Western Employees on Arifjan Sue for Labor Benefits and Win

The article below appeared on the front page of the Arab Times.

USG contractors working in Kuwait MUST abide by the Kuwait Labor Law or face consequences.  Just because employees are working at a US military installation does not mean that employers get to bend the rules to suit them.  

It is good that the article includes the full name of the lawyer, Musaed J. Al-Riyahi,  that is handling the employees' case.  He has successfully won cases for Westerners fighting for their rights.  More people with similar circumstances can now contact him.  Only wish they had published his contact information!  I just did a quick Google search and couldn't find him.  Why don't these guys at least get on LinkedIn?

The Kuwait Labor Law states that a work week is only 48 hours.  Any time over 48 hours is considered overtime.  No such thang in Kuwait as "exempt" and "non-exempt" employees.  It all the same.

Kuwait Labor Law, Article 64
"…it is forbidden to allow workers to work for more than 48 hours per week or 8 hours a day..."

Article 66

The overtime work should not exceed two hours a day, a maximum of 180 hours a year, three days a week or 90 days a year. The worker shall have the right to prove by any means that the employer required him to perform additional works for an additional period of time. The worker shall also be entitled to a 25 percent increase over his original remuneration for the period of overtime."

I wonder how many employees filed the case.  Interesting.

Bottom line is that either the company has knowingly violated legal labor practices to make more money;  or whoever was in charge of overseeing their contract (compliance/contract management?) did a crap job.

Ultimately, if employees don't do anything about it, unscrupulous companies will get away with it.  The Kuwait Labor Law is available online.  Any employee in Kuwait with a Kuwaiti residency visa is governed under the Kuwait Labor Law.  Get edumacated.

Here we go again: Kuwait's Newest New Government

Photo courtesy of the Arab Times (I think the editor dislikes Rola Dashti because there are much better photos of her out there.  Shame on them for printing this one).

Hmmm... whole lot of Sheikhs, aren't there?  I am HAPPY that there are female ministers this time around.

Good luck, new government.  I wish you much success and Inshallah,  progress for the country.

2012 Election Winners

From Kuwait Times.  (I have been a follower of Arab Times for many years and I'm shifting gears this year by buying a Kuwait Times subscription).

... and a completely superficial, DG comment:  Could these people at least TRY to look better even for an election photo?  What is wrong with the professional photographers in this country?  I mean, there isn't a lot to work with, but c'mon....  Smile?  

A Very Violent Ramadan: Since When Is Vehicular Homicide Halal?

I am traumatized and disgusted.

This has got to be THE most violent Ramadan I’ve ever witnessed in Kuwait. I’ve personally witnessed shouting fights, fistfights… not to mention all the crime articles in the newspapers. What is going on???

Last night, an old dude and his accomplice tried repeatedly to push The Romanian and I off the road with 2 separate vehicles (a Tahoe and a Maxima). This time, I’m going to have to file a case even though I really really don’t want the hassle. I just don’t think that attempted murder should be let go.

I believe that in my 12+ years in Kuwait, this incident frightened me more than anything else I've been through here; and I include the times when the scuds were falling in 2003. This was just sheer violent rage.

A million times, I have been on the receiving end of the patience (sabr) sign. (It is the sign where you put the fingertips of one hand together in a sort of triangle and you shake. It means for the other person to have patience.) So, I initiate the sabr sign after he honks his horn at ME and he goes apeshit; he lost his frickin mind. He had honked at several other people before me. Literally, honestly, I made no other signal and I didn’t even look at him, smile at him, make any other comment. He went his way; I went mine. No harm no foul.

Again, I understand that it is Ramadan and people are fasting and probably not in a great mood; however, that gives no one the right to do what he did - especially during Ramadan.

Much later on down the road, dude comes flying down the road, came around our car and stopped so that he was blocking my exit from the front. He aggressively jumped out of the car, took out his wallet and started to walk towards our car. He didn’t have police lights or any markings on his vehicle. Fearing for the worst, we moved around him and left. He came after us, repeatedly trying to hit our car with his. His car had no lights lit – not police flashers or even emergency flashers. I’m figuring the guy was some kind of an official – or maybe an off duty high-ranking officer of some kind. He enlisted the help of another driver – maybe a friend or just someone he asked to help and BOTH of them tried to box my vehicle in and run us off the road. The Romanian told me to keep cool. We didn’t speed; we didn’t endanger other lives. We knew that their intention was to cause us harm; so that we would get into an accident and then they could flee. At the same time, they were trying to avoid damage to their own vehicles.

Was it because we are foreigners? Was it because we are women? Was it a combination?

Now, this BS has happened to me before with little boys (as I’ve stated before – usually trying to give us a number), but never with a 50-something year old man. I couldn’t believe it. We frantically dialed 777 while it continued for 15-20 minutes from downtown Kuwait to Salmiya. There were no police on the road (before ftour - go figure).

[Sidenote: God forbid that anyone should want to commit a crime in Kuwait, but the time to do it is the 90 minutes before iftar. Criminals could walk into any official building in Kuwait and quite literally take it over. We went to a police station manned by ONE GUY. Deserted. The streets: Deserted of security. Where are the police? Where is the security of the nation?]

How many times are men going to cause accidents in Kuwait chasing women in one way or another? How many of those accidents you see around town are women on the receiving end of such violence?

