Court Orders Social Defense Association to Apply the Statutory Minimum Comprehensive Wage
The North Giza Court of First Instance has ruled that the Social Defense Association must apply the statutory minimum comprehensive wage to employee Mohamed R. A., effective 1 March 2025, increasing his monthly wage to EGP 7,000. The Court further ordered the Association to pay all resulting wage differentials (back pay) and awarded the employee EGP 15,000 in compensation for the material and moral damages he sustained.
The case, registered as Case No. 388 of 2026, was brought by the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) on behalf of the employee. According to the statement of claim, the claimant commenced employment with the defendant Association in 2016 under an employment contract as a Security Guard, earning a monthly wage of EGP 3,500.
The claimant, together with 57 employees of the defendant Association, demanded that the Association implement the statutory minimum wage in accordance with National Council for Wages Resolution No. 15 of 2025, which established the minimum wage. Article 1 of the Resolution provides that the minimum wage in the private sector shall be EGP 7,000 per month. The defendant, however, refused to implement the Resolution.
On 4 November 2025, the claimant, accompanied by the affected employees, filed a collective complaint before the Agouza Labour Office on behalf of all 57 employees, alleging the Association’s failure to apply the statutory minimum wage.
The Labour Office subsequently dispatched a labour inspector to the Association’s premises. The inspection confirmed that the defendant had failed to implement National Council for Wages Resolution No. 15 of 2025 and was in breach of Article 104 of Labour Law No. 14 of 2025 by failing to apply the statutory minimum wage.
Following the inspection, the labour inspector initiated misdemeanor proceedings against the Association for non-compliance with the applicable legal requirements. The case was referred to the competent Labour Court before the Second Labour Circuit, which, at its hearing of 22 January 2026, imposed a fine of EGP 3,000 for each affected employee.
Having exhausted all available amicable means of resolving the dispute, the claimant instituted the present action seeking enforcement of his statutory entitlement to the minimum wage.
The Court ultimately ruled in favor of the claimant, ordering the Social Defense Association to apply the statutory minimum comprehensive wage effective 1 March 2025, increasing his monthly wage to EGP 7,000, to pay all resulting wage differentials, and to compensate him in the amount of EGP 15,000 (Fifteen Thousand Egyptian Pounds) for the material and moral damages he suffered.
