Workplace Harassment in Kuwait: How Victims Can Complain and the Employer's Duty to Protect Them

Harassment does not only happen in the street or over the phone. Very often it happens where people spend most of their waking hours: the workplace. That changes the picture fundamentally, because the harasser may be a direct manager who controls appraisals, promotions and transfers, a colleague shielded by his connections in management, or an important client the employer is afraid to lose. The victim faces a hard equation: stay silent and the abuse continues, or complain and risk her livelihood and career.

This article deals with that specific angle: harassment in the workplace in Kuwait. It does not repeat the general explanation of sexual offences and their elements, which we covered in Sexual Offences and Harassment under Kuwaiti Law, nor the general discussion of management abuse, which we set out in Employer Abuse of Authority under Kuwaiti Law. Instead, it focuses on what matters to an employee harassed by a colleague, superior or client: how to complain, what the employer is obliged to do, how to protect yourself from retaliation, and how leaving the job affects your entitlements.

We cover the forms workplace harassment takes (verbal, physical, and electronic through work messaging), the criminal route in general terms, the employer's duty to provide a safe workplace, internal complaints and administrative investigations, protection against retaliatory dismissal or transfer, resigning because of the employer's breach, evidence, the particular position of the government sector, and civil compensation. Everything here applies whether the victim is a woman or a man: legal protection does not depend on the victim's sex.

The Short Answer

If you are harassed at work in Kuwait, you have three independent routes that can run in parallel: an internal route, by a written complaint to the employer or government body so that it investigates and acts; a criminal route, by reporting the harasser where the conduct amounts to an offence under Penal Code No. 16 of 1960 or the Law on Combating Information Technology Crimes No. 63 of 2015; and a labour or civil route, to claim your rights and compensation if the employer failed to protect you or retaliated against you for complaining.

The employer is not a neutral bystander. It is obliged to provide a safe working environment, it may be civilly liable for acts its employees commit in the course of, or because of, their work, and any dismissal, transfer or demotion imposed as punishment for a legitimate complaint is an abuse of right that opens the door to compensation.

What matters most from day one: document everything (keep messages in their original form, note dates, places and who was present), complain in writing and keep proof of receipt, do not simply walk out without a written notice stating the reason, and do not post public accusations on social media, or you may turn from complainant into defendant. Then take your facts to a lawyer to choose the right route and timing, because some labour and administrative rights lapse within short periods.

The Legislative Framework

As far as the legislation in force at the time of writing is concerned, Kuwait has no standalone statute dedicated to workplace harassment that sets out its procedures and sanctions in detail. Protection is therefore drawn from several laws that complement one another, and any later amendment should always be checked before relying on the following:

• Penal Code No. 16 of 1960: criminalises acts against honour and modesty, such as indecent assault, indecent acts and accosting another by words or conduct that offend their modesty, alongside insult and threats. In some sexual offences the offender's status matters, and the penalty is aggravated in certain forms where the offender has authority over the victim.
• Law No. 63 of 2015 on Combating Information Technology Crimes: addresses acts committed through information networks and IT means, including threats, extortion, abuse and offences against public morals by electronic means. It is the framework usually engaged when harassment takes place over messaging apps, email or digital work platforms. We explain it in Cybercrime under Kuwaiti Law.
• Private Sector Labour Law No. 6 of 2010: governs the relationship between private-sector workers and employers, imposes occupational safety and health obligations on the employer, allows the worker to terminate the contract while keeping the end-of-service indemnity where the employer breaches its obligations or the worker is assaulted, and regulates compensation for unfair dismissal.
• The Civil Code (Decree-Law No. 67 of 1980): the basis of tort liability, including the harasser's personal liability for material and moral damage and the liability of the principal (the employer) for its employee's acts committed while performing, or because of, the job.
• The Civil Service Law (Decree-Law No. 15 of 1979) and its regulations: govern government employees, their duties, prohibitions and disciplinary system. Harassment by a public official is a serious breach of official duty attracting disciplinary action alongside criminal liability.
• Domestic Workers Law No. 68 of 2015: domestic workers fall under this law rather than the private-sector Labour Law and have their own complaint channel with the competent authority. That does not prevent the Penal Code from applying to the abuser.

Beyond legislation, company policies, codes of conduct or employment contracts may expressly prohibit harassment and designate who receives complaints. These policies bind the employer itself: an employer that adopts a policy and then ignores it provides strong evidence of its own failure.

