CAIRO — Nearly a year after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued a decree setting a public sector maximum wage cap, the law has returned to square one after lawsuits brought by judges, prosecutors and bank staffs.

Law no. 63 issued July 3, 2014, set a maximum wage cap of 42,000 Egyptian pounds (EGP), or $5,500, per month for all workers in the government, local administrative units and public economic and service bodies. It also applies to public legal personnel and staff working under special laws and systems. The cap is the equivalent of 35 times the minimum wage, which would amount to EGP 1,200, or $157, a month.

The last paragraph of Article 27 of the constitution states, “The economic system is socially committed to ensuring equal opportunities and a fair distribution of development returns, to reducing the gaps between incomes by setting a minimum wage and pension to ensure a decent life, and setting a maximum wage in state agencies for whoever works for a wage as per the law.” This provision has been threatened by dilution, as evidenced by several judicial rulings allowing for exceptions to the law.

On Feb. 18, the Administrative Judicial Court of the State Council accepted a lawsuit filed by workers at the Bank of Construction and Housing and the Egyptian Export Development Bank and acknowledged their non-yielding to the maximum wage law.