Kuwait Indemnity Calculation (2026): Is It 26 Days or 30 Days?

Your Kuwait indemnity calculation turns on one number almost nobody checks: the divisor used to work out your daily wage.

Divide your monthly wage by 26 and five years of service on KD 500 pays KD 1,442.31. Divide it by 30 and the same five years pays KD 1,250.

KD 192.31 of difference, on identical service and identical pay, decided by a divisor that appears nowhere in the statute.

This guide sets out which divisor is correct, the full Article 51 formula, your figure at every length of service and on every common wage, what resignation does to it, and what to do if your employer will not pay.

Quick Answer

Is Kuwait Indemnity Calculated on 26 or 30 Days?

26. And the reason matters, because it is not written in Article 51.

Kuwait Labour Law No. 6 of 2010 sets the entitlement in days of wage — 15 days for each of your first five years. It does not state how to convert a monthly salary into a daily one. That gap is filled by Article 67, which derives the daily rate from actual working days and excludes paid weekly rest days, and by settled Court of Cassation practice, which applies a 26-day month.

A six-day working week over a typical month gives 26 working days. Dividing by 30 treats your paid Friday as a day you earned nothing for.

This is what people mean by the Kuwait indemnity 26 days basis: the daily wage is derived from days actually worked, not from the calendar.

What the two divisors produce

On a KD 500 monthly wage:

The 30-day basis understates your daily wage by 13.3%.

Notice where the gap stops growing. It is KD 192.31 at five years and KD 192.31 at eighteen years, because the divisor only touches the 15-day band. From year six the entitlement is expressed as one month’s wage, and a month is a month however you slice it.

So the 26-day question is worth a fixed amount — roughly 11.5 days of wage — but it is worth that amount to every employee, and it is the most common single error in a Kuwait indemnity calculation.

If your settlement statement shows a daily wage of salary ÷ 30, ask which authority supports it. Most employers correct it once asked, because the Cassation position is not seriously disputed.

How to Calculate Indemnity in Kuwait

Three steps. This is the Kuwait indemnity daily wage calculation in full.

Step 1 — Daily wage

Daily wage = Monthly wage ÷ 26

On KD 500: KD 19.231

Step 2 — Apply the two bands

Article 51 pays monthly-paid employees on a rising scale:

Years one to five: 15 × KD 19.231 = KD 288.46 per year Year six onwards: KD 500 per year

Part years are paid in proportion. Five years and eight months is 5.67 years, not five.

Step 3 — Check the 18-month ceiling

Your total cannot exceed one and a half years’ wage. On KD 500 that is KD 9,000.

Work the figure out in the Kuwait Gratuity Calculator, which applies the 26-day basis, both bands and the cap automatically — and shows the working year by year.

Kuwait Indemnity Calculation by Years of Service

All figures on the 26-day basis, for termination or contract expiry. Resignation reductions are covered further down.

Indemnity calculation for 2 years in Kuwait

On a KD 500 wage, two years earns KD 576.92 — but only if your employer ended the contract or it expired without renewal.

If you resign before completing three years, you receive nothing at all. This is the single harshest rule in Kuwait end-of-service law and it catches people out constantly. At two years and ten months, resigning costs you the entire entitlement; waiting two more months earns you half of it.

Kuwait indemnity calculation after 3 years

KD 865.38 on a KD 500 wage where the employer ended the contract.

Three years is the threshold that changes everything for anyone thinking of leaving. At two years and eleven months, resignation pays nothing. At three years and one day, it pays half — KD 432.69.

Nowhere else in the service period does a single day move the figure from zero to something.

Kuwait indemnity calculation after 5 years

KD 1,442.31 on a KD 500 wage. Year five is the last year paid at the 15-day rate.

Year six is where the figure changes character. That single year adds a full month’s wage — KD 500 — against KD 288.46 for year five. Year six is worth 73% more than year five, which makes the five-year mark the most expensive point in your service to walk away from.

Kuwait indemnity calculation after 6 years

KD 1,942.31 on a KD 500 wage — KD 500 more than year five, for one additional year of service.

Year six is the first year paid at the full one-month rate. Every year after it is worth the same KD 500, which means the pace of accrual roughly doubles once you pass the five-year line and then stays flat.

Kuwait indemnity calculation after 10 years

KD 3,942.31 on a KD 500 wage, and at ten years something else changes: the resignation reduction disappears entirely. Resign at nine years and eleven months and you receive two thirds. Resign at ten years and one month and you receive all of it.