The Substantive Rules

1. Forms of Workplace Harassment

Workplace harassment takes many forms, and the conduct does not have to be physical to count. The most common forms are:

• Verbal harassment: sexually suggestive comments about the body or clothing, targeted crude jokes, repeated questions about private life, sex-based belittling remarks, or repeated unwanted invitations to meet outside work.
• Physical harassment: deliberate unwanted touching, cornering someone in an office, corridor or lift, or deliberate physical closeness. Depending on the nature and circumstances of the act, this may amount to a sexual offence.
• Non-verbal harassment: suggestive looks, gestures or signals, or displaying inappropriate images or material in the workplace.
• Electronic harassment through work channels: late-night private messages from a manager on WhatsApp or other apps, messages through official email or internal platforms, sending images or clips, or using work groups for innuendo or humiliation. The danger here is that the harasser often claims the message was "about work".
• Quid pro quo harassment: tying a job benefit (contract renewal, promotion, appraisal, bonus, leave) to compliance with a sexual request, or threatening career harm upon refusal. This is the gravest form because it combines an attack on the victim's dignity with abuse of workplace authority.
• Hostile environment: a pattern of acts that each seem minor but together make the workplace stifling and humiliating, such as daily remarks or deliberate exclusion after an advance is rejected.

The decisive test is usually that the conduct is unwanted by the victim and is sexual in nature or offends modesty or dignity. The victim need not have objected expressly every time: fear of losing one's job is an understandable reason for silence, and silence is not consent.

2. The Criminal Side, in General Terms

Not all offensive workplace behaviour is a crime, but many forms of harassment fall under Penal Code No. 16 of 1960, including acts against honour, indecent acts and accosting another by words or gestures that offend their modesty, as well as insult and threats. The legal characterisation depends on the act: deliberate touching of intimate areas is treated differently from a verbal remark, and conduct accompanied by force or threats differs from mere persistence.

Messages, images and clips sent by phone, email or apps may constitute offences under Law No. 63 of 2015, particularly where they involve threats or extortion or contain indecent material. Where the victim's images or information are used to pressure her, the conduct enters the territory of electronic extortion.

We deliberately do not cite article numbers or penalty ranges here, because the precise characterisation depends on the facts and a mistaken description can harm the complaint. What matters is that the criminal route is independent of the employment route: you do not need to complain internally before reporting, an internal investigation does not bar a criminal report, and the fact that the company "settled the matter" internally does not by itself end the criminal route.

3. The Employer's Duty to Provide a Safe Workplace

Labour Law No. 6 of 2010 requires the employer to take the measures needed to protect workers from workplace hazards and to safeguard their safety and health. Safety in the modern sense is not limited to falls, machinery and fire; it extends to protecting workers from assault and abuse at work. In practice, a diligent employer is expected to:

• adopt a written policy that prohibits and defines harassment and identifies who receives complaints, and communicate it to staff;
• provide a safe complaint channel that does not have to pass through the person complained about, especially a line manager;
• treat complaints seriously and confidentially and investigate within a reasonable time through a neutral party;
• take interim protective measures during the investigation that do not come at the complainant's expense, for example moving the alleged harasser rather than the complainant, or separating the reporting line between them;
• impose a proportionate disciplinary sanction if the facts are established, within the limits of the law and the disciplinary rules;
• refrain from retaliating against the complainant or witnesses in any form.

Where the harasser is the employer itself or its representative, the position is clearer still: the law treats an assault on the worker by the employer or its representative as a serious breach entitling the worker to leave while preserving his or her rights, as explained in section 6 below.

On civil liability, the employer as principal is liable for damage caused by its employee's wrongful act committed while performing, or because of, the job. If a manager uses his position and the tools of the job to harass a subordinate, the company's liability may be raised alongside his personal liability, depending on the facts of each case.

4. Internal Complaints and the Administrative Investigation

An internal complaint is not a legal precondition for a criminal report, but it matters for three reasons: it puts the employer on notice so it cannot later claim ignorance, it creates a dated written record, and it makes any later adverse action against the complainant evidence of retaliation.

For an internal complaint to do its job:

• make it in writing, by official email or a letter delivered against a signed acknowledgement, not orally in a corridor or meeting;
• address it to the body designated in company policy (HR, legal, or senior management); if the person complained about is the head of HR, go above him;
• set out the facts with dates, places and witnesses, without exaggeration and without detailed legal labels;
• expressly request protective measures during the investigation and non-retaliation;
• keep a copy of the complaint and of any reply.

