MP Saadoun Hammad and MP Adnan Abdulsamad

KUWAIT: The National Assembly's health and labor committee yesterday gave its final approval to amend five articles in the 2010 labor law in the private sector to mainly stiffen penalties against visa traders, rapporteur of the panel said. MP Saadoun Hammad said the amendments will be sent to the national assembly for debate during today's session.

The committee however postponed discussing proposals to amend the health insurance scheme on expatriates and imposing certain charges on some medical services, he said. The foreign ministry requested the delay until it has revised the position of foreign diplomats and official guests.

Regarding the labor amendments, the panel agreed to amend article 138 to increase the fine against employers who recruit workers from outside the country or hire them locally and fail to provide them with the prescribed jobs.

The original article penalizes such employers for up to three years in jail and a fine of between KD 1,000 and 5,000. The amendment raises the fine to between KD 2,000 and 10,000 per worker. The fine also applies to employers who employ foreign workers not on their residency.

The committee also agreed to amend article 140 which deals with violations against ministry inspectors who make sure the private sector businesses comply with the law. It raised the fine on the violation from the current maximum of KD 1,000 and made it at least KD 500 and up to KD 1,000.

It also amended article 142 which stipulates a jail term not exceeding six months and a fine of up to KD 2,000 for those who open an establishment after the ministry inspectors have ordered its partial or total closure. The new penalty is a jail term of between one month and six months and a fine of between KD 5,00 and KD 2,000.

The panel also added a new paragraph to article 146 to give the court the power to fine the employer one percent of the value of the unpaid salaries every month if the court finds out that the delay of salary payment was caused by the employer. This fine does not restrict the employee right to demand any other compensation.

Spending

In the meantime, the Finance Ministry told the assembly budgets committee yesterday that it was difficult to cut proposed spending in the 2016/2017 fiscal year by 20 percent, head of the committee said. MP Adnan Abdulsamad said the ministry informed the committee that 70 percent of the proposed spending is allocated for wages which is difficult to reduce.

Also, the fourth chapter in the budget cannot be cut because it is for development projects, Abdulsamad said. The ministry said that it is possible to discuss reducing public expenditures by 15 percent, the lawmaker said. Abdulsamad said that the committee asked the ministry to respond in writing about the causes that prevent it from cutting spending by 20 percent.

Separately, MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan yesterday asked the information minister why he has not applied the law against a local newspaper that published a report claiming that Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi militia groups were plotting bombings in Kuwait in the holy fasting month in Ramadan, a report that was denied by the interior ministry. The lawmaker asked the minister about the legal measures that the ministry has taken against the newspaper for violating the law.

By B Izzak