As many as 31,000 Kuwait state employees may have to face legal action as they took leave post the long Eid weekend. Kuwait's Minister of Social Affairs and Labour, Hind Al Sabeeh, has warned the employees about the same.
The calculation
The state had given three days holidays (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday) for Eid. The weekend is marked on Fridays and Saturdays in Kuwait. Keeping this in mind, the employees sought to get 'legal' sick leave for Wednesday and Thursday to accumulate a nine day long Eid break. The employees aimed for a holiday from June 23 to July 1.
'Abuse of public funds will not be tolerated'
Calling salaries as public funds, she said that she would not tolerate such abuses. Further, those who did not turn up for work will be accountable for the same. "Those who wanted to rest and extended their Eid break to nine days, while people were keen on processing administrative transactions, should retire and rest," the minister said in a news report.
Reports suggest that several offices remained empty. As many as 31,000 employees sought for sick leave to cover for their absence. Another report said that it was 'ridiculous' to see senior officials show up for work while the junior employees were unable to make it. It is being said that an ad-hoc committee might be formed to look into these sick leaves that were granted to 'fake patients'. Further, the doctors who issued these certificates will be held accountable for giving away these fake certificates.
An incident from past
A similar incident took place back in 2015 where nearly 30,000 employees were on holiday for Eid. These employees had secured the bogus certificates from various public and private hospitals allowing them to take leave from work. A thorough investigation was launched where patients' health records and the name of doctors were checked.
"The Commission has to make sure that the public interest is preserved and now wants the ministry of health to take the necessary legal measures against doctors who did not respect ethics and abused the system by issuing bogus sick leave, which amounts to forging official documents," said a Gulfnews report.
This trend has left the Kuwaiti officials worrying as the absenteeism is reaching new heights in the public sector. An official report was quoted saying that only half of them turned up for work.