A private-sector investigation should in principle hear both parties and the witnesses, confront the person complained about with the allegations, and end with a reasoned decision. It is in the complainant's interest to ask, in writing, to be informed of the outcome insofar as it concerns her. If the company closes the complaint without a genuine investigation, or settles for a token warning despite serious facts, that in itself can later be relied on to prove the employer's failure.

Be careful if the company asks you to sign an acknowledgement, a "settlement" record or a "waiver". Do not sign anything of that kind before reading it carefully and showing it to a lawyer, because some wording may later be read as a release of certain claims or an admission that nothing happened.

5. Protection from Retaliatory Dismissal or Transfer

Fear of retaliation is the main reason victims of workplace harassment stay silent. The rule is that the employer's power to terminate, transfer and appraise is not absolute: it must not be abused and must rest on a legitimate reason. A measure taken to punish a legitimate complaint is an abuse.

• Dismissal after a complaint: if the employer terminates the contract shortly after a complaint, without a serious reason documented beforehand or on a pretext, this is a form of unfair dismissal entitling the worker to compensation in addition to his or her entitlements. See Compensation for Unfair Dismissal under Kuwaiti Labour Law.
• Retaliatory transfer: moving the complainant to a remote site, a lower post or unsuitable duties, or isolating her from her team, while the harasser stays put. A transfer that hides a disguised penalty, or harms the worker without a genuine business need, is not protected by management prerogative.
• Demotion and squeezing out: cutting pay or title, withholding bonuses and incentives, or a sudden negative appraisal after years of good ones. We discuss the limits of the employer's power in Salary Reduction or Change of Job Title in Kuwait.

The key element in proving retaliation is the timeline: the date of the complaint, the date of the adverse measure, and how the complainant was treated before and after. A dated written complaint, previous appraisals and messages showing good performance are therefore essential. Witnesses who gave statements in the investigation deserve the same protection, and any action against them is read in the same light.

6. Resigning Because of the Employer's Breach, and Its Effect on Entitlements

A victim may reach the point where she cannot carry on. Many then make a costly mistake: submitting an ordinary one-line resignation, or simply stopping coming to work. The financial difference between those paths and the right one is significant.

On an ordinary resignation, the end-of-service indemnity may be reduced according to length of service under Labour Law No. 6 of 2010, and the worker must observe the notice period. We explain this in Resignation under Kuwaiti Labour Law.

If, however, the worker leaves because the employer breached its obligations, or because of an assault by the employer or its representative, or because continuing would endanger his or her safety, the law allows the worker to terminate the contract while retaining the full indemnity as if the employer had terminated it, in addition to any compensation that may be due. Whether that situation exists is for the court to assess on the evidence.

To preserve that position, it is advisable to:

• terminate by a written letter stating expressly that it is because of the harassment and the employer's failure to protect, referring to any earlier complaint and its date;
• avoid the bare word "resignation" without stating the reason, and not sign a pre-printed resignation form prepared by the company;
• not stop attending without notice, because absence can be used as a pretext for the employer to terminate;
• gather your lawful evidence before leaving, since access to official email and work systems is usually lost on departure.

After the relationship ends, file the labour complaint promptly, because the law allows labour claims to be heard only within a relatively short period after the contract ends. For the procedure, see Labour Claims in Kuwait: From Complaint to Enforcement.

7. Evidence: Messages, Witnesses and Cameras

Workplace harassment usually happens out of sight, so proof generally rests on an accumulation of mutually supporting indications rather than a single conclusive piece of evidence. The main tools are:

• Electronic messages: keep the original phone or device, do not rely on screenshots alone, and do not delete the conversation however painful it is. Export the full chat with dates and keep the sender's number and account. See Proof by Electronic Messages and WhatsApp in Kuwait.
• Official email and work systems: messages sent through company systems are stored on its servers, and their seizure can be requested through the investigating authority or the court if the company refuses to produce them. Do not transfer confidential company data outside by unlawful means; keep only the correspondence that concerns you.
• Witnesses: colleagues who saw or heard, or those the victim confided in at the time. Testimony from someone who heard the complaint immediately after the event has value as supporting evidence even if that person did not see the act.
• Cameras: many workplaces have CCTV, and recordings are kept for limited periods before being overwritten. Ask the company in writing to preserve the footage immediately, and if there is a criminal report, ask the investigating authority to secure it quickly. See Security Camera Law in Kuwait.
• A contemporaneous personal log: a note written after each incident recording the date, time, place, exact words and who was present. It is not conclusive on its own, but it helps accuracy and strengthens credibility.
• Medical and psychological reports: where harassment caused physical harm or psychological distress requiring treatment, these are important for proving damage and assessing compensation.

