Permitted deductions from a worker’s wage
The Law Office of Ali Barakat, from Baghdad, al-Yarmouk, sets out what may and may not be deducted from a worker’s wage, as drawn by Labour Law No. 37 of 2015. The source is the text published in the Official Gazette, issue 4386, of 9/11/2015, articles 57 to 61, together with the ban on deducting the cost of protective means in article 118. The percentages below are taken from the text itself.
The cases the law allows, and the percentage limits
Nothing is taken from a worker’s wage except in a case the law allows. Article 57, first, gives examples, including legal alimony, sums the worker owes to the Workers’ Pension and Social Security Department, and union dues under the law on union organisation. The wording “among several matters including” means that the list gives examples of cases the law allows, not that every unnamed deduction becomes lawful of itself. The measure is whether the law allows the deduction.
The total taken may not go beyond twenty per cent of the wage where what is received is below three times the minimum wage, or beyond thirty per cent where the wage exceeds that limit. Debts of legal alimony stand outside that ceiling, under the second paragraph. That is a combined cap on deductions, with an express exception for alimony debts. Debts owed by the worker to the employer are not subject to any interest, under the third paragraph.
No sum may be deducted from the worker’s wage in return for providing means of protection from occupational hazards, under article 118. No worker bears the cost of personal protective equipment, under article 114. Those two rules forbid a deduction in the name of safety that the text does not allow.
Informing the worker, the register, and the account on ending the contract
Before the contract is concluded the worker is told what the wage is made up of: allowances, how the overtime supplement is calculated, what is added or taken off, and when, how, where, and on which day payment is made. The same account is given again whenever an element of the wage changes, under article 59. At each payment a detailed written statement is supplied, recording the period of work for which the wage is due and any allowance, overtime supplement, addition, or deduction that has occurred.
The employer must keep a book of wages and of additional hours, in which a breakdown of what was due, what was taken off, and what remains net is recorded, without blanks, erasures, or writing between the lines. The book is subject to the supervision of the Ministry’s labour inspectors, under article 61. The employer’s liability for the wage debt is discharged only by the worker’s signature in the wage register, and a signature without reservations is not treated as a waiver of any of the worker’s rights.
A final account of the wage must be made from the day after the employment contract ends. If the contract is ended by the worker, the wages due must be paid within seven days of the date the worker left the work, under article 60. Delayed wages and what the Law allows are in Remedies for delayed wages. The employer’s legal obligations, without stating amounts, are in The employer’s legal obligations towards the worker, without stating amounts.
The office reads these limits from Baghdad. Every deduction is measured against a legal basis and against the percentage cap in article 57, and against what the worker was told in the wage statement.
Legal basis and sources
Frequently asked questions
What is the upper limit on total deductions from the wage?
Article 57 sets the limit at twenty per cent if the wage is less than three times the minimum wage, and at thirty per cent if the wage exceeds that limit. Those percentages do not apply to deductions for legal alimony debts.
May interest be charged on a debt the worker owes the employer?
No. Article 57, third, states that debts owed by the worker to the employer are not subject to any interest.
Does the worker’s signature on the wage register amount to a waiver of a right?
No. Article 61 states that the worker’s signature in the wage register without reservations is not treated as a waiver of any of the worker’s rights, and that liability for the wage debt is discharged only by that signature.
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