On KD 500 that is KD 2,628.21 against KD 3,942.31 — KD 1,314.10 for two months of patience.

A Kuwait indemnity calculation after 10 years for expats uses exactly this formula — there is no separate expatriate rate in Article 51. What differs for expatriates is everything around it: they are not enrolled in PIFSS, so this lump sum is the whole of their end-of-service provision rather than a top-up to a pension.

For anyone searching what Kuwait end of service 10 years is worth on a different wage: the indemnity for 10 years in Kuwait is KD 2,365.38 on a KD 300 wage and KD 7,884.62 on a KD 1,000 wage. The ten-year total is always your first five years at 15 days plus five full months of wage.

Kuwait indemnity calculation after 18 years

KD 7,942.31 on a KD 500 wage. Well short of the ceiling, despite how long 18 years sounds.

The 18-month cap is widely misread as “18 years”. It is not. On these figures the cap does not bind until roughly 20 years and 1 month of service — and that threshold is the same whatever your salary, because both the entitlement and the ceiling scale with your wage.

Kuwait Indemnity by Salary: 300 KD, 500 KD and 1,000 KD

The table above gives the totals. This section gives the working for the three most common wage bands, so you can check a figure without reaching for a calculator.

Kuwait indemnity 300 KD

Daily wage: KD 300 ÷ 26 = KD 11.538 Each of years 1–5: 15 × KD 11.538 = KD 173.08 Each year from year 6: KD 300

Maximum at this wage: KD 5,400. A 300 KD end of service Kuwait figure is the band where the 26-day divisor matters most in relative terms — it is worth KD 115 of a figure that is not large to begin with.

Kuwait indemnity 500 KD

Daily wage: KD 500 ÷ 26 = KD 19.231 Each of years 1–5: 15 × KD 19.231 = KD 288.46 Each year from year 6: KD 500

Maximum at this wage: KD 9,000.

Kuwait indemnity 1000 KD

Daily wage: KD 1,000 ÷ 26 = KD 38.462 Each of years 1–5: 15 × KD 38.462 = KD 576.92 Each year from year 6: KD 1,000

Maximum at this wage: KD 18,000.

At this level the wage-basis question below is worth more than everything else on this page. If your package includes a fixed housing allowance and it was left out of the calculation, ten years of service could be short by several thousand dinars.

Working in a different Gulf country? Our GCC gratuity calculators cover all six, and the rules differ more than most people expect.

Which Wage? This Part Is Genuinely Disputed

Here the honest answer is that sources disagree, and you should know that before you argue a figure.

The case for total wage. Articles 55 and 62, as applied in Cassation case law, are read by several Kuwaiti practitioners as basing the indemnity on the last comprehensive wage — basic pay plus regular fixed allowances such as housing and transport, and regularly paid bonuses. The test applied is regularity: if it arrived every month without fail, it forms part of the wage.

The case for basic salary. A good deal of published Kuwaiti guidance, and a great many employers in practice, calculate on basic salary alone.

We are not going to pretend this is settled. What we will say is that the difference is large enough to be worth asking about:

KD 1,576.92 of difference on the same job.

What to do. Ask your employer in writing which wage figure was used and on what basis. If they used basic alone and your allowances are fixed and paid every month, that is a question worth putting to them, and worth taking to the Ministry if the amount is significant. Our calculator uses the figure you enter, so run it both ways and see what is at stake before you decide whether to raise it.

This is one of several places where Kuwait differs from its neighbours. In Qatar the position is unambiguous — basic salary only, allowances excluded, no argument available.

The 18-Month Cap

Article 51 caps the indemnity at one and a half years’ wage for monthly-paid employees.

The threshold is the same at every salary. Your first five years earn 2.88 months of wage; the remaining 15.12 months of the ceiling are filled at one month per year.

There is no separate Kuwait indemnity maximum limit beyond this one. People often search for a Kuwait end of service maximum amount expecting a fixed dinar figure, but the ceiling is expressed as a multiple of your own wage, so it rises with your salary rather than sitting at a set number. So yes — there is a cap on Kuwait indemnity, and for monthly-paid employees it is the 18 months cap set by Article 51.

Kuwait’s cap is more generous than the UAE’s, which stops at two years’ basic salary but reaches that ceiling much later. We have covered the UAE position in Article 51 of the UAE Labour Law — the article number is a coincidence, the rules are not the same.

