Hiring in Equatorial Guinea: the work permit, the contract and what comes off pay, step by step

Move someone who is already in Equatorial Guinea

A foreign national moves to a new employer once their last contract was completed in the normal way, or with the agreement of the employer they are still bound to. Any essential change in the conditions the permit was granted for cancels it, and a new permit is needed.

An A permit covers seasonal or time-limited work and cannot be renewed. A first B permit covers one profession, activity and area. A renewed B permit, for two years, covers several. A C permit, for up to three years, covers any activity anywhere in the country. A renewal is applied for at least 30 days before the permit expires.

An Equatoguinean national needs no permit. Their move turns on the notice they give when they resign, which is a month, or 20 days' salary in its place.

Check the role is open to a non-Equatoguinean

A foreign national is hired only for tasks and professions the national labour market does not supply. Foreign staff make up no more than 10% of a business's workforce. In hydrocarbons, mining and agriculture, the government can allow up to 30% under special agreements.

No permit is granted where an Equatoguinean with the competence for the post wants it. Where a permit is granted for the person's specialist skills, the ministry can require the business to place a qualified Equatoguinean as their deputy, to be trained in the work.

Set the contract up right

A contract of employment is in writing. Its existence follows from the facts, whatever form or name the two sides give it. Every contract is verified by the labour authorities and registered with the Ministry of Labour. None is performed before it is declared and registered. The contract sets out a table of all the job's duties. At signing, the employer asks for the certificate of work from the last job, and a certificate of good conduct from the village council or residents' association. Where the hire did not go through the employment office, the contract is notified and registered there within seven days of the start.

A trial period lasts up to a month for unskilled workers, three months for mid-level technicians and six months for senior technicians or highly skilled staff. It is paid the base salary of the grade. During it, either side can end the contract freely, with no indemnity.

A fixed term runs for three months, renewable up to a year, or covers an absent worker. A business that is starting or restructuring and creating a significant number of jobs can, with the labour ministry's authorisation, hire for a year, renewable for another. A contract for a specific work or service runs for up to two years. Where the work carries on after the end, or the contract breaks these rules, it is open-ended from the start.

Pay is in legal tender, unless the two sides agree otherwise. It is paid at least monthly, by cheque or bank transfer, with a written statement of what makes it up each time. Pay in kind is never more than 30% of pay. After a year's service, two bonuses are owed, each of 15 days' salary: one paid before Independence Day and one before the New Year. In the first year, they are owed in proportion to the months worked.

The legal day is eight hours and the week 48, for day work between 06:00 and 18:00. Night work runs to six hours a day and 36 a week. A mixed shift, with up to three hours at night, runs to seven hours a day and 42 a week. Offshore, the day runs to twelve hours at most, four of them overtime. The day can be extended by up to two hours of overtime, paid at 25% more by day and 50% more at night. Overtime at night needs the ministry's authorisation. A pregnant employee does no overtime. There are at least 12 hours of rest between working days, and a rest day, preferably Sunday, after six days in a row. Work on the rest day or a public holiday is paid at 50% more, with a day off in its place.

Know the employee test before you engage a contractor

Equatorial Guinea's General Labour Law treats as work any conscious and voluntary activity done for another, for pay. A contract of employment is presumed whenever a person provides paid services for another, even without a written contract. Its existence follows from the facts, whatever the two sides call it.

Someone who handles commercial deals for one or more businesses, and personally answers for their outcome, carrying the risk, falls outside the law. INSESO affiliation is required for anyone who does work or provides services for another under an agreement or contract, for a wage.

A role that needs a work permit goes through employer of record.

Know what comes off pay each month

The employer withholds income tax from pay, as the tax law sets out. Social security contributions go to INSESO from the employer and the employee. The employer affiliates each employee and pays the contributions, the employee's share included.

What comes off the employee's pay for social security, the labour protection fund and the socio-labour sector is worked out on the base salary, and never comes to more than 5% of it. Other deductions, for goods or services bought on credit, rent or advances, never pass half the net pay for the week or the month.

The labour protection fund pays for training. It takes 1% of the gross wage bill from the employer, and 0.5% of net salary from the employee.

INSESO adds a surcharge to late contributions: 3% of the amount due up to a month late, 5% up to three months, 10% up to six months and 20% beyond, with interest.

Know the leave your people are entitled to

End employment on the law's terms

An open-ended contract ends at the employer's initiative only for a justified cause. The employee first has the chance to learn the causes and answer them. The law lists the justified causes, among them dishonesty, violence, serious negligence, absence without leave on three days in a row or four times in a month, repeated lateness after a warning, and inability to do the job properly. A dismissal not notified in writing, with its causes, is declared void. A void dismissal means the employee is taken back at once, with the pay missed.

A pregnant employee can be dismissed only for a justified cause. She cannot be dismissed, or given notice that would run out, during her leave before or after the birth.

Notice is given in writing: a week after a month's work, or 20 days after six months or more. The employer can pay instead of notice. No notice is owed on a dismissal for one of the justified causes.

A disputed dismissal goes first to conciliation at the labour delegation, and then to the labour court. A claim for reinstatement is brought within 90 days of notice of the dismissal. Where the court finds the dismissal unjustified, the employer reinstates the employee with back pay. If the employer keeps to the dismissal, it pays 45 days' salary for each year worked, and in proportion for part of a year.

A dismissal for economic, technological or structural reasons needs the labour ministry's prior authorisation, after a consultation with the staff representatives. It carries no right to reinstatement. The indemnity is three months' salary where the reasons are economic and the employee has five years' service. Where the reasons are not economic, or the employee has more than five years' service, it is no more than 22 days' salary for each year worked. Those dismissed have priority if the business hires again.

When a contract expires, on retirement or on a justified resignation, the employee is owed a seniority payment of at least 30 days' salary for each year worked, in proportion for part of a year, on the last salary. It comes on top of any indemnity for the end of the contract. It accrues once the employee completes a year's service. The two sides can agree how it is paid, in monthly parts included, with the labour authority told. A domestic worker is owed 15 days' salary for each year of service. The seniority payment is not salary, and no tax is due on it.

An employer that ends a fixed term early without cause owes the salary up to its end. An employee who does so owes a month's salary. An employee who resigns gives a month's notice, or owes 20 days' salary. A certificate of work, with the dates and the grade, is owed whatever the reason the contract ends. The final settlement of pay is made within a month, or longer where the nature of the work and the agreed way of paying call for it. Other claims from the contract are brought within three years of its end.

See what changed this year