Egypt Labour Law 2025 (Law 14/2025): Employer's Guide
Egypt's new Labour Law — Law No. 14 of 2025 — came into force on 1 September 2025 and replaces Egypt's previous Labour Law, resetting the rules on annual leave, notice periods, termination and end-of-service. If you employ people in Egypt, the practical jobs are now clear: update annual-leave entitlements (15 days in year one, 21 days from year two, 30 days after 10 years' service or age 50), align notice and termination clauses with the new framework, and budget for the social-insurance and tax figures that take effect across 2026.
This guide is written for HR managers, business owners, recruitment agencies and freelancers operating in Egypt and the wider MENA region. It pulls together what actually changed, what you must do, and the dated 2026 payroll numbers that sit alongside the law — social insurance, the private-sector minimum wage and income tax. Every figure here is given with the official source to check, because statutory details move and decrees get amended.
As of 2026, treat this as an orientation, not legal advice. Always validate the exact figures and clauses against the latest official decree with your own lawyer and accountant before you change a contract or run payroll.
Key takeaways
- Law No. 14 of 2025 is in force from 1 September 2025, replacing Egypt's previous Labour Law.
- Annual leave is now tiered: 15 days in year one, 21 days from year two, and 30 days after 10 years of service or once an employee reaches age 50.
- A unified 3-month notice period is widely reported — but verify how it applies by tenure and contract type before relying on it.
- Social insurance (from 1 Jan 2026): employee 11%, employer 18.75%, on an insurable wage of EGP 2,700–16,700/month.
- Payroll context for 2026: 7 income-tax brackets from 0% to 27.5% with a EGP 20,000 annual exemption; private-sector minimum wage reported around EGP 7,000/month (validate against the latest decree).
- End-of-service and termination rules were reshaped — validate the specifics with a lawyer; do not assume the old formulas still apply.
What changed in Egypt's new Labour Law (Law 14 of 2025)?
The headline change is structural: Law No. 14 of 2025 replaced Egypt's previous Labour Law and took effect on 1 September 2025. For most employers the day-to-day impact concentrates in four areas — leave, notice, termination/end-of-service, and the surrounding payroll obligations (social insurance and tax) that changed in parallel for 2026. Reputable summaries from firms such as EY and ICLG, alongside the official Egyptian Gazette, are the right places to confirm the detail.
How did annual leave change?
Annual leave is now explicitly tiered by length of service and age. The entitlement is 15 days in the first year of employment, 21 days from the second year onward, and 30 days once an employee has completed 10 years of service or reaches age 50. Practically, this means your leave-accrual rules can no longer be a flat number — they have to step up automatically as tenure and age thresholds are crossed. The leave-entitlement table in the next section lays this out so you can map it onto your own workforce.
What about the notice period?
The law moves toward a unified notice period that is widely reported as three months. This is a meaningful change from the older, tenure-scaled approach many employers were used to. Verify how the three-month notice applies to your situation by tenure and contract type (for example, fixed-term versus indefinite, and probationary arrangements) — the headline figure should not be applied blindly to every contract without confirming the official text.
Were termination and end-of-service rules reshaped?
Yes. The 2025 law also reshaped termination procedures, end-of-service benefits (EOSB) and maternity provisions. Because the mechanics of lawful termination and the calculation of end-of-service entitlements carry real financial and legal exposure, validate the specifics with your lawyer rather than relying on any single summary — including this one. Do not assume the pre-2025 termination grounds, processes or settlement formulas carry over unchanged.
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What is the annual-leave entitlement by tenure in Egypt under Law 14/2025?
Under Law No. 14 of 2025, paid annual leave scales with both service length and age. Use the table below as your baseline accrual map, then confirm edge cases (mid-year joiners, the exact day the age-50 and 10-year thresholds trigger, and any sector-specific rules) against the official text.
| Length of service / situation | Annual leave entitlement | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 (first year of employment) | 15 days | Typically accrued pro-rata for partial first years — confirm your accrual method. |
| From year 2 onward | 21 days | The standard entitlement for most established employees. |
| After 10 years' service | 30 days | Triggered by completing 10 years of service. |
| Employee aged 50 or over | 30 days | Age threshold reaches the top tier regardless of the 10-year mark. |
A simple way to read this: 15 → 21 → 30, where the jump to 30 days is reached by either 10 years of service or age 50, whichever comes first. If your HRIS or payroll system still applies a single flat leave figure, that logic now needs to become rule-based so entitlements increase automatically as employees cross each threshold. As of 2026, verify the precise treatment of these tiers with your lawyer and against the latest official decree before changing anyone's balance.
What must employers do now? A 2026 compliance checklist
Compliance is mostly operational: update contracts and policies, fix your payroll inputs, and document everything. Here is a practical, on-page checklist you can work through with your HR, legal and finance contacts.
- Re-read your employment contract templates against Law 14/2025 and update leave, notice and termination clauses; have a lawyer sign off the new template.