Kuwait Indemnity on Resignation

Do I get indemnity if I resign in Kuwait? Yes — but not all of it, and under three years of service, not any of it.

A Kuwait indemnity calculation for resignation runs in two steps: work out the full Article 51 entitlement first, then apply the Article 53 percentage for your length of service.

This is the sharpest difference between Kuwait and its neighbours. In the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman, resigning after your first year pays exactly the same as being terminated. Kuwait is the one country in the Gulf where walking out voluntarily costs you money.

Kuwait resignation indemnity percentage

Article 53 reduces the indemnity where an employee resigns from an unlimited contract:

On a KD 500 wage:

Indemnity after 3 years resignation in Kuwait

KD 432.69 on a KD 500 wage — half of the KD 865.38 a terminated employee receives.

Three years is the first threshold, and the most dramatic one. At two years and eleven months you are entitled to nothing on resignation. One day later you are entitled to half. On a KD 500 wage that single day is worth KD 432.69, and on KD 1,000 it is worth KD 865.38.

If you are close to three years and planning to resign, the date on your resignation letter is worth more thought than almost anything else in this article.

Kuwait indemnity after 5 years resignation

KD 961.54 on a KD 500 wage — two thirds of KD 1,442.31.

Five years moves you from half to two thirds. The jump is smaller than the one at three years, but it arrives at the same time as the band change in Article 51, so the underlying figure is also growing faster from this point.

The next and final threshold is ten years, where the reduction disappears completely.

When the reduction does not apply

Termination by the employer. The full amount is due, whatever your length of service.

Contract expiry without renewal. A fixed-term contract that simply runs out pays in full under Article 52 — this is not treated as resignation.

Fixed-term contracts generally. The Article 53 scale is written for unlimited contracts.

Two things worth correcting. The one-third figure for the 3–5 year band that still circulates online is out of date; the current position is one half. And a dismissal for serious fault does not wipe out indemnity already accrued — that is a separate question from the Article 53 reduction.

Monthly-Paid or Not? The Rates Differ

Everything above applies to employees paid a monthly wage, which covers most office and professional staff.

Workers paid by the day, week, hour or piece are on a separate and less generous scale:

Check how your contract describes your pay before using any figure on this page. If it states a monthly salary, the monthly-paid scale applies to you.

Does PIFSS Reduce Your Kuwait Indemnity?

For most people reading this, no — and there should not be a social security line on your payslip at all.

If you are a non-GCC expatriate, you are excluded from the Public Institution for Social Security. Employers are not permitted to make a PIFSS deduction from your pay, and nothing is offset against your end-of-service entitlement. The indemnity under Articles 51 to 53 is your retirement provision in Kuwait. If you see a Kuwait indemnity social security deduction on a payslip or a settlement statement, ask what it is for and under which article.

If you are a Kuwaiti national, the position reverses. PIFSS enrolment is mandatory in the private sector, and where the employer’s contributions match or exceed the statutory end-of-service entitlement, the indemnity is effectively replaced by it rather than paid on top.

If you are a GCC national, you fall under the GCC Unified Extension of Protection System. Your employer applies your home country’s contribution rates, and PIFSS collects and transfers the funds rather than enrolling you in the Kuwaiti scheme.

This is the same structure used elsewhere in the Gulf: nationals are covered by a pension fund, expatriates receive an employer-paid lump sum instead. Saudi Arabia runs the same split through GOSI, and Oman through its Social Protection Fund.

What can be deducted. Legitimate debts you owe the company — a documented loan, an unrepaid salary advance, unreturned company property — may be set against your final settlement, itemised. An undocumented amount raised for the first time at your exit meeting is a different matter.

Kuwait Indemnity Calculation Excel and PDF Downloads

Two things people reach for when they want to check a settlement properly.

A spreadsheet. A Kuwait indemnity calculation excel file is useful for one thing in particular: running the same service period at different wage figures, or at different leaving dates, side by side. Rather than building the formula yourself, run the figure in our calculator and use Export Excel — you get the year-by-year breakdown as a sheet you can edit, extend and send to HR. The PDF export does the same for anyone who wants a document rather than a spreadsheet — if you need a Kuwait indemnity calculation after 10 years pdf to attach to an email to HR, that is one click.

