Salary Reduction

I will check but I do recall a lot of GCC countries coming out with proclamations which allowed employers to reduce salaries for their workers.  Definitely UAE and Saudi.   However, in all cases, it should be communicated to the employee and agreed.  If employee doesn't agree then the employer can terminate him and pay the EOS.

Yeah in UAE they made an announcement about it. I was wondering if they will have the same here in Bahrain.

Even if they don't make any announcement, I doubt they will discourage it. Look its pure economics, a business going bankrupt has a huge impact on the country's economy vs employees getting pay cut. You can argue in front of MOL, yes, especially if you didn't agree to a cut but then be prepared to lose your job as employer terminates you on grounds of business closure / shut down.

I understand the part about the company finances; I am more concerned about the legality of such action. That's why I was asking if there is such a clause in the labor law that explicitly states that an employer can reduce their emoloyees salaries due to an unprecendented event like covid.

Many companies are asking their employees to take a pay cut or a leave of absence without pay in the long term interests of the company. I doubt you would get very far should you choose to take legal action against your company should you challenge their decision. And even if you do, you need to be prepared for a long term battle... I doubt it is worth it, but then I am not in your shoes

donutgirl wrote:

I understand the part about the company finances; I am more concerned about the legality of such action. That's why I was asking if there is such a clause in the labor law that explicitly states that an employer can reduce their emoloyees salaries due to an unprecendented event like covid.

No.  The labour law and amendments are all pre-covid.  But as others have said, your battle is not likely to get anywhere except towards termination.

Again I'm not looking to go to court about this. I just wanted clarity whether this is covered within the labor law. Why are you assuming that there will be a legal action on the part of the employee?! If it's in the labor law, no further questions.

I am not assuming anything.

The fact is that this is NOT part of the labour law - I checked on the proclamations as well.   The law only allows for deductions or sanctions as they call it, for disciplinary actions. 

What I was trying to point out is that even if this is happening outside of the law, employers can and will get away with it even if you decide to take it to court.  Because in the labour law, they have the option to terminate an employee due to business closure.  The fact that they gave the employee half salary and he/she didn't choose to accept will be seen as good faith on part of the employer in the court.

It was just a simple question-is it part of the labor law or not. A simple answer of yes or no would have sufficed. Your answer, while welcome, strayed far from the original question. No further thoughts no this matter and appreciate the time.

donutgirl wrote:

Is it legal under Bahrain labor law for an employer to reduce their employee's salary?

NO. It's not a legal right for employer to reduce employee salary during the validity period of signed (both party) employment contract. There's NO such specific clause in Bahrain Labor Law warranting employer to do it.