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NORMLEX Home > Country profiles > > Comments > All Comments

Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1) - Egypt (RATIFICATION: 1960)

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Previous comments: C.1, C.14, C.30 and C.106

In order to provide a comprehensive view of the issues relating to the application of the ratified Conventions on working time, the Committee considers it appropriate to examine Conventions Nos 1 (hours of work in industry), 30 (hours of work in commerce and offices) 14 (weekly rest in industry), 106 (weekly rest in commerce and offices), 52 (holidays with pay),101 (holidays with pay in agriculture) and 89 (night work for women) in a single comment.

Hours of work

Articles 6(1) of Convention No. 1 and 7(1) of Convention No. 30. Permanent exceptions. Intermittent work. In its previous comment on Convention No. 30, the Committee noted that section 1 of Ministerial Order No.115 of 2003 determines the works that are considered intermittent by nature, by enumerating a broad range of activities (including transportation, rest houses, storekeepers, farm crops, vegetable, fruits, and fish wholesale) in which workers may be required to stay at the workplace more than ten but less than 12 hours a day, recalling that inherently “intermittent work” for which permanent exceptions to the normal hours of work are possible, should be defined narrowly (General Survey of 2018, paragraph 94). Noting that the Government’s report does not refer to any legislative or regulatory development on this matter, the Committee requests the Government to take appropriate action to ensure that the categories of workers subject to permanent exceptions to the normal hours of work be strictly limited to those whose duties are essentially within the meaning of “intermittent workers” under the Convention.

Articles 6(2) of Convention No. 1 and 7(3) of Convention No. 30. Temporary exceptions. Limits to overtime. In its previous comment on Convention No. 30, the Committee requested the Government to specify which legal provisions set out the maximum number of additional hours of work in a year. In its report, the Government referred to Ministerial Order No.115 of 2003 and Ministerial Order No. 113 of 2003, both setting out a maximum of twelve hours a day. The Committee recalls that the Conventions require the imposition of a limit on the additional hours of work that are authorized, not only in the day, but also in the year, and for these additional hours to be kept within reasonable limits in line with the general goal of the instruments to establish the eight-hour day and the 48-hour week as a legal standard for hours of work (General Survey of 2018, paragraph 148). The Committee therefore requests the Government to take appropriate action to impose a limit on the additional hours of work that are authorized in the year.

Articles 8 of Convention No. 1 and 11 and 12 of Convention No. 30. 1. Records. In its previous comment on Convention No. 30, the Committee requested the Government to indicate whether employers are required to maintain records of additional hours of work performed. In its report, the Government refers to the manual of procedures of the Labour Inspection Department and to section 45 of the Labour Code providing that workers sign a register to receive their wage which includes the items of the wage. While taking note of this information, the Committee requests the Government to specify whether any, and if so which, specific provisions of the legislation impose an obligation on employers to record the workers’ additional hours.

2. Sanctions. The Committee notes that section 249 of the Labour Code provides for a fine in case of the employer’s violations of the provisions on hours of work of not less than a hundred Egyptian pounds (EGP) and not exceeding two hundred EGP. With reference to its General Survey of 2018 (paragraph 871), the Committee encourages the Government to evaluate whether these sanctions are proportionate to the offences and sufficiently dissuasive to deter violations.

Weekly rest

Articles 4 of Convention No. 14 and 7 and 8 of Convention No. 106. Special weekly rest schemes. Following its previous comment on Convention No. 106, the Committee notes that the Government does not report on the possibility of amending section 84 of the Labour Code which permits the accumulation of weekly rest days over a period of eight weeks in enterprises located in remote areas as well as in continuous processes. Recalling that workers under special weekly rest schemes should not work without rest for more than three weeks (see Paragraph 3(a) of the Weekly Rest (Commerce and Offices) Recommendation, 1957 (No. 103)), the Committee requests the Government to take appropriate action, including through the amendment of section 84 of the Labour Code, to ensure that rest periods are granted at reasonably short intervals.

Article 10(2) of Convention No. 106. Sanctions. The Committee notes that section 249 of the Labour Code provides for a fine in case of employer’s violation of the provisions on weekly rest of not less than a hundred EGP and not exceeding two hundred EGP. With reference to its General Survey of 2018 (paragraph 871), the Committee encourages the Government to evaluate whether these sanctions are proportionate to the offences and sufficiently dissuasive to deter violations.

