Kuwait mandates digital salaries for private sector, including foreign workers

Kuwait has adopted a mandatory digital wage payment system for private sector employees as part of efforts to strengthen labour compliance and protect workers’ rights. The Kuwait Wage Payment System will monitor salary transfers through local banks and ensure timely electronic payments.

Dubai: Gulf countries have been moving fast to implement a transparent system in which wages are paid fully and without delay, and strengthen confidence between employees and employers. Kuwait is the latest country to adopt a mandatory digital wage payment system for the private sector.

The stricter monitoring system is part of Kuwait’s wider efforts to improve labour compliance, protect foreign workers, among whom Indians constitute the largest group, and reinforce the country’s international reputation in labour standards and human rights protection.

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The Kuwait Wage Payment System (KWPS) will process and monitor salary transfers to private sector employees through local banks and ensure that wages are disbursed electronically in a secure and reliable manner.

Officials emphasised that delayed or irregular salary payments would not be tolerated, as First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Fahd Al-Yousef instructed authorities to implement a transparent system, stating that “workers’ wages are a red line”, according to reports.

The move comes as part of broader efforts to protect workers’ rights and strengthen compliance among private sector employers. Under Article 57 of Kuwait’s Private Sector Labour Law, employers with five or more workers are required to transfer wages directly into employees’ bank accounts.

The Kuwait Wage Payment System (KWPS), under the supervision of the country’s central bank, will process and monitor salary transfers to private sector employees through local banks and ensure that wages are disbursed electronically in a secure and reliable manner. The Public Authority of Manpower oversees and monitors the level of compliance.