Secretly recording the harasser is a delicate matter: it may be the only available proof, but it can expose the person recording to liability depending on the circumstances. We discuss that balance in Recording a Conversation Without the Other Party's Knowledge in Kuwait; take advice before doing it or before submitting a recording.

8. The Government Sector

If the victim works for a government body, the private-sector Labour Law does not govern her employment; the Civil Service Law, its regulations and the body's own rules do. That produces important practical differences:

• the complaint goes to the senior superior, the legal department or the body's administrative investigation unit, and the investigation follows the safeguards of the disciplinary system; it may end in a disciplinary sanction proportionate to the gravity of the misconduct;
• an administrative decision to transfer or second the complainant, or to lower her appraisal, in retaliation can be challenged by a grievance and then before the Administrative Circuit of the Court of First Instance; but the deadlines for grievances and challenges against administrative decisions are short and run from knowledge of the decision, so delay is not an option;
• the criminal route remains open, and an administrative investigation does not suspend a criminal report; a criminal conviction may in turn have consequences for the convicted official's post;
• the government body's civil liability for its employees' acts may be raised under the rules on the liability of principals, depending on the facts.

For more on the government disciplinary system, see Disciplinary Action in the Kuwaiti Civil Service.

9. Civil Compensation

The victim may claim compensation for the material and moral damage she has suffered, potentially against more than one party:

• The harasser personally: on the basis of tort liability, either by joining a civil claim to the criminal case or by a separate civil action.
• The employer: as principal where its employee acted in the course of, or because of, the job; or for breach of its duty to protect and its mishandling of the complaint; or for unfair dismissal if it retaliated.

Compensation covers material damage such as treatment costs and lost wages, and moral damage such as psychological suffering and harm to dignity and reputation. The court assesses it on the circumstances of each case; there are no fixed amounts that can be predicted in advance. See Compensation for Physical and Moral Damage under the Kuwaiti Civil Code.

One final warning: do not publish the harasser's name, photos or explicit accusations on social media before the courts have ruled, however justified the anger. Publication can expose the victim herself to liability for defamation and weaken her case; see Defamation, Insult and Public Shaming under Kuwaiti Law. Equally, a false or malicious complaint has consequences of its own, as explained in False Reports and Malicious Complaints in Kuwait, so accuracy and honesty in recounting the facts serve the victim first.

Principles of the Court of Cassation

Several settled general principles of the Kuwaiti Court of Cassation bear on this subject. We state them by their substance without attributing them to specific judgments:

• The Court of Cassation has consistently held that the employer's power to organise its business, transfer staff and allocate work must be exercised in the interest of the work, must not serve as cover for a disguised penalty or to harm the worker, and that abuse of that power gives rise to liability.
• It has likewise held that termination of an employment contract is unfair if it lacks a legitimate justification, and that inferring abuse from the circumstances of the case is a matter for the trial court, provided its reasoning is sound.
• It is settled that the principal is liable for damage caused by its employee's wrongful act committed while performing, or because of, the job, and that this liability arises where the job facilitated the act or provided the opportunity for it.
• The trial court has full authority to assess witness testimony and rely on what it finds convincing, and to evaluate circumstantial evidence and draw conclusions from it, provided its reasoning is sound and grounded in the record.
• A final criminal judgment is binding on the civil court as to what it necessarily decided regarding the occurrence of the act and its attribution to the perpetrator.
• Assessing compensation for material and moral damage lies within the trial court's discretion, provided it identifies the elements of damage it has taken into account.

Methodological note: the principles above are stated in their general substance as settled in case law. We have not cited appeal numbers or judgment dates, because we do not attribute rulings to the Court whose text we have not verified. These principles are no substitute for consulting the judgments themselves and assessing how they apply to the facts of each case.