- Reconfigure annual-leave accrual in your HR/payroll system to the 15 / 21 / 30-day tiers, with automatic step-ups at the 10-year and age-50 thresholds.
- Review and align notice-period clauses with the unified framework — and confirm how the reported 3-month notice applies by tenure and contract type.
- Get written legal validation of your termination process and end-of-service (EOSB) calculation before any separation; don't reuse pre-2025 assumptions.
- Update social-insurance contributions from 1 January 2026: employee 11%, employer 18.75%, on an insurable wage band of EGP 2,700–16,700/month, and re-file as required (e.g. the relevant insurance forms / estamara).
- Confirm every salary meets the private-sector minimum wage (reported around EGP 7,000/month) — validate the current figure against the latest National Wages Council decree.
- Refresh your income-tax calculation for 2026: 7 brackets from 0% to 27.5% with a EGP 20,000 annual personal exemption, and re-test a few net-salary examples end to end.
- Re-paper maternity, leave and related policies in your employee handbook so written policy matches the new statutory minimums.
- Keep an audit trail: record what you changed, when, and on whose advice — useful for inspections and for your own governance.
How do the 2026 payroll numbers fit together?
The labour-law changes don't sit in isolation — they land alongside fresh payroll figures for 2026. Social insurance from 1 January 2026 is 11% (employee) and 18.75% (employer) on an insurable wage between EGP 2,700 and EGP 16,700 per month. Income tax for 2026 runs across 7 progressive brackets from 0% up to 27.5%, with a EGP 20,000 annual personal exemption. The private-sector minimum wage is reported at roughly EGP 7,000/month, which you should validate against the latest decree. Together these set the inputs for every net-salary calculation you run — so when you update the labour-law clauses, update the payroll engine in the same pass. As of 2026, re-confirm all of these with your accountant and the official portals before publishing payslips.
Egypt Labour Law 2025 — Employer Compliance Checklist
A printable PDF that turns Law 14/2025 into an action list: the 15/21/30-day annual-leave tiers, notice and termination review steps, the 2026 social-insurance bands (11% / 18.75%, EGP 2,700–16,700), income-tax brackets and the minimum-wage check — each with a 'verify with your lawyer/accountant' prompt. Print it, tick it off, and keep it as your audit trail.
Where can employers verify the official details?
Egypt's labour and payroll rules are interconnected and they get amended, so the durable habit is to ground every clause and number in an official source and a professional review. Use the law itself (via the Egyptian Gazette) for the labour rules, NOSI for social insurance, and the Egyptian Tax Authority for income tax — then have your lawyer and accountant confirm how each applies to your specific contracts and payroll. As of 2026, verify with your lawyer/accountant before acting on any figure in this guide.
If you'd rather not maintain all of this by hand, an Egypt-first HR and payroll platform can encode the leave tiers, social-insurance bands and tax brackets for you and keep them current — turning a compliance scramble into a settings change. The principle stays the same either way: official source first, professional sign-off second, then update your system.
Sources
- Official Egyptian Gazette (Al-Waqa'i' Al-Masriyya) — for the text of Law No. 14 of 2025
- NOSI — National Organization for Social Insurance (Egypt)
- Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA)
- PwC Tax Summaries — Egypt (personal income tax)
- EY Egypt — labour and employment law summaries
- ICLG — Employment & Labour Laws and Regulations: Egypt
Egypt Labour Law 2025 — frequently asked questions
When did Egypt's new Labour Law (Law 14 of 2025) come into force?
Law No. 14 of 2025 came into force on 1 September 2025, replacing Egypt's previous Labour Law. As of 2026, confirm the effective date and any transitional provisions against the official Egyptian Gazette.
What is the annual leave entitlement in Egypt under the new law?
15 days in the first year of employment, 21 days from the second year onward, and 30 days after 10 years of service or once the employee reaches age 50. Verify the exact tier triggers with your lawyer and the official text.
What is the notice period under Egypt's new Labour Law?
A unified notice period widely reported as three months. Because application can depend on tenure and contract type, verify how the three-month notice applies to your specific contracts against the official decree before relying on it.
What are the Egypt social insurance rates for 2026?
From 1 January 2026, the employee contribution is 11% and the employer contribution is 18.75%, applied to an insurable wage between EGP 2,700 and EGP 16,700 per month. Confirm current figures with NOSI before filing.
What is the income tax on salaries in Egypt for 2026?
For 2026, there are 7 progressive brackets ranging from 0% up to 27.5%, with an annual personal exemption of EGP 20,000. Check the latest Egyptian Tax Authority guidance and a tax professional before finalizing net-pay calculations.
What is the private-sector minimum wage in Egypt?
It is reported at around EGP 7,000 per month, but this should be validated against the latest National Wages Council decree, as minimum-wage figures are adjusted over time. As of 2026, verify with your accountant before setting salaries.
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