kuwait: Kuwait sets minimum wage for domestic staff

Kuwait has set a minimum wage for its hundreds of thousands of mostly Asian domestic staff, the initial country in the Gulf to do so, local media reported on Thursday.

A decree issued by Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Khaled Al-Sabah set the minimum wage at 60 dinars ($200) a month and as well granted domestic staff a raft of other rights, Al-Anbaa newspaper reported.

Kuwait is the initial country in the Gulf to regulate the work conditions of domestic staff and Human Rights Watch and other rights groups have urged others to follow suit to tackle widespread abuses.

The decree, which implements landmark legislation adopted by parliament last year, as well requires employers to pay overtime for any additional hours worked.

It grants domestic workers the right to a weekly day off, 30 days of annual paid leave, a 12-hour working day with rest, and an end-of-service benefit of one month a year at the end of arrangement.

The estimated 600,000 maids in Kuwait are part at least 2.4 million working across the Gulf. They are not covered by ordinary labour legislation.

Human Rights Watch and other groups have documented widespread abuses, inclunding non-payment of wages, long working hours with no rest days, physical and sexual assault, and no clear channels for redress.

In its 2016 Trafficking in Persons statement, the US National Department upgraded Kuwait from tier 3, the worst level, to tier 2 while keeping it on watch inventory, citing an development in its treatment of migrant workers.