes another 12 qualifying days.

The first five new days would bring the worker to 15 days and remain within the full-wage stage.

The remaining seven new days would fall into the three-quarter-wage stage.

So the new 12-day period would not all have the same pay rate.

Sick leave and annual leave are separate statutory concepts.

Do not automatically deduct qualifying sick-leave days from your annual-leave balance.

Article 70 also deals with the treatment of sick-leave days that fall within annual leave.

Sick leave can become especially important when an illness continues for a long period.

Other provisions of Kuwait labour law may become relevant to termination, inability to work, employment status and end-of-service rights.

Do not assume that reaching a particular Article 69 pay stage automatically answers every question about termination or end-of-service entitlement.

Good records make it much easier to understand how many qualifying sick-leave days have already been used and how the employer calculated the salary.

Avoid these common assumptions:

Before checking your sick-leave pay, confirm:

The main legal provision for the sick-leave stages discussed in this guide is Article 69 of Kuwait Labour Law No. 6 of 2010 concerning labour in the private sector.

It is not:

Kuwait laws, amendments, regulations, administrative decisions, medical-certification procedures and official interpretations may change.

Individual circumstances can materially affect the result, including employment regime, wage components, medical documentation, previous sick-leave usage, employment records and the circumstances of the illness.

Always verify an important employment, payroll or legal decision using current official Kuwait sources and, where appropriate, the relevant authority or a qualified professional.

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