Practical Steps and Documents

The order of steps matters, and timing sometimes matters more. A suggested sequence, to be adapted to each case:

• Step 1: Safety first. If there has been a physical assault, leave the area, seek help, go to a clinic or hospital to document any injury, then to the police station.
• Step 2: Document immediately. Keep messages and images on the original device with a backup, and write down the facts and witnesses the same day.
• Step 3: Ask for evidence to be preserved. Ask the company in writing to preserve CCTV footage and correspondence relating to the incident.
• Step 4: File a written internal complaint. Submit it to the competent body, keep proof of receipt, and request interim protection.
• Step 5: Report to the authorities where appropriate. File at the police station or with the competent investigating authority; for electronic offences, the authority specialised in cybercrime can be approached. Provide evidence in its original form.
• Step 6: Watch for retaliation. If any adverse measure is taken against you after the complaint, object to it in writing immediately and keep a copy of the decision.
• Step 7: The labour or administrative route. In the private sector, the labour complaint is filed with the Public Authority for Manpower and referred to court if not settled; in the government sector, a grievance is followed by an administrative challenge within the deadlines.
• Step 8: The compensation claim. Either as a civil claim joined to the criminal case or as a separate civil action, against the harasser and the employer as appropriate.

Documents worth preparing:

• Civil ID, employment contract, recent payslips, and proof of job title and start date.
• The company's internal policy or code of conduct, if any.
• Chats and messages in original form, with dated exported copies.
• Your personal log of incidents and the names and contact details of witnesses.
• A copy of the internal complaint, proof of receipt, and any reply or decision on it.
• Decisions taken after the complaint (transfer, warning, appraisal, termination) together with earlier appraisals for comparison.
• Medical or psychological reports and receipts for treatment costs.
• The criminal report number, if one was filed.

Hypothetical Cases

Case 1: Late-night messages from a line manager

Hypothetical facts: An employee at a private company starts receiving WhatsApp messages from her direct manager after midnight. They begin with work questions, then move to compliments on her appearance and dinner invitations. When she ignores them, he tells her that "her annual appraisal is in his hands" and that renewing her contract "depends on her cooperation".

Legal analysis: This is quid pro quo harassment combined with abuse of workplace authority. Depending on their content, and particularly the threat of career harm, the messages may constitute offences under the Penal Code or the IT Crimes Law. The messages are direct evidence if kept in their original form. She can combine an internal complaint to senior management (not to the manager himself) with a criminal report. If her contract is then not renewed or her appraisal is lowered, the timeline is evidence of retaliation that can support a compensation claim.

Case 2: A closed complaint and a transferred complainant

Hypothetical facts: An employee complains that a colleague touches him inappropriately in the warehouse. The company runs a quick "investigation" without hearing witnesses, finds the allegation unproven, and then transfers the complainant to a distant branch citing "restructuring", while the colleague stays where he is.

Legal analysis: An investigation that hears no witnesses and never confronts the person complained about is not a genuine investigation, and that is evidence of the employer's failure in its duty to protect. Transferring the complainant, and not the accused, immediately after the complaint raises a strong suspicion of retaliatory transfer or a disguised penalty, especially if there is no real restructuring affecting anyone else. The employee can object to the transfer in writing, seek its reversal or compensation, and file a separate criminal report relying on witnesses and on the warehouse CCTV if it was preserved.

Case 3: A government employee considering resignation

Hypothetical facts: An employee in a government body is subjected to repeated sexually suggestive remarks by her head of section. She complains, but the investigation drags on for months. Meanwhile she is seconded to another department with lower-level duties. She is thinking of resigning.

Legal analysis: Her employment is governed by the Civil Service Law, not the private-sector Labour Law, so the Labour Law rules on leaving with a full indemnity do not apply to her as such. Before resigning, the better course is to file a grievance against the secondment within the deadline and then challenge it before the Administrative Circuit if the grievance is rejected, to demand in writing that the investigation be completed, and to file a criminal report if the conduct amounts to an offence. Resigning may weaken her standing to challenge the decision or end a relationship she could otherwise protect, so she should not resign before taking legal advice.

Quick Comparison of the Routes

• Internal complaint: made to the employer or government body; aims to stop the conduct, discipline the harasser and protect the complainant. Advantage: potentially quick and proves the employer's knowledge. Drawback: the investigator is not always neutral.
• Criminal report: made to the police or the competent investigating authority; aims to punish the harasser. Advantage: deterrence and powers to secure evidence. Drawback: needs sufficient evidence and takes time.
• Labour complaint (private sector): made to the Public Authority for Manpower and then the court; aims to recover entitlements and compensation for unfair dismissal or breach. Advantage: protects financial rights. Drawback: short periods within which claims are heard.
• Grievance and administrative challenge (government sector): made to the government body and then the Administrative Circuit; aims to annul the retaliatory decision and obtain compensation. Advantage: can restore the employment position. Drawback: short, strict deadlines.
• Civil compensation claim: brought in court (joined to the criminal case or separately); aims to redress material and moral damage from the harasser and the employer. Advantage: covers moral damage. Drawback: requires proof of damage and causation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do verbal comments alone count as harassment I can complain about?

