Wages when work stops, and force majeure, under Iraqi labour law
When a factory or site in Baghdad, Basra or any other governorate grinds to a halt, because of a long power cut, a closure order, an accident or some wider event, the first thing a worker asks is whether the salary will still be paid. The Law Office of Ali Barakat, in Baghdad, al-Yarmouk, answers from Labour Law No. 37 of 2015, because the answer turns on why the work stopped and who is behind it.
Situation one: the worker shows up, but work cannot happen
Article 40 is short and important. A worker who arrives at the workplace ready to do the job, and is then kept from doing it by causes beyond their control, is treated as having done the work and is owed the wage for it. What matters is that the worker was present and willing, not what was produced that day. This covers the odd days when machines break down or materials arrive late, as long as the worker did not stay away.
Situation two: an exceptional event or force majeure
If all or part of the work stops because of exceptional circumstances or force majeure, article 72(1) obliges the employer to keep paying wages for the stoppage, capped at thirty days. In return the employer gets two ways to make up lost time: assign the worker other similar work, or require unpaid extra work, provided it does not go beyond two hours a day or thirty days a year.
The statute splits the burden here. The employer carries the wage bill for one month at most, and the worker may be asked to make up some time in limited hours. Beyond thirty days, this provision does not guarantee pay.
Situation three: the employer caused the stoppage
If the employer is the reason work stopped, for example by halting production over a commercial disagreement or by failing to supply what the job requires, article 72(2) requires full wages for the whole period, with no thirty-day cap. The employer may then ask for extra work afterwards, but this time it is paid, and within the same limits on hours and days.
Most disputes sit on the line between situations two and three. The employer calls it force majeure; the worker calls it a company decision. A labour committee or the labour court then looks at the facts: was the event outside the employer's control, unforeseeable and impossible to avoid, or was it the result of the employer's own choice?
When does force majeure end the contract?
Article 43(1)(i) lists force majeure among the ways an employment contract comes to an end. That does not mean every temporary halt ends contracts. A temporary stoppage is dealt with by article 72 and its limited pay, while ending the contract fits an event that makes the relationship impossible to continue. Either way, article 43(3) bars an employer from closing the project, halting its operations or liquidating it without first obtaining the minister's approval. Shutting the premises on the employer's own say-so does not settle the workers' rights.
If the project ends in bankruptcy or in liquidation by a final court decision, workers become preferred creditors for the last three months of wages, official-holiday pay, leave money and the end-of-service award, and these claims rank ahead of debts owed to the state, under article 58.
Working hours and force majeure
Article 71(1) allows hours to be extended beyond the normal limit when an accident has happened or is feared, for urgent repair of machinery, or in a case of force majeure, to the extent needed to keep the project's ordinary work from stopping. Article 86 allows women to be employed at night in certain cases, including force majeure that brought work to an unexpected halt, provided it is not repeated. Force majeure justifies temporary, defined exceptions, not a general suspension of rights.
What about social security?
Workers' Pension and Social Security Law No. 18 of 2023, in article 14, sends part of the employer's contribution to a branch that covers stoppage due to exceptional circumstances, alongside work injury and sickness, and article 12 makes unemployment support a separate branch of the scheme. A worker whose job has been interrupted for a long time can ask the Workers' Pension and Social Security Department what is due under the relevant branch.
What protects the worker in practice
Three things help. Keep proof of attendance and readiness on the stoppage days, through the attendance record or a letter. Keep any written notice from the employer stating the reason for the stoppage and how long it will last. And ask for the itemised pay statement that article 59 requires with every payment. A worker whose pay is still late after that can use the claim routes set out on the delayed-wages page.
The office follows these provisions from Baghdad, al-Yarmouk.
Legal basis and sources
- Labour Law No. 37 of 2015, articles 40, 43, 58, 71, 72 and 86 (Iraqi Official Gazette, issue 4386 of 9/11/2015)
- Workers' Pension and Social Security Law No. 18 of 2023, articles 12 and 14
Frequently asked questions
The company stopped for two months because of a general event. Is my full salary owed?
For a stoppage caused by exceptional circumstances or force majeure, article 72(1) makes the employer pay for thirty days at most. If the stoppage was the employer's doing, the full wage is owed for the whole period under article 72(2).
Can my employer ask for unpaid extra hours after the stoppage?
Only after a force-majeure stoppage, and only up to two hours a day and thirty days a year. After a stoppage the employer caused, extra work is paid.
Can the company close the project and end our contracts straight away?
Closing, halting or liquidating the project requires the minister's approval under article 43(3).
I went to work, there was no power, and I went home. Can that day be deducted?
If you were present and ready to work and something outside your control prevented it, you are treated as having worked and are owed the wage, under article 40.
Related topics and articles
- 01When wages arrive late: the calendar the Labour Law sets and the path to recover themThe calendar for paying wages under articles 53 and 60 of Labour Law No. 37 of 2015, the rule that a waiver of wages due is void, and how a wage claim moves to the department and the Court of Labor.
- 02“Stay late tonight” and “put off your leave”: the limits on what an employer can askWhen an employer in Iraq may ask for extra hours, up to what ceiling and at what rate of pay; how much annual and sick leave a worker has; who sets the dates; and why leave cannot be sold.
- 03When a job ends in Iraq: who ends it, on what ground, and what followsA practical map of ending a private-sector employment contract in Iraq: what ends it automatically, when the employer or the worker may end it, barred grounds, and the challenge deadline.
- 04Unforeseen hardship and rescission of a contractExceptional general events in article 146, and rescission of two-sided contracts in articles 177 and 178 of the Civil Code.
- 05End-of-service entitlements under Labour Law No. 37 of 2015The end-of-service gratuity under Labour Law 37/2015: the two-week formula, the statutory exceptions, and how it differs from benefits under Law 18/2023.