Workers' rights · 6 min read
Egypt's new labour law, No 14 of 2025: the rules workers ask about, with article numbers
Law 14 of 2025 has applied since 1 September 2025 and replaced the 2003 law. It sets 48 hours a week, 21 days of leave, 3 months' notice and at most 3 months' probation.
The new labour law (qanun al-amal al-jadid, قانون العمل الجديد) was published in the Official Gazette on 3 May 2025. It took effect on the first of the month after 90 days, which is 1 September 2025. It covers private sector workers. It doesn't cover state bodies or domestic workers. The official text is in Arabic, and you can download it from the links at the end of this page. Below are the numbers people ask about most, each with its article, so you can check it or quote it to your employer. Any clause in a contract that gives you less than the law is void (Article 6).
Hours and rest
- At most 8 hours a day and 48 a week, not counting meal and rest breaks (Article 117). Industrial firms also have their own hours law, Law 133 of 1961, which Article 117 leaves in place.
- Breaks of at least one hour in total, and no more than 5 hours straight without one (Article 118).
- Start to finish, no more than 10 hours a day, or 12 for some jobs named by the minister (Article 119).
- A paid weekly rest of at least 24 hours, after at most 6 days (Article 120).
- Night means sunset to sunrise (Article 1).
Overtime
Overtime is for unusual needs, and your employer must tell the labour authority within 7 days.
- By day: your hourly wage plus at least 35% (Article 121).
- By night: your hourly wage plus at least 70% (Article 121).
- On your rest day: one extra day's pay and another day off the following week (Article 121).
- On an official holiday: twice the day's pay on top of that day's pay, or another day off if you ask in writing (Article 129).
- Never more than 12 hours at the workplace (Article 121).
Annual leave and other leave
- 15 days in your first year, once you've done 6 months, in proportion to your time (Article 124).
- 21 days from your second year (Article 124).
- 30 days after 10 full years with one or more employers, or over age 50 (Article 124).
- 45 days for people with disabilities and people of short stature (Article 124).
- 7 more days for dangerous, unhealthy or remote work named by decision (Article 124). Holidays and weekly rest don't count as leave days.
- You must take at least 15 days a year, 6 of them in a row. Your balance is settled at most every 3 years, and what's left is paid when the job ends (Article 125). If you refuse in writing to take leave your employer has set, you lose the pay for it.
- Casual leave: up to 7 days a year, at most 2 at a time, counted inside annual leave (Article 128).
- One paid day when your child is born, up to 3 times in your service (Article 128).
- Maternity: 4 months paid, at least 45 days after the birth, up to 3 times (Article 54). Unpaid childcare leave, in a firm with 50 or more workers: up to 2 years, up to 3 times, after a year in the firm (Article 57).
- Exams: paid days, with 10 days' warning to your employer (Article 126). Hajj or a Jerusalem visit: one paid month after 5 straight years, once (Article 130).
Contracts and probation
- Contracts are open-ended, or fixed term if the nature of the work requires it (Article 87).
- A contract counts as open-ended if it isn't written, names no term, or both of you carry on after it ends with no written agreement (Article 88).
- It must be written in Arabic, in 4 copies: employer, worker, social insurance office, labour authority. It must name the start date, the job, the wage, how and when it's paid, and benefits (Article 89).
- You get a receipt for papers you hand in (Article 89).
- Probation: at most 3 months, and only once with one employer (Article 90).
Pay
- A monthly-paid worker gets paid at least once a month (Article 108).
- Pay can't be below the minimum wage, and it can't be held back without a legal basis (Article 108).
- If the job ends, everything you're owed comes within 7 days of your asking (Article 108).
- A yearly raise of at least 3% of your insurance wage, after a year. A firm in trouble can ask the National Wages Council to cut or skip it (Article 12).
- The National Wages Council sets the minimum wage (Article 102), and firms must apply it (Article 104).
Notice, resigning and dismissal
- Open-ended contract: 3 months' written notice from either side (Article 156). Ending it needs a lawful and sufficient reason (Article 157).
- Notice can't be cut by agreement, but it can be lengthened. Your employer may release you from it when you're the one leaving (Article 161).
- No notice can be given during your leave, and sick leave pauses it (Article 159).
- If your employer gave notice, you may take one paid day a week, or 8 hours, to look for work (Article 162).
- Employer ends it with no notice: you're owed pay for the notice period, or the rest of it (Article 164).
- Unlawful dismissal: at least 2 months' pay for each year of service (Article 165).
- Absence: over 20 scattered days a year or over 10 in a row counts as resigning, but only after a registered warning letter (Article 166).
- Resigning: in writing, signed, and certified by the labour authority. Your employer has 10 days to respond, and you can withdraw within 10 days of being told it was accepted (Article 167).
Papers and fees
- Registration certificate (kaab amal): free, and you need it to be hired, though an employer may hire first and register you within 30 days (Article 33).
- Experience certificate: free, on request, during the job or when it ends. End-of-job certificate with your dates, job and benefits: within 15 days of asking. Your employer also returns any papers you handed in, as soon as you ask (Article 175).
- Those who place workers, such as agencies, can't charge you for it. A licensed company may take at most 1% of your wage, for the first year only, as admin costs (Article 43).
- A paper giving up your rights is void if signed during the job or within 3 months after it ends (Article 6).
Sources and further reading
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Frequently asked questions
Where can I get the labour law PDF?
The Official Gazette text is on the Ministry of Labour's publications page and on the Egyptian Tax Authority's site. Both links are in the sources at the end of this page. It's in Arabic.
Is there an official English version?
We didn't find one on the official sites we opened. Our list here is our own plain summary, not a translation. Check the Arabic article before you rely on a point.
Does the old Law 12 of 2003 still apply?
No. Law 14 of 2025 replaced it from 1 September 2025. Many sites still quote the old law and its article numbers, so check which law a page means.
Does this apply to me if I work for the government?
No. State bodies are outside this law. Their staff have their own rules. Domestic workers are outside it too.