Sorry, but to me, what those 2 men did to us last night was nothing short of attempted murder. I was shaking so hard that I couldn’t stop for hours - and I consider myself a pretty tough cookie. The only reason they finally took off was because The Romanian was taking multiple photos of them. We got a few good head shots (and the Tahoe's tag #). One of the suspects is in his 50’s; the other probably in his 20’s.

If anyone knows a good female Kuwaiti lawyer who would like to assist me in this case, please write to me (I have 2 very good male lawyers, but I believe a woman would try harder for me).

I think it is time that Kuwait did something about this type of violence.


September 29 Update

I have checked with quite a few people "higher up" to determine who I am dealing with before filing a case. No information is available for the car registration - which could mean a few things - unfavorable to filing a case. As someone at the Embassy so poignantly stated, I work for a private company and not the Embassy, so I am basically on my own should something happen. It is not the mission of the US Embassy (nor any other) to ensure the security of private citizens; and I completely understand that. The advice I have received from some folks is that I should file a case. That is great advice if you either have a security detail periodically checking your residence; or if you live with someone who can assist you should anyone show up at your door in the middle of the night. This is Kuwait, alas, and I don't know who crazy old dude is. If he is someone "up there" or with good wastah, I could have a world of trouble. Unfortunately, Kuwait is still the Wild Wild West. Maybe I would feel more comfortable in 50 years; but then again - maybe not. I guess I should have just rammed his car (and the other?) and then at least the police would have shown up faster and/or I could have gotten away.



Arab Times, November 6, 2008


I saw this article in the Arab Times today. I would like to know who the special task force is. Obviously, folks at the top level of law enforcement/Ministry of Interior are doing something about crimes being committed by their own/corruption. Isn't there a hotline that members of the public could call?


There is corruption and injustice everywhere in the world. Civilized nations do something about it. Good for the Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior if they are actually trying to weed them out. Outstanding!

I Can't Stop Playing With It

My new computer. Bunny bought me a new computer for my birthday. You would think that I would have time for stuff like blogging, but I'm actually creating libraries of my favorite music and downloading stuff and (get this) doing work for my new job.

Bunny to the rescue again. What a guy. Now, I have a new Bunny-draw: "Can you come over and help me with (this application or that one). He's really good about coming over when I need him (I guess it is the knight in shining armor thing), so I try to create new home projects to keep him coming back. How pathetic is THAT? Some girls use sex to lure in their mates - I use shelves and computer programs. How did my life come to this?

What the HELL is going on in this country with all the construction? When will it stop? There is a PIT down the street from my building and there are dumptrucks in and out all day and night. I want to throw eggs at all of them, but they are construction trucks and I am quite sure that eggs will have no affect on them at all (not like with the shiny cars that sit outside honking). I have perfected my egging to an artform. I can aim, egg, and run at just the precise timing required. Honkers of all types get on my damn nerves. What am I going to do about the TRUCKS???? Why at night? It is 12 am now and the damn trucks are going up and down my street. Again, how did my life come to this?

And really - how pathetic is all of this?

I sent my lawyers some flowers. I thought the guy was going to cry. Apparently, all they get for a job well done is a handshake. Not in my world -- flowers. I am a firm believer in flowers. One time (not at band camp), I sent a woman (not lady) in my office some flowers. Do you know what she had the NERVE to say? "You should have just given me the money. Why did you waste it on flowers?" I don't know if I actually SAID out loud, "Why did I waste it on YOU?" Ok, do something nice and throw it in the ocean.

I stopped allowing anonymous posts on here because of the WACKOS who sent me some comments of a sexual and insulting nature. Do people have nothing better to do with their time?
Masturbation. I mean, it puts you in a better mood and you're not actually pissing anyone else off (unless you do it in public or something).

Either Dying or Killing...

A former colleague died of cancer over the weekend. He was diagnosed only a few months before he passed away. He made friends and mistakes as we all do. Here is what I don't get: the management of the company did nothing in his memory. The day after people found out about it (3 days after his death) and were rightfully in the grief process; the management told the staff, "Stop crying now. It is done."

Do people not GET IT? Has the world become so complacent that people just don't care about eachother anymore? Don't they understand that if they treat people that way, that it will only come back around to get them in the end?I don't work there anymore, but I offered to arrange a small memorial service where his friends could attend and just say a few kind words about the guy. It helps as a form of closure in the grief process.

The time to do it isn't a month from now, but now. Why don't people care? The response I got was, "not now." Okay - WHEN? I only hope that if (God forbid) anything ever happens to me, that people would remember me differently. That just sucks.

Speaking of sucking - I went to see my lawyer last night who has been following my car accident case for the past year and a half. Yes people - that is how long it takes if someone hits you and their insurance doesn't pay the total cost of fixing your car and you decide to sue. My lawyerman told me that it might take up to 3 years to see any results. The kid who hit me was chasing a young lady on an illegal U turn through a red light. He was driving a rental jeep. I later found out that he is a drug user and crashes cars, so now rents. A real outstanding member of society. Once I win my case, I'm going to publish all the dirt on him. My lawyer tells me every single time that I see him that I am gaining weight.

Men, I have some advice: them are fighting words. This, coming from a man who is graying and balding and could stand to lose about 40 kilos (not pounds). If ya aint George Clooney, you shouldn't dish criticism. I'm going to have a good day. I swear.