Hiring and leaving notices to Egypt's labour office: the deadlines

Executive summary

• No worker may be employed without a registration certificate, unless the worker's name is registered with the competent administrative authority within 30 days of starting work (article 33 of Labour Law 14 of 2025); the certificate then goes back, completed, within 45 days (article 35).
• The fourth copy of the employment contract is deposited with the administrative authority (article 89), and may be deposited electronically (Minister of Labour Decree 260 of 2025).
• A workforce statement is due within 30 days of the establishment starting work, then every January with the changes and the vacant and abolished posts (article 36).
• A resignation must be approved by the administrative authority, and service ends only when it is accepted or ten days pass from its submission without a decision (article 167).
• A service certificate is due within 15 days of the request, and the employee's papers are returned on request; breach carries a fine from EGP 1,000 to EGP 20,000 (articles 175 and 286).

The competent authority

The body an employer deals with is the "competent administrative authority": the ministry responsible for labour, with its directorates and departments (article 1, item 38). Minister of Labour Decree 260 of 2025 allocates the work inside the labour directorates: employment offices for registering workers, registration certificates, workforce statements and vacancy notices; labour relations offices for depositing contracts and approving resignations; and the foreign work-permits department for notices about foreign workers. A registration certificate and the approval of a resignation can be obtained from any directorate in the country (article 2 of the decree).

Until the new implementing decrees are issued, "the decrees in force on the matter continue to apply to the extent they do not conflict with" the issuing law and the Labour Law (article 11 of the issuing articles, our translation). This article cites only Minister of Labour decrees whose text we have read as published in Al-Waqa'i Al-Misriya.

On hiring

"A worker may not be employed unless they hold the certificate referred to in the first paragraph of this article; by way of exception, the employer may appoint persons who do not hold it, provided that the worker's name is registered with the competent administrative authority within thirty days from the date the worker takes up the work" (article 33, our translation).

The contract is written in Arabic in four copies; the third goes to the competent social insurance office and the fourth to the administrative authority (article 89). The fourth is deposited with the labour relations offices, "with confirmation that the contract may be deposited electronically" (Decree 260 of 2025). The employer gives the worker a receipt for any papers and certificates the worker deposits with it (article 89).

Periodic statements

Within 30 days of the establishment starting work, a detailed statement of the number of workers by qualification, occupation, age group, nationality, sex and wage goes to the labour directorate, on paper or electronically (article 36; Minister of Labour Decree 270 of 2025). Every January the establishment sends, on the ministry's forms, the changes to that statement, the posts vacant through replacement or expansion, the posts abolished, and its expected needs for the following year (article 36). The next date is January 2027.

Article 36 does not mention the end of service as such. Reading its first and second items together, a departure during the year shows in the January statement as a change in the workforce figures, and the post, if still unfilled, counts as vacant through replacement, or as abolished if it has been abolished. The rest of what is sent and kept is in the establishment's file at the labour office.

When service ends

Resignation is in writing, signed by the worker or a special attorney, and "approved by the competent administrative authority"; service ends only by the decision accepting it, and a resignation not decided within ten days of submission is deemed accepted. The worker may withdraw it within ten days of being notified of the acceptance, by a written withdrawal approved by the same authority (article 167).

Service certificate and return of papers.

"On the end of the employment relationship the employer shall give the worker a certificate stating the date of joining, the date of leaving, the type of work performed and the benefits received; at the worker's request, the certificate may state the wage and the reason the relationship ended; this within fifteen days from the date it is requested" (article 175, our translation).

The employer must also give the worker, on request and free of charge, a certificate of experience and professional competence during the contract or at its end, and return any papers, certificates or tools the worker deposited, together with proof of clearance, "as soon as they are requested" (article 175).

Foreign workers. The employer notifies the administrative authority when the service of a foreign worker exempt from the permit requirement ends (article 71), and notifies it and the competent authorities when a foreign worker is absent for fifteen consecutive days without lawful justification (article 72).

Closure and redundancy. An application for full or partial closure, or for reducing size or activity, goes to a committee formed for the purpose, stating the reasons and the numbers and categories of workers to be released; the committee decides within 45 days, failing which its silence is deemed approval (articles 236 and 237). The employer notifies the workers and the trade union concerned of the application and of the decision (article 238). On partial closure or reduction, if no collective agreement in force sets selection criteria, the employer consults the trade union, if any, after the establishment's decision and before implementation, for at least seven working days (article 2 of Minister of Labour Decree 301 of 2025); and "in all cases the employer shall notify the competent administrative authority of the redundancy decision, the justifications and the criteria applied" (article 5 of the decree, our translation).

Dismissal as a disciplinary penalty is for the labour court (article 148); see the work regulation and disciplinary penalties. Termination of the contract, its grounds and the notice period, the contents of the contract, and the establishment's mandatory records are outside this article.

The social insurance side

Notifying the National Organization for Social Insurance is a separate obligation with its own deadlines and penalties: Form 1 when the worker is enrolled and Form 6 when service ends, both covered in Forms 1, 2 and 6; a new employer starts by registering for social insurance. The two sides meet at the reason for leaving: the end-of-service form states the reasons and is signed by both parties, and where the employer records one of the reasons the regulations list, such as resignation, and the worker objects, the Organization sends the dispute papers to the competent labour office on the day after they reach it (article 192 of the executive regulations of Social Insurance and Pensions Law 148 of 2019).

Penalties

In each of these articles the fine is multiplied by the number of workers concerned and doubled for a repeat offence. Decree 301 does not describe itself as implementing article 239, but its subject is the one that article's last paragraph calls for; read together, in our view, the notice it imposes falls among the "implementing ministerial decrees" penalised by article 295. The vacancy notice (article 47) is not named in penalty articles 281 to 298: article 286 names article 46, which precedes it, but not article 47.

What this requires

• A registration certificate for every worker before work starts, or registration within 30 days; the certificate back within 45 days and its number in the register of workers.
• The fourth copy of every contract to the labour relations office, on paper or electronically, asking the office which deposit method it accepts.
• The January 2027 statement, and a notice to the employment office of every vacancy advertisement.
• A resigning employee is not treated as having left until the resignation has been approved and accepted, or ten days have passed since its submission without a decision.
• On every departure: the service certificate within 15 days of the request, papers returned on request, and Form 6.
• On partial closure or reduction: the application to the committee, notice to the workers and the union, and then notice to the administrative authority of the redundancy decision and its criteria.

The firm's Social Insurance & Labour Department prepares and follows up hiring and leaving notices and the periodic workforce statements with the labour directorate and social insurance, as part of its social insurance and labour compliance services.

Mahmoud Nassef, Founder Partner
Chartered Accountant, Ministry of Finance, Egypt

Member, Egyptian Society of Accountants & Auditors
Member, Egyptian Tax Society
Member, Egyptian Society for Public Finance and Taxation

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Disclaimer: This bulletin is prepared for general information on the legislation in force at the date of its publication. It does not constitute a professional opinion or tax or legal advice on any particular matter, and it should not be relied upon in place of advice based on an examination of the circumstances of each case. Nassef & Partners International accepts no responsibility for any action taken, or refrained from, in reliance on its contents. The positions stated remain subject to subsequent legislation and decisions.