An Egyptian company penalized an employee by deducting 3,500 Egyptian pounds from her salary due to a video in which she mocked her director’s belly. A girl named Mariam Helmy shared on her Facebook page a letter regarding the salary deduction, commenting, "Everyone gets deductions from their salary due to delays or shortcomings at work, but my deduction was for a different reason," along with a picture of the letter that stated the reason: "A full and bloated stomach."
The text of the deduction decision read: "Dear Mariam Helmy, greetings. We would like to inform you that a decision has been made to deduct 3,500 Egyptian pounds from your salary this month, and this decision is due to your recording of a video showing Mr. [Name], the chairman of the company's board, with a full or bloated stomach, which is considered a violation of the policies followed in the media department. As you know, one of your responsibilities in the media department is to present the best image of all company employees without exception."
The letter continued: "We appreciate your efforts and know that this is the first mistake you have made since you joined us. We look forward to avoiding such mistakes in the future. Your commitment to professional standards reflects a positive image of the company and contributes to enhancing its reputation."
Information about the employee revealed that, according to "Ilam.com," Mariam graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Alexandria University in 2021. Due to her love for photography and editing, she decided to work in this field, finding a job in the media department of a company and initially accepted, only to be surprised when she was redirected to work in programming before being transferred to the media department.
She expressed shock at the number of interactions and likes, stating that throughout her employment, she had not made any mistakes. She confirmed that the company relies on presenting the engineer who provides training in a polished and good manner, which was the reason for her salary deduction this month, adding that the director who appeared in the video was very upset about how his image and appearance looked due to his slightly protruding belly.
Mariam stated that she had shared the image and video through her phone, and after her phone ran out of charge, she left it until she was surprised by the number of likes and shares, indicating that she did not expect what happened and promising not to repeat this mistake.
