The Workers' House participates in the meeting of the Parliamentary Labor Committee and stresses the necessity of restricting the use of Article (23) for justified reasons.

Amman - August 4, 2025

The Jordanian Center for Labor Rights (Workers' House) participated in the meeting held by the Parliamentary Committee on Labor, Social Development and Population, headed by Representative Moataz Abu Rumman, to discuss cases of termination of indefinite-term employment contracts in light of the applications of Article (23) of the Labor Law.

During the meeting, the Director General of the Workers’ House, Hamada Abu Nijmeh, explained that international and Arab labor standards, especially International Labor Organization Convention No. (158) and its Recommendation No. (166), stipulate that a worker’s service may only be terminated for justified reasons, such as reasons related to his behavior, his competence and ability to perform the work, or the operational and economic needs of the institution, stressing that leaving the matter to the absolute will of the employer, as stated in the Court of Cassation’s jurisprudence since 2019, constitutes a violation of these standards and disrupts the balance in the labor relationship.

Abu Nijmeh pointed out that current judicial practice, which considers mere notice sufficient to terminate a contract without verifying the existence of a justification, departs from established judicial practice for decades and has led to a significant increase in cases of workers being terminated without genuine cause, negatively impacting job security and stability in the labor market.

He stressed that what is required is to amend the text of Article (23) to ensure that the termination is justified and justified, and to return the burden of proving legitimacy to the employer, in a way that achieves justice and protects the worker from arbitrary dismissal, while at the same time granting the employer the legitimate flexibility that allows him to adapt to the requirements of the work.

The Workers' House emphasized that job stability and operational flexibility are two essential pillars of a healthy and stimulating work environment, calling for any legislative amendments to be the result of a comprehensive national dialogue involving all relevant parties, and to balance the protection of workers' rights with the sustainability of economic establishments.