Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has ratified a new law requiring the dismissal of government employees who are found to be using drugs.
The law was approved by Parliament in May after Transport Minister Kamel El Wazir decided to toughen penalties on train drivers who were proved to be drug users.
Authorities said an investigation into a train crash in the Upper Egyptian city of Sohag in March proved drugs had played a role in the accident, which killed at least 19 people and left hundreds injured.
Public-sector employees will now be subjected to random drug tests without notification, and anyone found to be using recreational drugs will be promptly dismissed.
The law, which was ratified by Mr El Sisi on Sunday, also states employees must report any drugs they are using before the surprise tests, whether they think it will influence the result or not.
The law was passed to protect the state from the “imminent dangers” of employing drug users, the government gazette’s announcement said.
Under the rules, employers have the right to terminate a drug user’s contract without notice or permission from a court or other legal apparatus.
A Social Solidarity Ministry survey found 2.5 per cent of the 327,000 public sector employees surveyed between March 2019 to March 2021 were drug users.
Hashish, tramadol and morphine were the most prevalent.
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Your rights as an employee
The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.
The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.
If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.
Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.
The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.
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