Court orders Al-Bawaba News to pay journalist EGP 266,000 over arbitrary dismissal
The North Giza Court of First Instance ordered the management of Al-Bawaba News to pay a journalist 266,000 Egyptian pounds ($4,950) in compensation for material and moral damages stemming from arbitrary dismissal, along with his financial dues and minimum-wage salary arrears, according to the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR), which represented the reporter.
The ruling in case 81/553 of 2026, requires the newspaper to pay 174,000 pounds ($3,240) in compensation for arbitrary dismissal, 21,000 pounds ($390) for termination without the legally mandated prior notice, and 54,700 pounds ($1,020) for accumulated leave, ECESR said in a statement.
The payout also includes 14,000 pounds ($260) in unpaid salaries for November and December 2025, as well as 29,400 pounds ($550) in wage differentials owed under the minimum wage.
The verdict also obligates the institution to provide the journalist with a reference and return his original hiring documents, while dismissing a countersuit filed against him by management.
ECESR welcomed the ruling as an important victory for the rights of journalists and workers, calling it “a notable judicial precedent in applying the provisions of the new labor law regarding the minimum wage.”
The center noted that the verdict’s significance extends beyond redressing arbitrary dismissal, as it establishes a legal precedent that prevents employers from evading minimum-wage mandates or skirting decisions by the National Council for Wages by maintaining depressed pay in violation of the law. It added that closing such loopholes strengthens socio-economic protections for workers and bolsters their right to a fair wage that guarantees a minimum standard of living.
Journalists Syndicate Head Khaled Elbalshy also welcomed the ruling, describing it as “a new victory for Al-Bawaba News journalists.” Thanking the rights center, Elbalshy noted that the syndicate had submitted a legal memorandum outlining the facts of the case on behalf of the journalists.
The judgment is part of an ongoing labor dispute between the publication and dismissed staff that has yielded several court decisions this year. They include a similar ruling ordering the newspaper to pay a female journalist 280,000 pounds (about $5,210) for arbitrary dismissal, lack of legal notice, accumulated leave, and minimum-wage differentials under the labor law.
On April 20, the North Giza Labor Misdemeanor Court fined Al-Bawaba News board chairman and journalist Abdel Rahim Ali 13,000 pounds ($240) for each of the company’s 257 employees, totaling 3.341 million pounds ($62,160), for failing to implement the minimum wage. The court also ordered Ali to pay 2,000 pounds (about $37) in temporary civil compensation to each of the 25 journalists who joined the suit as civil claimants.
According to ECESR, the crisis dates back to late 2025, when management retaliated against staff demands for the minimum wage. Roughly 70 journalists staged a 56-day sit-in at the newspaper’s headquarters on Mosaddaq Street in Dokki, enduring utility cuts until the protest was forcibly dispersed on the night of Sunday, Jan. 5, 2026, prompting the journalists to relocate their sit-in to the Journalists Syndicate.
Management retaliated by withholding employee salaries starting in November 2025 and filing legal complaints accusing several journalists of “unauthorized protesting.” The complaints also targeted syndicate board members Eman Ouf and Mahmoud Kamel over the board’s solidarity with the journalists’ demands.
On April 19, the Qasr Al-Nil Misdemeanor Court acquitted nine Al-Bawaba News journalists alongside syndicate board members Mahmoud Kamel and Eman Ouf of charges of slander and defamation against Ali and his daughter Dalia, the editor-in-chief, according to the center.
The court also rejected a civil claim brought by the newspaper’s legal counsel seeking more than 100,000 pounds ($1,860) in temporary compensation for the board chairman and his daughter.