President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi last week ratified a new civil service law replacing Law 47 of 2014 regulating the recruitment, promotion, salaries, pensions, holidays and bonuses of personnel in state-owned companies, state-affiliated organisations, government ministries and municipalities. The law will be enforced from July, the beginning of the new fiscal year. There are some 6.4 million state employees in Egypt, or around 20 per cent of the total workforce in 2013-2014, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS). Their salaries cost the government LE208 billion a year, almost a quarter of public expenditure. The new law, prepared by the Ministry of Planning, aims to improve the performance of state employees and crack down on abuses. It divides civil service jobs into three categories: specialised, administrative and technical. Public servants in the first two categories are divided into ten levels, while the third category is divided into 11. Under the new law, employees will be evaluated every six months, and this will be used to decide bonuses and promotions. The law links promotion to performance rather than seniority, considered by many as a way to encourage civil servants to improve their performance. The Egyptian Trade Union Federation praised the new regulations as a step towards reforming state bodies. One of the changes that the federation has long called for is setting the bonus that an employee can obtain when moving from one level to the next at 2.5 per cent of annual salary instead of a fixed amount, as is now the case. However, the federation has also asked for clarification on some aspects of the new law. Under the new legislation, recruitment will be based on online applications and tests conducted through a government website to ensure transparency and equality. The government has already introduced this practice for the hiring of teachers, inviting those wishing to apply for Ministry of Education jobs to enter their applications online and complete online tests. The results were announced earlier this week. Those whose applications were accepted will undergo a six-month probationary period before being officially hired under the new law. The new law also stipulates the establishment of a human resources department in each ministry, state authority and state body that will be responsible for recruitment. Hamdi Abdel-Azeem, a former dean of the Sadat Academy for Administrative Sciences, praised the new law for stipulating that the basic salaries of public servants should represent 80 per cent of their gross incomes. Under the current law, basic salaries represent only 20 per cent of the total, while the remaining is made up of variable bonuses. “This step will make it easier for managers to award part or all of the 20 per cent bonus as a result of an employee's performance report. At the moment, bonuses are considered to be an essential part of salaries and cannot be touched,” Abdel-Azeem explained. The new system should benefit retiring employees, as pensions will be determined according to basic salaries. Under the new law, the Administrative Monitoring Authority is the only body with the power to investigate corruption claims made by public servants. Under the current law, the head of a state authority, or a minister or governor, has the right to carry out investigations. “The results have often been misleading as personal considerations have been allowed to enter,” Abdel-Azeem said. The July annual bonus of 10 per cent for civil servants is reduced to five per cent under the new law. Abdel-Azeem said that employees will not notice this difference as basic salaries will now be 80 per cent of the total. The law gives an extra bonus of 2.5 per cent to employees who hold a higher educational degree. Female employees are allowed four months of maternity leave instead of the three months under the current law. However, while Abdel-Azeem considers the new law to be a step in the right direction, he has reservations about some aspects. The new law ignores certain criteria contributing to performance reports, such as absence and timeliness, for example. “Evaluation is still left to the personal consideration of managers,” Abdel-Azeem said. The possibility of firing civil servants as a result of unsatisfactory evaluations is one of the most controversial aspects of the new law. Refaat Al-Said, head of the leftist Tagamou Party, told the Weekly that he had received dozens of complaints from employees who feared being fired. Evaluation reports were often not carried out as they should be, he said. “I know that there are too many employees in government bodies, but this is not the employees' fault. If the government has to reduce these figures, it should be done gradually,” he said. Al-Said said the law should not be issued in the absence of a parliament and without discussion in society. It could be aimed at getting rid of a large number of government employees, he said. “The government is introducing cuts on taxes and tariffs for big investors, and it is not fair to take money from poor people's pockets at the same time,” Al-Said said. The law allows those 50 years old or older to ask for early retirement. In this case, five years can be added to the total worked, meaning that pensions are calculated as if an individual had retired at the age of 55. A new Council for the Civil Service will be formed under the new law and will be entitled to make suggestions to improve the civil service across the country. The law's executive regulations should be issued by the new parliament within the next three months. Egypt has been without a parliament since the assembly elected in late 2011 was dissolved in June 2012. Until an elected parliament convenes, President Al-Sisi holds full legislative powers.
