There are three main legal codes governing labour conditions in Kuwait. The employment conditions of civil servants are regulated bythe Labour Law for Government Employees. Those who work in the oil industry are protected by the Labour Law of the Oil Sector. And the Labour Law of the Private Sector governs employment conditions in private businesses. Persons in domestic service, such as maids and chauffeurs, however are not covered by any particular code and must rely for protection on general principles of law.

PRIVATE SECTOR LABOUR LAW
Labour regulations in the private sector are enforced by the Ministry of Social Affairs & Labour (MSA&L). The points discussed below are neither complete nor authoritative.
As well as domestic servants, persons on temporary contracts of less than six months are excluded from the scope of the private sector labour law. Where an employer's head office is outside Kuwait, the labour law of the country where the employer has its head office, governs expatriates working in Kuwait, unless the employer has a branch in Kuwait which concluded the contract with the employee in which case Kuwaiti law applies.

Contract of Employment
An employee's terms of service are contained in his employment contract, which may be for a fixed time or it may be indefinite. A fixed time may not exceed five years.
The labour law specifies minimum limits below which terms of service may not fall, and if a clause in his contract gives an employee a lesser benefit than his right under the law, he is entitled to the minimum specified by law for that particular term.

An employment contract may be verbal or in writing. In either case, it must show at least (a) the remuneration payable, (b) a description of the nature of the job, (c) the date of appointment, and (d) its duration (if fixed). Where a contract is verbal then, in the event of a dispute, either side can use circumstantial evidence to prove what is in it.

If the contract is in writing, it must be in Arabic. A translation into another language may be attached but the Arabic version is authoritative.  

An employee may be hired on probation for a 100 days at most. During this time he may be terminated without notice, though accrued indemnity but not holiday pay must be paid. An employee may not be put on probation more than once by the same employer.