Annual leave

Articles 3 of Convention No. 52, and 7 of Convention No. 101. Holiday remuneration. The Committee recalls that the Conventions provide for the possibility that workers taking holiday receive their usual remuneration including the cash equivalent to their remuneration in kind. Noting that the Labour Code is silent on this issue, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on whether the legislation provides for the possibility that workers taking holiday receive the cash equivalent to their remuneration in kind.

Articles 7 and 8 of Convention No. 52 and 10 of Convention 101. Sanctions. The Committee notes that section 247 and 249 of the Labour Code provide for a fine of not less than a hundred EGP and not exceeding five hundred EGP if the employer fails to grant annual leave, and for a fine of not less than a hundred EGP and not exceeding two hundred EGP if the employer fails to comply with the rules related to record-keeping. In reference to its General Survey of 2018 (paragraph 871), the Committee encourages the Government to evaluate whether these sanctions are proportionate to the offences and sufficiently dissuasive to deter violations.

Women ’ s night work

Articles 2 and 3 of Convention No. 89. General prohibition against women’s night work in industrial undertakings. The Committee welcomes the adoption of Decree No. 43 of 2021 on occupations in which women cannot be employed that revised Ministerial Decree No. 183 of 2003 on the employment of women on night shifts so as to allow night work for women (section 1) and the adoption of Decree No. 44 of 2021 regarding women’s night work shifts that provides for alternatives to night work for women after and before childbirth to protect the health of the mother and the child. Noting that the country is still bound by the Night Work (Women) (Revised) Convention, 1948 (No. 89), and recalling that this Convention will be open for denunciation between 27 February 2031 and 27 February 2032, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to the Night Work Convention, 1990 (No. 171), which is not devised as a gender-specific instrument but focuses on the protection of all those working at night (2018 General Survey on Working Time, paragraph 408).

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Articles 6(1) and 8(1) of the Convention. Intermittent work – Record keeping of additional hours. The Committee requests the Government to refer to the comments under Articles 7 and 11 of the Hours of Work (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1930 (No. 30).

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The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s report, in particular the adoption of the new Labour Law (Act No. 12 of 2003) and its implementing regulations, namely, Decree No. 113 of 2003 determining the preparatory and complementary works and the guard and cleaning works; Decree No. 115 of 2003 determining the works that are intermittent by their nature; Decree No. 122 determining continuous processes and hard and exhausting works; Decree No. 970 of 2003 concerning the establishment of the Labour Consultative Council; and Decree No. 185 of 2003 concerning the model statute of sanctions and work regulations.

Article 6, paragraph 1, of the Convention. Permanent exceptions. Intermittent work. The Committee notes that Decree No. 115 of 2003 includes such general categories of work as all road, rail and air transport, work in ports, storekeeping and work in pharmacies among activities considered to be intermittent within the meaning of section 82 of the Labour Law, which exempts workers engaged in intermittent work from the normal limits on hours of work, provided that their period of stay at the workplace does not exceed 12 hours a day. In this connection, the Committee wishes to emphasize that Article 6(1) of the Convention, which provides for permanent exceptions in cases where attendance at the workplace must necessarily exceed the normal hours of work prescribed by the Convention, allows such exceptions only in relation to persons whose work is essentially intermittent. Therefore, exempting all transport, port or pharmaceuticals workers for the sector they belong to is not in conformity with this Article of the Convention.

The Committee recalls that the question whether all road and rail transport operations could possibly qualify as “intermittent work” has been raised practically since the ratification of the Convention and the Government has indicated on a few instances, last in 1980, that it intended to amend the relevant legislation so as to narrow the exceptions to the normal hours of work to those activities which are genuinely intermittent in nature. The Committee hopes that the Government will take all the necessary measures without further delay in order to bring the national legislation into conformity with the Convention on this point by amending relevant provisions of Decree No. 115 of 2003.

Article 8, paragraph 1(c). Record-keeping of additional hours. The Committee requests the Government to refer to the comments made under Article 11(2)(c) of Convention No. 30.

Part VI of the report form. Application in practice. The Committee requests the Government to provide up to date information on the practical application of the Convention, including, for instance, the approximate number of workers employed at industrial undertakings, labour inspection results showing the number and nature of working time-related offences observed and sanctions imposed, copies of collective agreements containing clauses on working time arrangements, official surveys and studies addressing working time issues, etc.