A total of six banks were exempted from applying the maximum wage on their employees after the judicial ruling issued last week for employees of Banque Misr. The list of banks that were able to avoid applying the maximum wage so far includes the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), Banque Misr, Banque du Caire, United Bank of Egypt, Housing and Development Bank, and Export Development Bank of Egypt. Meanwhile, six other banks are awaiting their judicial rulings to exempt them from applying the maximum wage, including the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), Principal Bank for Development and Agricultural Credit (PBDAC), Arab Investment Bank (AIBK), National Investment Bank (NIB), Industrial Development and Workers Bank of Egypt, and Egyptian Arab Land Bank. The Administrative Court at the State Council issued verdicts in the past week to cancel former prime minister Ibrahim Mehleb's decision to apply the Maximum Wage Law on employees of Banque Misr. The court explained that Mehleb's decision contradicted with the provisions of the constitution and law, as well as with the provisions of decree 63/2014, which addresses the maximum wages of employees in state bodies. It is determined exclusively in explicit and clear clauses the subjects of its provisions and the banks' employees are not among them. According to sources in the legal field, the rulings issued by the Administrative Court cancelling the application of the Maximum Wage Law on bank employees are enforceable and should be applied retroactively since the date the decision was enforced in July 2014. A presidential decision amending the law addressing the maximum income of employees in state administrative bodies was issued in July 2014. The employees of the CBE, public banks, petroleum, aviation, and communications authorities and public companies were listed among the subjects of that law, making their monthly salaries no more than a maximum of EGP 42,000.
