Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Weekly Rest (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1957 (No. 106) - Kuwait (Ratification: 1961)

Article 6 of the Convention. Weekly rest. The Committee notes the adoption of the new Labour Code for the private sector (Law No. 6 of 2010), in particular section 67 which provides that workers are entitled to a paid weekend which is equal to 24 continuous hours after every six working days. Noting that the Labour Code does not specify the weekly rest day, which according to the Convention should coincide, wherever possible, with the day of the week established as a day of rest by the traditions or customs of the country, the Committee requests the Government to clarify how effect is given to this requirement of the Convention.

Article 8. Temporary exemptions. The Committee notes that section 67 of the new Labour Code for the private sector provides that the employer may call the worker for work on the day of his/her weekly rest if necessity arises, without however specifying the cases in which performance of such work may be considered necessary. Recalling that the Convention permits temporary exemptions from the normal weekly rest scheme only for well-defined reasons, such as accident, force majeure, urgent work necessary to avoid serious interference with the ordinary working of the establishment, abnormal pressure of work due to special circumstances and the need to prevent the loss of perishable goods, the Committee requests the Government to explain how it is guaranteed in law and in practice that work on the weekly rest day is authorized only in the exceptional conditions specified in Article 8(1) of the Convention.

Finally, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to the conclusions of the ILO Tripartite Meeting of Experts on Working-Time Arrangements, held in October 2011, according to which the provisions of existing ILO standards relating to daily and weekly hours of work, weekly rest, paid annual leave, part-time and night work, remain relevant in the 21st century, and should be promoted in order to facilitate decent work. The Experts also emphasized the importance of working time, its regulation, and organization and management, to: (a) workers and their health and well-being, including opportunities for balancing working and non-work time; (b) the productivity and competitiveness of enterprises; and (c) effective responses to economic and labour market crises.