Hiring in Niger: the contract visa, the contract and what comes off pay, step by step

Move someone who is already in Niger

A foreign national's contract with a new employer is a new contract, so it carries its own visa.

A Nigerien national's move turns on the notice their current contract and the collective agreement set. A new employer who knowingly takes on someone still bound by another contract shares the liability for its abusive breach.

Check the role is open to a non-Nigerien

Niger's Code du travail allows foreign labour only where the skills are not available among nationals, unless the Labour Minister grants an express exemption. The rule applies subject to the free movement and reciprocity agreements Niger has ratified.

The visa obliges the employer to prepare a Nigerien national to take over the role when the visa period ends. When it grants the visa, the public employment service asks the employer for a written plan setting out how.

Set the contract up right

A contract of employment takes whatever form the two sides agree, and can be proved by any means. It is written for a fixed term, a foreign employee and a job that moves someone from their usual home. Those contracts are drawn up in French. A written contract is free of stamp duty.

A trial period is optional, and is valid only in writing. On an open-ended contract it lasts up to six months with its renewal, or a year for someone hired from outside Niger. Within that, the collective agreements set its length by category. Either side can end it without notice or indemnity.

A fixed term cannot fill a job that belongs to the business's normal, permanent activity. With a precise end, it runs for up to two years and can be renewed once. Its trial period can run to a day for each week of the contract, and to a month at most. A renewal carries none. A fixed term for a replacement, a season, a passing rise in work or an unusual activity can have an end that is not precise, with a trial of up to fifteen days. A fixed term that does not meet the rules is treated as open-ended.

A clause barring the employee from any activity after the contract ends is void.

Pay is in legal tender. Monthly pay is paid within eight days of the month's end. A payslip goes with each payment.

The legal week is 40 hours, with at least 24 hours of rest in a row each week, in principle on Sunday. Overtime is paid at least 25% more by day from the 41st hour to the 48th, and 35% more after it. Night work runs from 22:00 to 05:00, and overtime then is paid at least 50% more. On the weekly rest day or a public holiday, overtime is paid at least 50% more by day and 100% more at night. Overtime to keep up or raise output needs the labour inspector's authorisation, for up to eight hours a week.

Know the employee test before you engage a contractor

Niger's Code du travail treats as a worker anyone, whatever their sex or nationality, who has undertaken to put their professional activity under the direction and authority of another person, for pay. The legal status of either side does not count in deciding it.

A contract to be performed in Niger follows the Code wherever it was signed. A contract made under another law falls under the Code once its performance in Niger runs past three months.

A role that needs a contract visa goes through employer of record.

Know what comes off pay each month

Salary tax is worked out on each month's pay, on a monthly scale.

An abatement for family responsibilities applies, by the number of dependants. It runs from 7% for one to 30% for seven.

The CNSS counts pay and benefits in kind, up to XOF 6,000,000 a year. The employee pays 5.25% for pensions, withheld from pay. You pay 6.25% for pensions, 8.4% for family benefits and 1.75% for work accidents, 16.4% in all. You also pay the employment agency's contribution, which the CNSS collects with them.

An employer of 20 or more staff pays the CNSS each month, and a smaller one each quarter, within 30 days of the period's end. A late payment adds 5%. Once three months have passed, it adds 2% more for each month or part of a month.

Know the leave your people are entitled to

End employment on the law's terms

An open-ended contract can always be ended by the employee. The employer needs a legitimate reason tied to the employee's aptitude or conduct, or to the pressing needs of the business. Pregnancy, marital status, a temporary absence for illness, a complaint against the employer and standing as a staff representative are never legitimate reasons. Before a dismissal for conduct or aptitude, the employer gives the employee the chance to answer the complaints or explain.

Notice is given in writing, by registered letter or by hand against a receipt. Its length is set by category in the interprofessional collective agreement. During it, the Code gives the employee one day a week on full pay to look for work. The interprofessional collective agreement allows two hours a day or two days a week. Either side can instead pay an indemnity equal to the pay for the notice. Gross misconduct ends the contract without notice, notified in writing with its reasons.

After 12 months' continuous service, a dismissal other than for gross misconduct carries an indemnity. For each year, it is 20% of the average monthly pay of the last twelve months for the first five years, 30% up to the tenth year and 35% after it, counting part years.

An economic dismissal starts with a meeting with the staff representatives, which the labour inspector attends. They and the inspector receive the file at least fifteen days before it. The order of dismissals weighs skills, aptitude and length of service, with extra seniority for a married employee and for each dependent child. Those dismissed are owed a special indemnity of a month's gross pay, free of tax, on top of notice and the dismissal indemnity. They keep priority for rehiring in the same category for two years.

A dismissal without a legitimate reason can lead a court to award damages. It weighs custom, the nature of the job, the length of service, the employee's age and the rights already earned.

A fixed term ends at its term without notice or dismissal indemnity, with any leave not taken paid. Before then, it ends only for force majeure, by agreement or for gross misconduct. An employer that ends it early otherwise owes damages equal to the pay and benefits up to its term. A pregnant employee can leave without paying any indemnity for ending the contract. A work certificate is owed when any contract ends.

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