Labor Rights | ECESR Receives New Rulings Compensating Arbitrarily Fired Workers

The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) received two new ruling compensating arbitrarily fired workers. This is a judiciary victory for workers at a time where arbitrary layoff cases are becoming common.

The first ruling is a new ruling for the worker Gamal Tawfik Diab of the International Co. for Steel (Incosteel) confirming a previous ruling to pay 50,000 pounds in compensation for the financial and moral damages incurred when he was arbitrarily laid off.

The company challenged the ruling the worker received (2638 of 2014) to avoid paying the compensation. The court ruled in favor of the worker, and fined the company for refusing to implement the ruling they received in the court of first instance.

The second ruling was in favor of Ashraf Hassan Helal, a worker at the National Food Industries (SONAT). The ruling in the appeal case number 1442-1285 of judicial year 131 ordered the company to pay 132,594 pounds in compensation after the company decided to move the worker from Sadat City branch to an imaginary branch in Bani Sueif. The court decided that this was a case of arbitrary discharge requiring compensation.

Alaa Abdel-Tawab, head of the legal unit at ECESR, said the rulings are safeguards for workers against slow justice in Egypt. He added that workers are caught between the arbitrariness of employers and the complicated and dragging judiciary procedures. He said workers either give up some of his rights or remain in labor courts for years to receive favorable rulings, only to wait for years for the rulings to take effect. He pointed out that the law obliges labor courts to expedite cases in which workers are involved, but this such rules are often ignored.

ECESR calls on the legislators to enact laws that ensure fast enforcement of labor rulings and devise deterrent penalties for not implementing rulings related to workers’ rights. ECESR stresses on his support for labor rights through litigation to gain the dues workers should receive from employers until law is enforced and justice is served to the rightful.