Masaar and “Defense – Khaled Ali Law Office” have published a new research paper titled “Modern Work Patterns in the New Labor Law: Between Legislative Recognition and Implementation Challenges.”
The paper examines Egypt’s new Labor Law, signed in May 2025, which for the first time recognizes modern forms of work, including work mediated through digital platforms. While this development expands the legal definition of a “worker,” the paper reveals that platform workers remain without effective protections. The legislative provisions are minimal and defer critical details to executive regulations that have yet to be issued, leaving these workers in a legal and regulatory vacuum.
The paper warns that the section dedicated to modern work patterns fails to set clear standards for addressing the specific nature of platform-based work. This sector is characterized by strict algorithmic management, the prevalence of sham contracts or the absence of contracts altogether, and the widespread misclassification of workers as independent contractors. Such practices place workers in a highly precarious position, depriving them of basic guarantees, including social insurance, fair wages, and protection against unfair dismissal.
Masaar and Defense stressed that legislative recognition alone is insufficient and emphasized the urgent need to close both legal and regulatory gaps. They called on Egyptian authorities to establish a clear definition of platform-based work, require companies to maintain transparent electronic records, and ensure that workers are integrated into the social insurance system in a way that reflects the intermittent nature of their work. The paper also recommends enabling platform workers to organize collectively and setting up effective dispute resolution mechanisms tailored to the digital economy.
Masaar and Defense hope this paper will shed light on the status of platform workers under Egypt’s new Labor Law and spark broader discussions about the future of labor rights in the context of rapid digital transformation.