Twelfth Judgment: Court Orders Al-Hannawi Tobacco Company to Pay EGP 157,032 in Compensation for Arbitrary Dismissal
The Damanhour Comprehensive Labor Court issued a judgment ordering Al-Hannawi Tobacco and Molasses Company to pay a total amount of EGP 157,032 to the worker Amal A. M. as compensation for her arbitrary dismissal. The awarded sum comprises EGP 120,000 as compensation for unlawful termination, EGP 5,100 in lieu of the statutory notice period, and EGP 31,932 representing the value of accrued annual leave, in addition to statutory interest at a rate of 4%, calculated from the date of judgment until full payment.
The judgment was rendered in Case No. 1801 of 2025 (First Labor Circuit), filed by the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) in cooperation with El-Shawarby Law Office, acting on behalf of the claimant. The dispute arose from the company’s decision to relocate the workplace from Damanhour to Borg El-Arab, a measure that imposed substantial burdens on female workers. Subsequently, the company barred workers who objected to the relocation from entering the workplace—conduct which the court deemed to constitute arbitrary dismissal in violation of the provisions of the Egyptian Labor Law.
In her statement of claim, the plaintiff sought compensation for arbitrary dismissal, payment of special allowances, application of the statutory minimum wage, payment for accrued leave, compensation for damages resulting from her termination, and reinstatement to her position.
During the course of the proceedings, the court referred the case to the Damanhour Experts Office to assess and calculate the worker’s financial entitlements. Counsel for the Egyptian Center submitted documentary evidence including official decisions concerning the statutory minimum wage, resolutions governing periodic and special allowances, an official report filed against the company for its failure to apply the minimum wage, and a prior judicial ruling issued in favor of the workers prohibiting their transfer to the Borg El-Arab facility.
In response, the company submitted documents including a request addressed to the Federation of Egyptian Industries seeking exemption from the application of the minimum wage, leave registers, and a judgment issued in a separate case. However, counsel for the claimant challenged the evidentiary value of these documents, arguing that they were inconsistent with the factual record and lacked sufficient legal foundation.
This ruling forms part of a series of successive judicial victories achieved by the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, in cooperation with El-Shawarby Law Office, on behalf of female workers at Al-Hannawi Company. Recent judgments have firmly established the legal principle that compensation and employment-related entitlements in cases of arbitrary dismissal must be calculated on the basis of the statutorily mandated minimum wage, as the minimum level of protection guaranteed by labor legislation, rather than on unlawfully reduced wages imposed by certain employers.
In this context, the Damanhour Court of Appeal – Labor Circuit 27 previously ruled in Appeal No. 2692 of Judicial Year 81, amending a lower court judgment by recalculating a worker’s financial entitlements on the basis of the statutory minimum wage and ordering the company to pay EGP 183,000 as compensation for unjustified termination, following the reassessment of her dues in accordance with the legally applicable wage, in addition to revising compensation awarded for accrued leave.
The present judgment increases the total number of rulings issued in favor of female workers at the Al-Hannawi Factory to twelve judgments, out of twenty-nine pending lawsuits concerning arbitrary dismissal, in one of the most significant cases of collective dismissal witnessed in the sector in recent years.
The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights affirmed that these judgments reflect a fair and rights-based judicial approach to the protection of workers, and constitute effective legal safeguards against attempts to circumvent the statutory minimum wage—particularly in light of practices whereby some employers seek exemptions without valid legal justification. The Center further called for the consolidation and wider adoption of this judicial approach across labor courts to ensure justice and the effective protection of workers’ rights.
