Egypt Labour Law 14 of 2025: annual leave, termination payments and a settlement calculator

Who it covers

This law and the annexed Labour Law apply to employment in Egypt and, unless a special text provides otherwise, to foreign workers in Egypt. They do not apply, except where a special text so provides, to staff of state bodies including local administration units and public authorities, or to domestic workers and those in a similar position (article 1 of the issuing law).

Annual leave (articles 124 and 125)

Paid annual leave does not include official holidays or the weekly rest day, and is as follows:

The employer sets the leave dates. The worker must take at least 15 days of annual leave, including at least six consecutive days. The employer must settle the leave balance or the pay due for it at least every three years. If employment ends before the balance is used, the worker is paid for it (article 125). Casual leave is at most seven days a year and two days at a time, and counts toward annual leave (article 128). Article 2 treats a year as 365 days and a month as 30 days unless otherwise agreed; the calculator uses that month for the daily wage.

Other paid leave

• Maternity leave: four months covering the time before and after childbirth, with at least 45 days after childbirth, paid, and at most three times during the period of service (article 54). From the sixth month of pregnancy daily hours are reduced by at least one hour, and overtime may not be required until six months after childbirth.
• Nursing: during the two years after childbirth, besides the ordinary rest period, two further periods of at least half an hour each, which may be combined, count as working time and do not reduce pay (article 56).
• The day a child is born: one day of paid emergency leave, not taken from annual leave, at most three times during the period of service (article 128).
• Hajj or a visit to Jerusalem: after five continuous years with the employer, one month of paid leave, once during the period of service (article 130).
• Sick leave: set by the competent medical body; the rate and duration of wage compensation follow the social insurance law. In industrial establishments covered by Law 15 of 2017, leave in each three years of service is three months at full pay, then six months at 85%, then three months at 75%, if the medical body finds recovery is likely (article 131).
• Work on official holidays: in addition to that day’s wage, twice that wage, or another day off at the worker’s written request (article 129).

Hours and overtime (articles 117 to 121)

• Actual work may not exceed eight hours a day or 48 hours a week, excluding meal and rest periods (article 117).
• Rest breaks total at least one hour, and the worker may not work more than five hours without a break (article 118).
• The span from the start to the end of the working day may not exceed ten hours; a rest spent at the workplace counts as time present (article 119).
• A weekly rest of at least 24 continuous hours, paid, after at most six consecutive working days (article 120).
• Exceptional overtime: at least the ordinary hourly wage plus 35% for a daytime hour and 70% for a night hour. Work on a rest day is paid an extra day’s wage and compensated with another day in the following week. Time spent at the establishment may not exceed twelve hours (article 121).

Ending the contract and statutory payments (the calculator uses complete years only)

• A fixed-term contract ends when its term expires. If it was made or renewed for more than five years, the worker may end it without compensation after five years, with three months’ notice. If the employer ends it, the worker is due a gratuity of one month’s wage for each year of service (article 154).
• Either party may end an indefinite contract by written notice three months in advance (article 156). Ending it requires a legitimate and sufficient reason (article 157). If the employer ends it without notice or before the notice period ends, the wage for the period or the remainder is due (article 164).
• If the employer ends an indefinite contract for an illegitimate reason, the worker is entitled to compensation of no less than two months’ wage for each year of service, without prejudice to other legal rights (article 165). The calculator shows that minimum.
• In the economic-reason cases in article 241 (including when the worker resigns after the employer temporarily changes contract terms), the worker is due one month’s wage for each of the first five years and one and a half months for each year after that.
• For service after age 60, if the worker has no old-age, disability or death insurance rights for that period, the gratuity is half a month’s wage for each of the first five years and one month for each year after, based on the last wage (article 172).
• If the worker dies in service, the employer pays the family an amount equal to two months’ last wage for funeral expenses, with a minimum of EGP 1,000, plus a grant equal to the wage for the month of death and the two following months, and the wage for days worked in the month of death (article 169). The calculator does not include the days-worked item; add it for the actual days.

Worked example (EGP 30,000 a month, eight years of service)

FAQ

How is unused leave paid?

When employment ends, unused leave days are paid at the daily wage. Unless otherwise agreed, a month is 30 days, so the daily wage is the monthly wage divided by 30 (articles 2 and 125).

Is there a gratuity in every termination?

No. The law sets a gratuity or compensation only in the cases it states, such as article 154 (employer ending a fixed-term contract), article 165 (unfair dismissal of an indefinite contract), and articles 172 and 241. Those formulae are not automatic for expiry of a term, a resignation or an agreed ending.

How Wang Fu can help

• Preparing and translating the file (Chinese, Arabic, English).
• Interpreting when you meet the authorities or file papers.