Government employees in Kuwait began working under a reduced six-hour daily schedule on June 1 as summer measures took effect, with the Civil Service Commission preserving established grace periods for male and female staff across morning and evening shifts. The adjustment runs through Aug. 31 and applies to both fixed and flexible timetables, according to a CSC circular issued in May and a related ministerial decree. Officials framed the change as a response to seasonal conditions while ensuring that core government services continue without interruption.
The Civil Service Commission told all government agencies that employees may start between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. under the flexible system and must complete six hours based on their arrival time, a Kuwait Times report on the circular confirmed. Basma Al-Yaqoub, director of the Fatwa and Opinion Department at the CSC, explained in an interview with Kuwait TV that the reduction covers both morning and evening shifts while leaving shift-based work under its own regulations. She added that a universal 30-minute grace period can be applied either at the start or the end of the day, with female employees receiving an additional 15 minutes at departure.
CSC guidelines place the permitted late-arrival window at 45 minutes for female employees on the morning shift and 30 minutes for males, the Arab Times reported on May 26. Employees who begin at 7 a.m. without using the morning grace period may depart at 12:15 p.m. if female and 12:30 p.m. if male, according to Al-Yaqoub. Those starting at 8 a.m. and skipping the morning grace would finish at 1:15 p.m. for females and 1:30 p.m. for males, while using the full morning grace extends end times to 1:45 p.m. and 2 p.m. respectively.
Minister of Justice Nasser Al-Sumait issued Ministerial Decree No. 312/2026 that reduces working hours across all Justice Ministry sectors to six daily from June 1 to Aug. 31, the decree stated. The order permits starts anytime between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. from Sunday to Thursday provided the six hours are fulfilled, with the grace period commencing after 8 a.m. and tardiness recorded after 8:30 a.m. Any early departure requests taken between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. are deducted from total time, it added.
Evening shifts begin at 5 p.m. with male employees entitled to a 30-minute grace period only at the beginning and females granted a 15-minute grace at the close of the shift, CSC documentation shows. The commission noted that workers already operating under shorter schedules mandated by other rules will retain those existing limits, such as four-hour days where previously applied. A separate Public Authority for Manpower announcement aligned summer revisions for relevant private-sector operations with the six-hour standard during the same period.
The CSC circular stressed that fingerprint attendance systems will continue to log hours while fully incorporating the approved grace periods and any permitted leave, according to statements carried by Kuwait Times on May 21. Shift employees remain governed by their specific operational rules, which were not altered by the summer reduction. Normal seven-hour schedules are scheduled to resume on Sept. 1 across the public sector.
