Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Press Release
The Forum for Development and Human Rights Dialogue on Wednesday called for an investigation into a collective complaint filed by staff at the Mercure Pyramid Hotel in Giza province against the administration for dismissal following precautionary measures taken to prevent the new CORONA virus.
Twenty-five hotel workers had filed a group report by al-Ahram Police Department no. 5930 for the year 2020, in which they reported that they had been harmed by their unjustified dismissal by Hala Azer, the hotel manager, following the Corona virus crisis.
Those affected by the hotel’s employment added in their report that the labor law stipulated that the employer is not entitled to require the worker to take leave without pay in the event of outbreaks of diseases or epidemics, or to reduce the salaries of employees by more than half, because these measures are illegal and inhumane.
The layoffs involved a clear violation of the decisions of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and the government to hold the private sector responsible and not to lay off employment in all sectors, and to take a series of measures in the form of a rescue package worth 100 billion pounds to face the economic repercussions of The CORONA virus, and to compensate the sectors affected by the crisis, including but not limited to announcing the reduction of gas and electricity prices, postponing the payment of loan installments, abolishing taxes on the stock exchange and reducing the interest rate by 3%. President Sisi also tasked the government with implementing several measures to maintain employment, both in the form of giving a
three-monthly disposal to certain categories of employment, as well as measures for investors to ease their financial pressure for three months, so that they can pay salaries. The Forum stressed the importance of protecting the employment of the tourism sector from the effects of the protection measures against the CORONA virus, and making decisive action against companies or departments that resort to exploiting conditions and dismissing employment so as not to lead to a social and humanitarian crisis due to the loss of many families’ jobs and reminding businessmen of the social responsibility called by the United Nations to apply them to care for workers during the conditions of epidemics and compulsive conditions.
