Attendance Policy in Egypt's Labour Law: Lateness, Absence

An attendance policy is the written set of rules that fixes working hours, how attendance is recorded, and what happens when someone is late or absent. Egypt's new Labour Law No. 14 of 2025 does not set a fixed fine for a minute or an hour of lateness. Instead it leaves that to each employer's work-organisation and penalties regulation, then sets limits and a procedure that the regulation cannot override. This guide walks through what the official Arabic text published by the Ministry of Labour actually says, article by article, and turns it into practical steps for a business owner.

TL;DR. Every employer with ten or more workers must prepare a regulation on work organisation and penalties and submit a copy to the competent administrative authority (Article 137). A pay deduction is a disciplinary penalty, capped at five days' basic pay per offence and five days' pay per month (Article 143). No penalty may be imposed until the worker has been notified in writing and heard (Article 141). Unjustified absence of more than 20 non-consecutive days in a year, or more than 10 consecutive days, counts as resignation, but only after a registered warning letter (Article 166). This article is general information, not legal advice; review your policy with a labour lawyer or qualified HR adviser.

Which law governs employee attendance in Egypt?

Egypt has no standalone "attendance law". The rules sit partly in the Labour Law and partly in each employer's internal regulation. For the private sector, the law in force is Law No. 14 of 2025 promulgating the Labour Law, published in the Official Gazette, issue 18 (continued), on 3 May 2025. The full Arabic text is available on the Ministry of Labour website, and every article cited here comes from that document. The English wording below is our own summary, not an official translation.

Three points from the promulgation articles matter first:

• When it took effect. Article 13 of the promulgation law says it applies from the first day of the month following ninety days after publication, which is 1 September 2025. The provisions on the specialised labour courts apply from the following 1 October.
• What it replaced. Article 12 of the promulgation law repeals the previous Labour Law No. 12 of 2003. Any policy written under the old law needs a review.
• Who it does not cover. Article 1 of the promulgation law excludes employees of state bodies, including local administration units and public authorities, and domestic workers, unless a specific provision says otherwise.

That last point answers a frequent question. Members and lawyers of legal departments in government bodies and public authorities fall within that exclusion, so their attendance rules come from the legislation and regulations of the body they work for, not from this law; confirm the applicable rules with that body's HR or legal affairs department. This guide is written for private employers.

Do you need a written attendance and penalties regulation?

Article 137 says every employer who employs ten or more workers must prepare a regulation setting out the rules of work organisation, suited to the nature of the business. It must cover, in particular, promotion, transfer and pay systems, the offences that breach a worker's duties, and the disciplinary penalties. In practice, attendance, lateness and absence fall under offences and penalties.

What Article 137 requires	Detail as stated in the text
Who	Every employer with ten or more workers
Deadline	Sixty days from the start of business, from reaching ten workers, or from the law taking effect
Approval	Submit a copy to the competent administrative authority for review and certification
Union view	The authority consults the relevant trade union, whose silence for fifteen days counts as approval
Silence	If the authority neither certifies nor objects within thirty days of receipt, the regulation takes effect
Publication	Post the regulation in a visible place at the premises, its branches and work sites

Article 122 adds a second, attendance-specific duty. The employer must post at the main entrances, or in a visible place, a schedule showing the weekly rest day, working hours and rest periods, and send a copy of it, and of any change, to the administrative authority within seven days of implementation.

What if you employ fewer than ten people? Article 137 does not require a certified regulation in that case. That does not mean you can deduct pay without rules: Article 139 links penalties to "the regulations on work organisation and penalties in the establishment". A written policy that each employee signs on joining is the minimum, and asking a lawyer about your specific situation beats assuming.

Deductions for lateness: what the law allows

Article 134 lists the worker's duty to keep to working hours and to follow the set procedures when absent or when breaking the schedule. So lateness is a breach of a stated duty, but the law never says "every quarter-hour late costs X". What it sets is the list of permitted penalties, the ceiling on each, and how they are imposed.

