Business doesn’t like the look of the new Labor Act: Lawmakers will redraft the new labor bill following criticism from the business community, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Alaa El Din Fouad said last week. Nine business associations, as well as the trade union representatives, have voiced criticisms on key provisions in a series of hearings held by the House Manpower Committee, prompting lawmakers to redraft the legislation.

Refresher: The bill, approved by the Senate in February, would introduce new labor rights for workers, including legislating mandatory annual raises, caps on working hours, and longer maternity leave and notice periods, among other things.

Business isn’t happy: “We think that this draft law is unbalanced, giving workers a lot of rights at the expense of duties and this comes at a time the state is doing its best to raise productivity rates and boost exports,” said Hani Mahmoud, head of the Federation of Egyptian Industries’ labor committee. The FEI has voiced opposition to 17 articles in the bill, including those relating to strikes, holidays for women in the workplace, and salaries, employment contracts, bonuses, and membership of businessmen in the proposed rehabilitation and training fund.

Back to the drawing board: “The new labor bill will be redrafted to secure a balance between the rights of employers and employees and wins the satisfaction of all parties and achieve the public interest as much as possible,” Fouad said.

Trade unions aren’t happy either: The Egyptian Trade Union Federation has also expressed concern about a number of provisions, including those governing strikes, women in the workplace, paternity leave, workers' bonuses, child labor, VAT imposed on labor lawsuits, labor disputes and workers training and absence.

FACT CHECK- Unified Tax Act amendments won’t allow the taxman to snoop on your data: The Central Bank of Egypt, cabinet ministers and MPs are denying rumors circulating on social media that government-drafted amendments to the Unified Tax Act will allow the Tax Authority to access confidential financial information about individuals and businesses. An explanatory statement (pdf) published by the central bank said the exchange of data was limited to foreign tax authorities only, and not the local tax authority. Policymakers said the legislative amendment came to meet obligations required by the Global Forum for Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, which Egypt joined in 2016.