All countries have certain laws in place to protect employees from coming to harm. These include protections for whistleblowers, rules about data privacy and protection from harassment or discrimination in the workplace. In this guide, we’ll take you through what you need to know about employee protections in Egypt, so you can both safeguard your business interests and keep your employees safe.
There are currently no national laws regarding whistleblowing in Egypt. Employers may establish internal reporting channels based on best practices and international labour standards.
Any business that hires employees will inevitably end up processing those employees’ personal data. There are strict rules that apply to the processing of employee data in Egypt, which you can read about below.
The main data protection law in Egypt is the Data Protection Law No 151/2020, which came into effect in 2020. It encompasses the protection of the data of both individuals and entities and generally prohibits the processing of personal data without explicit consent from the data subject. A number of other laws also have provisions for the right to privacy in Egypt.
What employers need to know about data protection in Egypt
Employers in Egypt must be transparent about their use of employees’ personal data. They must have a lawful basis for the processing of personal data. Businesses that process employee data should also appoint a data protection officer (DPO) to oversee the organisation’s data protection policies and procedures.
Employers who fail to comply with the Egyptian data protection law can face serious consequences. Specifically, non-compliance carries the risk of administrative fines of up to EGP 5 million, as well as criminal penalties including imprisonment of more than six months.
Egyptian labour law does not explicitly address equal pay between temporary and permanent workers. However, Egyptian labour law mandates that employers apply the principle of equal pay for work of equal value to all workers, without discrimination based on race, color, gender, marital status, belief, political opinion, trade union membership, nationality, or social descent.
This provision suggests that, in principle, all employees performing work of equal value should receive equal pay, regardless of their employment status. However, due to the lack of explicit regulations regarding temporary agency workers, disparities may still exist in practice.
There are various anti-discrimination regulations in Egypt, including:
Employees who have experienced harassment or discrimination in the workplace in Egypt should first file an internal complaint. If they wish to escalate the matter, they have 76 days to file a complaint with the Labour Office or the Labour Circuit. Employees forfeit the right to file an external complaint if they do not do so within this time limit.
Discrimination in Egypt is treated similarly to other types of workplace misconduct by Egyptian labour law and the Egyptian Civil Code. However, harassment can also come under Egyptian criminal law if it includes acts exploiting a victim’s vulnerability or exclusion. These acts carry serious penalties including imprisonment of at least one year and fines of up to EGP 100,000.
The Egyptian Labour Code Law No 12 of 2003 prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in the payment of wages in Egypt. This means it is illegal to pay female employees less than male employees for the same work.
However, there are still significant problems with pay equity in Egypt. According to one study, Egypt has one of the largest gender pay gaps in the world, with men earning almost four times as much as women on average. Employers in Egypt do not currently have any obligation to report on their gender pay gap or other pay equity statistics, as is the case in many other countries.
Understanding what you can and can’t do as an employer is one of the biggest challenges of hiring in Egypt. Get it wrong, and you could face legal action and damage to your reputation.
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