The Committee for Justice (CFJ) has reported the arbitrary dismissal of hundreds of workers at Leptis Egypt Pharmaceuticals without receiving their financial entitlements, as the company moves toward liquidation under the pretext of a financial crisis.
According to testimonies from several dismissed employees, the company’s management has withheld their salaries for the past four months and has not responded to complaints filed with the relevant authorities, raising widespread concerns about the fate of their financial rights.
A former regional medical manager who worked at the company for 11 years stated that the crisis was not sudden but had been unfolding over the past three years. During this period, salary disbursements were delayed by up to a month. He added that in 2021, the company’s management forced employees to sign temporary contracts in place of their permanent ones, and those who refused were dismissed. He further explained that medical promotion employees’ contracts are set to expire at the end of February, heightening fears that their financial rights will be lost, especially as rumors circulate about the company’s intention to sell its assets.
A medical sales representative who joined the company last June stated that she was arbitrarily dismissed along with ten colleagues in December. She was informed that her salary would be paid until the end of her contract on February 28, but this did not happen.
She also mentioned that neither the dismissed employees nor those still employed by the company have received their salaries since last November. This prompted her to file a complaint with the labor office and lodge an official report at the Old Cairo Police Station, but she has yet to receive any response.
It is worth noting that Leptis Egypt is a company specializing in the production of pharmaceuticals and dietary supplements, generating sales worth 512 million Egyptian pounds in 2022. However, recent management decisions have raised concerns about the company’s future and the fate of its employees, who now face the imminent threat of losing their jobs without compensation.
CFJ reaffirms solidarity with the employees of Leptis Egypt Pharmaceuticals and urges the company’s management to grant them their full financial rights without abuse or negligence. The committee also calls on Egypt’s Ministry of Manpower to intervene to safeguard and uphold workers’ rights.
