Conflict On Maximum Wage Continues Between Banks, Government

The State Council’s administrative court has issued a ‘stay of execution of law’ judgement regarding the maximum wage for employees of the banks Banque du Caire, the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), and the United Bank.

This judgement may not be the last of its kind, as the administrative court has previously issued a similar judgement for employees at the Housing & Development Bank (HDB) and the Export Development Bank of Egypt‎ (EDBE). There is also a suit before the same court by employees of other banks, on top of which are the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) and the Arab Investment Bank.

According to Ruqaya Fayad, legal consultant to the Federation of Egyptian Banks, the administrative courts’ judgements are final and enforceable upon their rendering. But they may be appealed by the government before the Supreme Administrative Court.

She added that the government may request a hurried decision by the administrative court to stay the execution of the Supreme Administrative Court’s decisions. In case of the judgement being in favour of the government, this judgement will be stalled pending a final decision on the case.

According to Fayad, it is unlikely that the maximum law of maximum wage would be completely cancelled because of the supreme administrative court’s judgement of its non-application on employees of some banks. As the only entity with the capacity to cancel this law is the supreme constitutional court.

“The State Lawsuit Authority had already appealed the Administrative Judiciary Court’s Judgment 36983/1961 in front of the Supreme Administrative Court, regarding exempting the employees of the Housing and Development Bank and Export Development Bank of Egypt from the maximum wage. However, no judgments were rendered for that appeal, according to Fayad.

“The administrative court’s decisions to the benefit of employees of some banks cannot benefit other banks unless those banks file similar law suits and acquire judgements in their favour,” she said.

Source: Daily News Egypt