Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Hours of Work (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1930 (No. 30) - Egypt (Ratification: 1960)

Article 7(1) of the Convention. Permanent exceptions – Intermittent work. The Committee notes that according to section 1 of Decree No. 115, determining the works that are intermittent by their nature, intermittent workers may be required to stay at the workplace more than ten but less than 12 hours a day. In this connection, the Committee wishes to recall that “intermittent work” is to be defined narrowly to mean work which is interrupted by long periods of inaction, during which the workers concerned have to display neither physical activity nor sustained attention, and remain at their post only to reply to possible calls (for instance doorkeepers and security guards). The Committee also recalls that it has been commenting on this point for more than 40 years and that the Government has given assurances in the past that the relevant legislation would be amended. The Committee accordingly requests the Government to consider taking appropriate action without delay in order to ensure that the workers in question may not be requested to be present at the workplace outside their normal hours of work and that the categories of workers listed in Decree No. 115 of 2003 be strictly limited to those whose duties are essentially intermittent within the meaning of the Convention.

Article 7(3). Temporary exceptions – Annual limit of authorized overtime. Further to its previous comment, the Committee notes the Government’s reply that intermittent workers such as doorkeepers and guards are seasonal workers whose work ends when work is completed. The Government further indicates that Decree No. 115 of 2003 regulates the occupations and tasks which are intermittent by their nature, while Decree No. 113 of 2003 regulates preparatory and complementary work which needs to be finished by workers before or after the end of work. When they work additional hours of work, they are entitled to overtime wages pending on agreement between worker and employer, in accordance with section 85 of the Labour Code. In this regard, the Committee wishes to refer to paragraph 144 of the 2005 General Survey on Conventions Nos 1 and 30 which emphasize that even though the establishment of specific limits to the total number of additional hours is left to the competent authorities, this does not mean that such authorities have unlimited discretion in this regard. Taking into account the spirit of the Conventions and in the light of the preparatory work, it is appropriate to conclude that such limits must be “reasonable” and they must be prescribed in line with the general goal of the instruments, namely to establish the eight-hour day and 48 hour week as a legal standard of hours of work in order to provide protection against undue fatigue and to ensure reasonable leisure and opportunities for recreation and social life. The Committee accordingly requests the Government to specify the legal provision, if any, which sets the maximum number of additional hours of work that may be allowed in the year, as required under this Article of the Convention.

Article 11(2). Record-keeping of overtime hours. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether employers are required to maintain records of all additional hours of work performed in their establishments, as prescribed by this Article of the Convention, and if so, to specify the relevant legal provision.