SDG 5: Gender Equality
5.6.9 Paternity Policy
AUM is a university that cares for the welfare of its students, which is why it creates various policies to protect and respect the rights of its students and the teaching and administrative staff working on campus. Among these policies is a maternity and paternity policy for its students and staff.
In this policy, AUM stipulates that pregnant women who are part of the administrative staff shall be entitled to a paid maternity leave of 70 days. In this policy, the employer may not terminate the services of a female employee while she is on maternity leave or during her absence from work due to an illness that is proven by a medical certificate indicating that the illness was the result of pregnancy or childbirth. Similarly, fathers who belong to the staff make take paternity leave.
Similarly, for AUM female students, maternity leave also consists of 70 days. For fathers, the student left will be three days.
Finally, during maternity and paternity leave, employees are entitled to receive half salary if she has been employed for at least one year and full salary if she has been employed for at least three years from the date of commencement of the leave. The company must pay medical expenses related to pregnancy and childbirth.
Female Employees
A female employee assigned to work a man’s job must be given equal compensation. Female employees have the same standard working hours as male employees but they are not allowed to work between 7pm to 6am. However female employees working for clinics, pharmacies, hotels, nursery schools, homes for the handicapped, airlines, tourist offices, theaters, and entertainment industries are allowed to work beyond the standard working hours. Female workers working in cooperative societies, public utilities, beauty salons, tailoring shops, banks and offices may work during night time but only until midnight. MSA&L may extend night-time working hours during Ramadan, on Eids, and public holidays. Transportation must be arranged by the employers for female employees working at night.
Maternity Leave
A pregnant woman is privileged to have a maximum of 30 days maternity leave before the date of delivery and 40 days after delivery. A pregnant woman can also be absent from work up to 100 days, consecutive or not, after the maternity leave but without pay. A medical certificate stating that the person is not yet fit to work needs to be presented as basis for the additional absences incurred after the maternity leave. This maternity leave will be forfeited on day-per-day basis until her annual leave are all taken.
Paternity Policy for Faculty and Staff
Currently there is no statutory paternity leave in Kuwait. It is allowed for fathers to get leave for paternity as per the leave approval system at the American University of the Middle East. There are various options of leave provided to faculty and staff, such as annual leave.
An expecting mother is allowed to take a paid leave, lasting 70 days, provided, her due date for delivery falls within that period. New mothers can also apply for unpaid leave of upto four months. The law prohibits employers from terminating the contracts of female workers during this period, or if they are sick due to associated issues during delivery. Once the new mother gets back to work, she is granted 2 hours break from normal work hours to nurse her baby.