Building it yourself is not difficult, but three things go wrong most often: people hardcode /30 instead of /26, they treat the second band as 30 days of daily wage rather than one month’s wage, and they forget the 18-month cap entirely.

The law itself. If you are looking for a Kuwait labor law indemnity PDF, the provisions you want are Articles 51, 52 and 53 of Law No. 6 of 2010, with Articles 55, 62 and 67 relevant to the wage basis and the daily rate. Quoting the article number in a written objection carries considerably more weight than quoting a website — including this one.

Common Mistakes

Dividing by 30. The most common error on this page, and worth about 11.5 days of wage to every employee.

Treating year six as 30 days of daily wage. It is one month’s wage, not 30 × (wage ÷ 26). The second produces a figure 15% too high and will be rejected.

Counting from the latest contract renewal. Renewals are continuous service. An employee on a third three-year contract has nine years, not three — and the difference straddles both the band change and the resignation threshold.

Resigning at two years and ten months. Under three years of service, resignation pays nothing. Two more months pays half.

Reading the cap as 18 years. It is 18 months’ wage, which on these figures binds at around 20 years and 1 month.

Rounding part years down. Article 51 pays fractions in proportion.

Assuming the old one-third resignation rate. The 3–5 year band is one half.

Employer Not Paying Indemnity in Kuwait

A wrong figure and an unpaid figure are two different problems. If the amount is simply missing rather than disputed, work through these in order.

Step one — establish your own number, then ask in writing

Run your service in the calculator, then email your employer asking for an itemised settlement statement showing four things:

• The wage figure used, and whether it is basic alone or the comprehensive wage
• Your service start and end dates
• The daily wage divisor applied — 26 or 30
• Every deduction, listed separately

Most disputes end here. Once someone has to write the calculation down and attach their name to it, a divisor of 30 or a missing housing allowance tends to get corrected without an argument.

Step two — gather your documents

• Employment contract and every renewal
• Civil ID and residency details
• Salary certificate and recent payslips
• Bank statements showing salary transfers
• Your resignation or termination letter
• Any written exchange where payment was promised, delayed or refused

Bank statements matter more than people expect. Where there is a dispute over whether a fixed allowance was really part of your wage, a year of identical monthly transfers is the strongest evidence available.

Step three — file a Kuwait labour complaint for indemnity

Complaints go to the Public Authority for Manpower, the body most people still call the Ministry of Manpower. A Kuwait Ministry of Manpower complaint is filed through its labour relations department, which reviews the case, summons the employer and attempts to settle the matter between the two of you.

This stage resolves more cases than people expect. A company that has ignored three emails responds differently when the authority writes to it directly.

Step four — the labour court

Where conciliation fails, the file is referred onward for formal determination. By this point your documentation is doing most of the work — employees who kept records rarely need to argue the facts, only the amount.

If you are wondering how to file a labour case in Kuwait, the answer is that you do not start there. The complaint stage comes first, and the file you build for it is the same file the court will see.

Do not leave Kuwait with this unresolved

Once you have left the country, pursuing an unpaid settlement becomes considerably harder — you cannot attend sessions, you cannot visit the authority, and the practical leverage of being present disappears.

If your departure date is approaching and the money has not arrived, file before you go. A week’s delay to your plans costs less than a settlement you never recover.

And do not sign a release before you are paid. A release confirms you received everything owed. Signed before the transfer lands, it removes almost all of your position. The order is: statement, check the figure, receive the payment, then sign.

Work Out Your Own Figure First

Enter your wage, your joining date and your last working day in the Kuwait Gratuity Calculator. It applies the 26-day basis, both Article 51 bands and the 18-month cap, and lets you switch the divisor to 30 so you can see exactly what your employer’s figure assumes.

Export it as PDF or Excel, then compare it against the settlement statement. Establish your own number before the conversation starts — the difference is a much shorter discussion than the whole calculation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Kuwait indemnity calculated on 26 or 30 days?

26. Article 51 sets the entitlement in days of wage without fixing a divisor; Article 67 and settled Court of Cassation practice derive the daily rate from working days, excluding paid weekly rest. Using 30 understates your daily wage by 13.3%.

How do I calculate indemnity in Kuwait?

Divide your monthly wage by 26 for the daily rate, apply 15 days for each of your first five years and one month’s wage for each year after that, then check the total against the 18-month ceiling.

What is the Kuwait indemnity calculation after 3 years?

