Annual Leave, Sick Leave & Public Holidays Under Egyptian Labor Law
- September 9, 2026
- 11:57 am
Leave entitlements are one of the areas most affected by Egypt’s new labor law, with changes to annual leave accrual, sick leave protections, and how public holidays interact with an employee’s leave balance. Here’s a clear breakdown of annual leave Egypt requires, along with sick leave and public holiday rules employers need to build into their HR compliance policies.
This article is for general informational purposes and is not legal advice. Consult local counsel to confirm current entitlements before finalizing leave policies.
Annual Leave Entitlements
Annual leave accrues based on how long an employee has worked for the company:
•In the first year of employment: 15 days
•From the second year onward: 21 days
•After ten years of service, or once an employee turns fifty: 30 days
•For employees with disabilities: 45 days, regardless of tenure
Employees typically earn this leave gradually across the year rather than receiving it all at once. Because of this, your company policy and employment contracts should clearly spell out the rules around carryover limits and payout when an employee leaves the company.
Sick Leave
Sick leave in Egypt generally involves a medical certification process, so employees are typically required to provide documentation to support an absence — particularly for longer periods. During an initial period, sick leave is usually paid at a partial rate; the exact rate and duration depend on how long the absence lasts and on applicable social insurance provisions, since sick pay is often shared between the employer and the social insurance system rather than funded by the employer alone.
Because sick leave pay calculations intersect with social insurance contributions and certification requirements, employers should maintain a clearly documented sick leave policy — including how documentation gets submitted, verified, and calculated into pay — in order to avoid disputes.
Public Holidays
Employees receive paid time off on officially designated public holidays. If a business needs an employee to work on one of these holidays, that employee is generally entitled to additional pay — often structured as an extra day’s wage — plus, in many cases, a substitute day off. Since the dates for religious holidays shift each year based on the lunar calendar, employers should update their public holiday calendar annually rather than relying on the previous year’s schedule.
Maternity and Paternity Leave
While maternity and paternity leave sometimes get treated as a subset of general leave policy, they actually carry distinct rules under the new labor law:
- Maternity leave has been extended under the new law. Legal commentary places the entitlement somewhere between three and four months, depending on the specific provision and timing relative to childbirth, and employees can use it up to three times over their career.
- Paternity leave, meanwhile, is a new entitlement introduced by the 2025 law — paid leave for the day of a child’s birth, available up to three times, and never deducted from an employee’s annual leave balance.
For a full breakdown of these provisions, see our guide on the new Egyptian labor law.
Weekly Rest Day
Separate from annual leave, every employee is entitled to one full paid rest day per week. This is a standing weekly entitlement rather than something drawn from the annual leave balance — see our full guide on working hours and overtime rules in Egypt for how this fits into the broader hours framework.
Building a Compliant Leave Policy
- Map accrual correctly by tenure band, rather than applying a flat annual leave rate across all employees regardless of years of service.
- Document sick leave certification requirements clearly, including exactly how partial-pay periods get calculated.
- Maintain a public holiday calendar and update it annually, since religious holiday dates vary year to year.
- Keep maternity and paternity leave separate from general annual leave in your policy documents, since the underlying rules, funding, and protections all differ.
- Address leave payout and carryover explicitly in the employment contract in order to avoid disputes at termination.
For a full compliance review across every employment area, see our HR compliance checklist for employers in Egypt.
Common Mistakes Employers Make
- Applying a single flat annual leave entitlement regardless of tenure, which misses the step increases at the 2-year, 10-year, and 50-year/age milestones.
- Failing to update the public holiday calendar annually.
- Deducting paternity leave from an employee’s annual leave balance, even though the new law doesn’t permit this.
- Skipping documentation for sick leave certifications, which creates exposure if a dispute arises later.
Key Takeaway
Egypt’s leave framework isn’t a single flat entitlement — it’s a set of interacting rules based on tenure, leave type, and specific protections for maternity and paternity leave. Getting the accrual schedule and documentation right upfront avoids disputes later, particularly around termination, where unused leave payout calculations often become a point of contention.