How to File a Salary Issue Complaint in Egypt

If you're owed wages your employer won't pay, Egyptian labor law gives you a free, administrative route before you ever see a courtroom. The salary issue complaint process runs through the Ministry of Manpower's local labor office, and if that fails, you escalate to the Labor Court. Here's how it actually works.

Quick answer

File your salary issue complaint at the labor office (Mudiriyat al-Quwa al-Amila) in the governorate where you work. Bring your ID, employment contract, social insurance printout, and any proof of unpaid wages (payslips, bank statements, WhatsApp messages). The office summons your employer for a conciliation session within roughly 15 days. If no settlement is reached, your file is referred — free of court fees for the worker — to the competent Labor Court under Law 12 of 2003. Claims for unpaid wages don't expire for one year from the due date.^[1][2]

Where and how to file

Go to the Directorate of Manpower (مديرية القوى العاملة) in the governorate where your workplace is located — not where you live. Walk-in filing is still the norm. Some governorates now accept complaints through the ministry's hotline (16528) or the online portal, but the paper file at the local office is what moves things.

Bring originals and copies of:

• National ID or residence permit
• Employment contract (if you have one — more on this below)
• Form 1 and Form 6 from social insurance, which prove you were registered
• Any payslips, bank transfer records, or messages showing the salary amount and the gap
• A written statement of your claim: dates, amounts, what's owed

The clerk opens a file and issues a summons to your employer for a conciliation hearing. No fees. No lawyer required at this stage.

Honestly, the biggest practical hurdle is proving the salary amount if you were paid in cash and never registered with social insurance. More on that in a second.

What happens at the conciliation session

Under Article 70 of Law 12 of 2003 (the Labor Law), the labor office tries to settle the dispute amicably. You and the employer sit across from an inspector. The employer either pays, offers a payment plan, or denies the claim.

Three outcomes:

1. Settlement signed. This becomes an enforceable deed — treat it like a court judgment. If the employer later defaults, you take it straight to enforcement.
2. Partial settlement. You accept what's offered for the undisputed portion; the rest goes to court.
3. No agreement. The office closes a report (محضر عدم اتفاق) and refers the file to the Labor Court.

The whole phase is supposed to wrap within 21 days. In practice, expect 4–8 weeks depending on the governorate and whether the employer shows up. Repeated no-shows get noted — and work against the employer later.

If the employer refuses to attend at all, don't panic. The non-attendance is logged and your file still progresses to court.

Taking it to the Labor Court

If conciliation fails, the matter goes to the specialized Labor Circuit (الدائرة العمالية) at the Court of First Instance. Workers filing salary claims are exempt from court fees under Article 77 of the Labor Law — a genuinely important protection most workers don't know about.^[1]

What you can claim:

• Unpaid basic salary and variable components (commissions, overtime, bonuses contractually owed)
• Delay interest at the legal rate
• End-of-service gratuity if the non-payment pushed you to resign
• Compensation for arbitrary dismissal if the employer fired you after you complained

The limitation period is one year from the date each wage installment became due (Article 698 of the Civil Code read with the Labor Law). Miss that window and the claim is time-barred — this is where people lose otherwise solid cases by waiting too long.

A first-instance judgment in a wage case typically lands within 6–12 months. Appeals add another 6–9 months.

Watch out: If you resign in protest over unpaid wages, send a written notice first (registered mail or notarized) stating that non-payment is forcing you out. Without that paper trail, the employer will later argue you quit voluntarily and waive your end-of-service rights.

What if you have no written contract?

Article 32 of Law 12 of 2003 says the employment contract should be written in three copies in Arabic. But — and this matters — the absence of a written contract doesn't kill your claim. The worker can prove the employment relationship by any means, including witness testimony. The employer, by contrast, is bound to written evidence.^[1]

So if you were paid in cash with no contract, gather:

• Witnesses (colleagues, clients, suppliers who saw you working)
• Entry/exit logs, uniforms, company email, business cards
• WhatsApp or SMS messages with managers
• Bank deposits if any salary ever went through an account
• Social insurance records — even one month of registration helps anchor the start date

For undocumented workers in small businesses, this is the weak spot of the system. The complaint still works, but you'll need to build the evidence yourself.

When to involve social insurance and tax authorities

If your employer never registered you with the National Organization for Social Insurance (NOSI / الهيئة القومية للتأمين الاجتماعي), file a parallel complaint there. Non-registration carries penalties on the employer and can trigger back-contributions covering your entire period of service.

Same logic with the Egyptian Tax Authority if income tax was deducted but never remitted. These parallel pressures often push employers to settle the wage claim quickly — nobody wants three agencies looking at their books at once.

For broader workplace rights, see our overview on employment law in Egypt.