KD 865.38 on a KD 500 wage if you were terminated. If you resigned, half of that — KD 432.69. Three years is the point at which resignation stops paying nothing.

What is the Kuwait indemnity calculation after 5 years?

KD 1,442.31 on a KD 500 wage, where the employer ended the contract. On resignation at five years it is two thirds, or KD 961.54.

What is the Kuwait indemnity calculation after 6 years?

KD 1,942.31 on a KD 500 wage. Year six is the first year paid at one month’s wage rather than 15 days.

What is the Kuwait indemnity calculation after 10 years?

KD 3,942.31 on a KD 500 wage. Ten years is also the point at which the resignation reduction stops applying entirely.

What is the Kuwait indemnity calculation after 18 years?

KD 7,942.31 on a KD 500 wage. The 18-month cap is not reached until roughly 20 years and 1 month of service.

What is the indemnity calculation for 2 years on a Kuwait salary?

KD 576.92 on a KD 500 wage if you were terminated or the contract expired. If you resigned, nothing — the entitlement begins at three years.

What is the Kuwait indemnity on a 300 KD salary?

KD 865.38 after five years and KD 2,365.38 after ten, where the employer ended the contract. The maximum at this wage is KD 5,400.

What is the Kuwait indemnity on a 500 KD salary?

KD 1,442.31 after five years and KD 3,942.31 after ten. The maximum is KD 9,000.

What is the Kuwait indemnity on a 1,000 KD salary?

KD 2,884.62 after five years and KD 7,884.62 after ten. The maximum is KD 18,000.

Do I get indemnity if I resign in Kuwait?

Yes, unless you resign with under three years of service, in which case nothing is due. From three to five years you receive half, from five to ten two thirds, and from ten years the full amount.

What is the Kuwait resignation indemnity percentage?

0% under three years, 50% from three to five, 66.67% from five to ten, and 100% at ten years or more, on an unlimited contract.

What is the indemnity after 3 years resignation in Kuwait?

KD 432.69 on a KD 500 wage — half of the KD 865.38 a terminated employee receives.

What is the Kuwait indemnity after 5 years resignation?

KD 961.54 on a KD 500 wage, which is two thirds of the full KD 1,442.31.

Is indemnity calculated on basic salary or total wage?

This is genuinely disputed. Several Kuwaiti practitioners read Articles 55 and 62 as requiring the last comprehensive wage including regular fixed allowances; much published guidance and many employers apply basic salary alone. Ask in writing which basis was used.

Is there a maximum indemnity in Kuwait?

Yes. One and a half years’ wage, or 18 months, for monthly-paid employees. Twelve months for daily, weekly, hourly and piece-rate workers. The ceiling is a multiple of your own wage, not a fixed dinar figure.

Do part years count?

Yes, in proportion. Five years and eight months is 5.67 years.

Does PIFSS reduce indemnity in Kuwait?

Not for non-GCC expatriates, who are excluded from PIFSS entirely and should have no social security deduction on their payslip. For Kuwaiti nationals the indemnity is effectively replaced where the employer’s PIFSS contributions match or exceed it.

What do I do if my employer is not paying indemnity in Kuwait?

Ask for an itemised settlement statement in writing, gather your contract, payslips and bank statements, then file a complaint with the Public Authority for Manpower. Do this before you leave the country.

How do I file a labour case in Kuwait?

You start with a complaint to the Public Authority for Manpower rather than at court. The authority reviews the case, summons the employer and attempts conciliation; unresolved cases are referred onward to the labour court.

Can I do the Kuwait indemnity calculation in Excel?

Yes, and our calculator will export the year-by-year breakdown as an Excel file so you do not have to build the formula. The three things people get wrong when building it themselves are the 26-day divisor, the one-month second band, and the 18-month cap.

Where can I find the Kuwait labor law indemnity PDF?

The relevant provisions are Articles 51, 52 and 53 of Kuwait Labour Law No. 6 of 2010, with Articles 55, 62 and 67 relevant to the wage basis. Citing the article number in writing carries more weight than citing a website.

Is indemnity taxable in Kuwait?

No.

Last updated: October 2026 Based on: Kuwait Labour Law No. 6 of 2010, Articles 51, 52, 53, 55, 62 and 67

Written by Farhan — About

This is an estimate for planning purposes, not legal advice. For a binding figure, contact the Public Authority for Manpower or a Kuwait-licensed legal professional.