Rule	What the law says	Article
Permitted penalties	Written warning, deduction from basic pay, deferring or cutting part of the annual raise, deferring promotion, reducing basic pay by one raise, demotion one grade, dismissal	139
Ceiling per offence	No more than five days of basic pay	143
Ceiling per month	No more than five days' pay deducted for penalties in one month	143 and 140
Percentage deductions	A deduction set as a percentage refers to the basic daily wage	143
One penalty only	No more than one penalty for the same offence	140
Link to work	The act must relate to work, and the penalty must be proportionate	138
Time limit	No penalty after thirty days from the end of the investigation	138
Repeat offences	The penalty may be increased if the same type of offence recurs within a year of notification of the previous penalty	144
Establishment manager	May impose a written warning and a deduction of up to three days' pay	148
Dismissal	Reserved to the competent labour court, not the employer	148

The procedure before any deduction

Article 141 says no penalty may be imposed until the worker has been told in writing what they are accused of, heard, and allowed to defend themselves, with a record kept in their file. The investigation must start within seven days of discovering the offence. For offences punished by a warning, or by a deduction of no more than one day's basic pay, the investigation may be oral, provided its substance is recorded in the penalty decision. In every case, the decision must give reasons.

This is the step most small businesses skip. An automatic deduction that appears on a payslip without notice or a hearing invites a dispute. Whether every lateness deduction must be treated as a disciplinary penalty, or whether some forms can be framed differently in the contract and regulation, is a question for your lawyer, not your attendance software.

Turning that into a working rule

1. Write the start time and grace period. State exactly when lateness starts to count, for each shift.
2. Write a penalty ladder. For example, a written warning for repeated lateness, then a graduated deduction inside the legal ceiling. The figures are your decision with your lawyer; the law sets only the ceiling.
3. Capture the evidence when it happens. Record the actual arrival time, who recorded it and from where, so any later dispute is settled by the record.
4. Notify and hear before you deduct. Send a written note of the facts, give the employee a chance to respond, then issue a reasoned decision.
5. Check the monthly ceiling. Add up each person's disciplinary deductions for the month and confirm they stay within five days' pay.

To see how each attendance event flows into pay and month-end close, read our guide to attendance and payroll.

Unauthorised absence: when does it count as resignation?

Under Article 166, a worker is deemed to have resigned if they are absent without a legitimate reason for more than twenty non-consecutive days in one year, or more than ten consecutive days. This only applies if the employer, or a representative, first sends a warning by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt: after ten days of absence in the first case, and after five days in the second.

In practice, you need two counters for each employee: consecutive absent days, and non-consecutive absent days since the start of the year. A blank cell in a spreadsheet is not enough, because you must separate unjustified absence from approved leave and sick leave. For leave and overtime tracking, see our guide to overtime and leave tracking.

Remember the other side too. Article 162 gives a worker who has received notice of termination from the employer the right to be absent for one full day a week, or eight hours during the week, to look for another job, with pay. That is paid absence by law and must not be logged as unauthorised.

Does the general manager have to clock in?

The question comes up in almost every company that introduces an attendance system. The law contains no provision that requires the general manager to sign in, or that exempts them. It does contain two provisions that help:

• Article 1 (item 18) defines "authorised agents" as anyone the employer has appointed or delegated to manage the establishment, or the holders of top senior posts who exercise some or all of the employer's powers.
• Article 123 lists the employer's authorised agents among the categories excluded from certain working-time provisions in Articles 117 to 120, including rest breaks (Article 118) and the ten-hour limit between the start and end of the working day (Article 119). The exact scope of the exclusion is worth confirming with your lawyer.

So some working-time and rest rules do not apply to a delegated general manager in the same way as to other staff. Whether they record attendance is an administrative choice for your regulation. Many companies ask managers to clock in as well, because it makes the rule easier for the team to accept, and because a manager who visits branches needs a record of their movements. The choice is yours; what matters is that it is written down and applied consistently.

What to put in your attendance regulation

This is not a ready-made legal text. It is a list of clauses that make an attendance policy clear and enforceable. Write it in plain language, then have a lawyer review it before submission.

