The Appeals Review Committee of Kuwait’s Constitutional Court rejected an appeal against the Civil Service Commission’s application of the general salary scale to employees of the Secretariat General of the National Assembly on June 21, 2026. The committee affirmed that the decision does not infringe upon acquired legal rights and complies with constitutional principles of equality and separation of powers, according to the ruling published that day in the official gazette Kuwait Al-Youm.
The appellant, a former department head in the Priorities Committee Office at the Secretariat who received a total monthly salary of KD 4,944, had sought annulment of the CSC decision to preserve his full compensation package of salary, allowances and bonuses. Arab Times reported that he argued the adjustment violated acquired rights by reducing pay and eliminating certain financial benefits linked to the distinct functions of assembly staff. The appeal also contended that the measure breached equality because Secretariat roles differ from those of typical state employees and that the CSC had improperly exercised legislative authority.
According to the committee’s published reasoning, a constitutional challenge must be necessary to resolve the underlying dispute and demonstrate a genuine conflict with the constitution, conditions the court found unmet here. The ruling referenced Decree-Law No. 63/2025, which suspended the National Assembly’s internal regulations under Law No. 12 of 1963 and transferred the Secretariat to the Office of the Prime Minister, as detailed in a Times Kuwait report from May 2025. Article Two of the decree explicitly applied the Civil Service Law and its executive regulations to these employees from the decree’s effective date.
The Civil Service Commission decided during Meeting No. 10/2025 to permanently adopt the general salary scale for Secretariat staff while granting a monthly personal allowance equal to 30 percent of the total salary under that scale before social security deductions for one year. An explanatory memorandum cited in the court decision explained that the assembly’s dissolution removed the justification for prior special benefits since the employees no longer performed the associated duties. The memo further noted the importance of unifying employment systems for personnel working under the same entity, whether directly appointed or seconded, to ensure equality and consistency with the prevailing constitutional framework.
The committee, headed by Judge Adel Al-Bahao, accepted the appeal on procedural grounds but rejected its substantive claims, thereby upholding the lower judgment and requiring the appellant to bear legal costs. Court documents indicate the CSC acted within its powers under the decree without violating separation of powers and that the salary adjustments took immediate effect upon the employees’ administrative transfer rather than applying retroactively. The ruling concluded that the appellant’s allegations of constitutional violations lacked foundation in law.
This outcome aligns with the decree’s aim to adapt administrative structures after the emir suspended the National Assembly and certain constitutional articles in 2024, a development covered in a Congressional Research Service analysis published in January 2026. The CSC has pursued similar standardization across the public sector, including its May 2026 announcement reducing government working hours to six daily during the summer period from June 1 to August 31. Such steps reflect efforts to maintain uniform conditions for state employees under the Civil Service Law following periods of legislative suspension.