Yes. Harassment does not require touching. Sexually suggestive or indecent remarks can be the subject of an internal complaint and may be an offence depending on their content and context.

Must I complain to the company before going to the police?

No. The two routes are independent; you can start with either or pursue both. A written internal complaint does, however, help prove the employer's knowledge and protect you from retaliation.

The harasser is my direct manager. Who do I complain to?

To whoever is above him, or to HR, the legal department or senior management according to company policy. A sound complaint process does not route a complaint through the person complained about.

Can the company dismiss me for complaining?

Dismissal as punishment for a legitimate complaint is a form of unfair dismissal giving rise to compensation in addition to your entitlements. The question is proving that the complaint was the real motive, which is where the timeline and earlier appraisals help.

They transferred me instead of the harasser. Is that lawful?

Transferring the complainant after a complaint without a genuine business need, while the accused stays in place, raises a suspicion of retaliatory transfer or a disguised penalty. You can object and seek its reversal or compensation.

If I resign because of harassment, do I lose part of my indemnity?

In the private sector, if you leave because of the employer's breach or an assault by the employer or its representative, the law preserves the full indemnity. On an ordinary resignation the indemnity may be reduced according to length of service. That is why the termination letter must be in writing and state the reason.

Are screenshots enough to prove messages?

Screenshots are useful but can be challenged. It is stronger to keep the original device and the full conversation and submit them to the investigating authority, which can verify them technically.

I have no witnesses. Does my complaint fail?

No. Harassment usually happens without witnesses, and the judge weighs the evidence as a whole: messages, your contemporaneous log, what you told others afterwards, the timeline and the parties' conduct.

The office cameras may have filmed the incident. How do I get the footage?

Ask the company in writing to preserve it immediately, since recordings are overwritten after a while. If you file a criminal report, ask the investigating authority to secure it; it has the power to do so.

The harasser is a client, not an employee. Is the employer responsible?

The employer's duty to protect staff is not limited to its own employees' conduct. If it knew that a client was harassing a worker and did nothing to protect her, its failure can be raised, alongside the client's own criminal and civil liability.

Can I post about what happened on social media?

That is not advisable before a judgment, because publishing an accusation that names or identifies the person may expose you to liability for defamation and weaken your case.

I signed a "settlement" with the company. Have I lost my rights?

That depends on the wording and the circumstances of signing. A settlement with the company does not necessarily remove the right to report the harasser, but some wording may be read as a release of particular claims. Have a lawyer review it.

I am a government employee. Does the Labour Law apply to me?

No. Government employees are governed by the Civil Service Law and its regulations. The routes open to you are a complaint to your employer body and an administrative investigation, a grievance and challenge against retaliatory decisions, a criminal report, and a compensation claim.

Do the same rules apply if the victim is a man?

Yes. Criminal, employment and civil protection does not depend on the victim's sex; what matters is the nature of the conduct and that it was unwanted.

Conclusion

Workplace harassment is not a "personal problem" between two colleagues. It is a legal matter with three complementary dimensions: a criminal dimension directed at the harasser, an employment dimension that obliges the employer to investigate, protect and refrain from retaliation, and a civil dimension that redresses the victim's harm. Although Kuwaiti legislation has no dedicated statute on the subject, the Penal Code, the IT Crimes Law, the Labour Law, the Civil Code and the Civil Service Law together provide real tools of protection.

Those tools do not work automatically. The success of a complaint often depends on what the victim does in the first days: preserving messages in original form, a dated written complaint, asking for CCTV to be preserved, not leaving or resigning in a way that forfeits rights, and avoiding public posts that may backfire.

Every case has its own features: who the harasser is and his position, whether the job is in the private or government sector, what evidence exists, and whether retaliation has occurred or is feared. Those factors determine which route to take first and which to combine.

Legal Notice

This article is general legal information on Kuwaiti law and does not constitute legal advice or create any relationship between the reader and the firm. Its contents are subject to legislative amendment and to judicial application to the facts of each case. We have not cited article numbers, penalty ranges or compensation amounts because they depend on the text in force and the facts of each case.

If you have been harassed at work or faced retaliation after complaining, the team at Yumnaak Law Firm can help you assess the evidence, draft the internal complaint and, where needed, the termination letter, file the criminal report, pursue your labour rights or challenge an administrative decision, and bring a compensation claim. Contact us or book an appointment to review your case in full confidence.