1. Working hours for each group or shift, and rest breaks. Article 117 limits actual work to eight hours a day or 48 hours a week, and Article 118 requires breaks totalling at least one hour so that no one works more than five consecutive hours.
2. How attendance is recorded: paper register, fingerprint device or mobile app, and who corrects mistakes.
3. The grace period and how lateness is counted after it.
4. Early departure and personal permission: how to request it and who approves.
5. Absence procedure: how an employee reports absence, and what documents sick leave requires.
6. The penalty ladder for lateness and absence, inside the limits of Articles 139, 140 and 143.
7. Investigation and notification steps as in Article 141, and who may impose each penalty (Article 148).
8. Overtime: who requests it and how it is recorded. Article 121 sets overtime pay at no less than the normal wage plus 35% for a daytime hour and 70% for a night hour.
9. Appeals: to whom an employee can object, and within what time.

Note that Article 137 allows the competent minister to issue a decision setting general rules for these regulations. Ask the labour directorate responsible for your business, or your lawyer, whether any model or ministerial decision applies before you submit yours.

How accurate attendance records help

Every limit above assumes you know exactly when someone arrived. In most small businesses, a lateness dispute is not about the law; it is about the facts: "I was there at 8:35, not 9:10." That is where an attendance system earns its place: a time-stamped record the employee creates themselves, which nobody types in later.

Yawmy is an attendance app for small and mid-sized businesses in Egypt and the Gulf. According to the Yawmy website:

• Employees check in from the iOS or Android app, or through a Telegram bot.
• Each check-in is GPS-verified against a radius you set for the workplace. Yawmy's support page states that location is read only at check-in, check-out or when a visit report is sent, with no background tracking.
• Lateness and absence deductions are calculated automatically into an end-of-month payroll sheet, with reports on attendance, lateness and hours worked.

Yawmy does not write your regulation or decide penalties. Enter the deduction rules you have adopted after legal review, and use the record as evidence when you notify and investigate. To compare ways of recording attendance first, start with our guide to choosing employee attendance software in Egypt. For the salary calculation itself, see our guide to payroll software for Egyptian SMBs.

FAQ

Is it legal to deduct pay for lateness in Egypt?

A deduction from basic pay is one of the disciplinary penalties permitted by Article 139 of Labour Law No. 14 of 2025, provided it is set out in the employer's regulation. It may not exceed five days' basic pay per offence, or five days' pay in a month. Check the wording of your clause with a lawyer.

Can an employer deduct pay without an investigation?

No penalty may be imposed without first notifying the worker in writing, hearing them and allowing a defence, under Article 141. The investigation may be oral if the penalty is a warning or a deduction of no more than one day's pay, with its substance recorded in the decision. The decision must always give reasons.

When does absence count as resignation in Egypt?

Under Article 166, when a worker is absent without a legitimate reason for more than 20 non-consecutive days in a year, or more than 10 consecutive days. A warning by registered letter must come first: after 10 days of absence in the first case and after 5 days in the second.

Does a small business need an attendance regulation?

Article 137 requires employers with ten or more workers to prepare a work-organisation and penalties regulation and submit it to the administrative authority. Smaller employers are not covered by that wording, but a written policy that staff know about is still essential before any deduction. Ask a lawyer about your case.

Does the general manager have to sign attendance?

No provision requires or exempts them. Article 123 does exclude the employer's authorised agents from some working-time rules, such as rest breaks and the ten-hour daily span; confirm the exact scope with your lawyer. Whether managers clock in is set by your internal regulation, ideally in writing.

Does the Labour Law apply to government employees?

No. Article 1 of the promulgation law excludes employees of state bodies, including local administration units and public authorities, unless a specific provision says otherwise. Attendance rules in government bodies, including their legal departments, follow the legislation and regulations that govern each body, so confirm them with its HR or legal affairs department.

Written by Nada Hassan, HR-Tech Strategist, Yawmy. This article is general information, not legal advice.

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