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

Move someone who is already in Senegal

A foreign national's contract with a new employer is a new hire, so it needs its own visa before work starts. A renewal or an extension of a contract needs one too.

A Senegalese national's hire is declared to the labour inspectorate. Their move turns on the notice they give: a month for workers and employees, two months for supervisors and three for managers, under the national collective agreement. Resignation is given in writing. It is never presumed.

Check the role is open to a non-Senegalese

The Labour Code recognises the right to work for every citizen, and sets one approval for a foreign hire: the visa on the contract. Decrees can set the hiring possibilities of businesses for economic, demographic and social reasons.

The visa checks the person's profile against the job, their medical fitness and their right to enter and stay in Senegal. These rules apply subject to the international agreements Senegal has signed.

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 trial period, a fixed term, part-time work and a foreign employee. A trial contract and a fixed term are each lodged with the labour inspectorate before work starts.

A trial contract lasts no longer than the job needs, and no more than six months with its renewal and any extension. Either side can end it at any time without notice, unless the contract says otherwise.

A fixed term cannot fill a job that belongs to the business's normal, permanent activity. It runs for up to two years, with one renewal or one extension, and the same two sides work together on fixed terms for no more than four years in all. An extension needs an objective reason and is no longer than the first term. A fixed term for a specific piece of work whose length cannot be set in advance can run longer, but is not renewed or extended. After an economic dismissal, no fixed term fills the post that was cut for six months, unless it runs for up to three months and is not renewed. Where the work does not continue at its end, the employee is owed an indemnity of 7% of the gross pay earned under it. It is not owed to occasional, seasonal or replacement staff and the others the Code lists, or to an employee who turns down an open-ended contract for the same or a similar job.

A clause barring the employee from competing after the contract ends applies only where the end of the contract is down to the employee. It covers no more than six months and 30 kilometres. It carries compensation agreed when the contract is signed.

Pay is in legal tender, at least monthly. Monthly pay is paid within eight days of the month's end, with a payslip each time.

The legal week is 40 hours. Hours beyond it are overtime, paid at a higher rate that a collective agreement or a decree sets. Night work runs from 22:00 to 05:00. The weekly rest is at least 24 hours in a row, in principle on Sunday.

Know the employee test before you engage a contractor

Senegal's Labour Code 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 made to be performed in Senegal follows the Code wherever it was signed. Failing to declare a hire, or the pay and contributions due on it, is undeclared employment, which the Code prohibits. So is knowingly using someone who works undeclared.

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

Know what comes off pay each month

Income tax is withheld from each month's pay. Before the tax, a flat allowance of 30% comes off pay for pension contributions and work expenses, up to XOF 900,000 a year. The tax is worked out on an annual scale.

A reduction for family responsibilities then comes off the tax, by the number of shares the employee's family gives them. The tax standing for the minimum tax is withheld too. The tax withheld is paid within the first fifteen days of the next month.

You also pay the CFCE, 3% of all pay and benefits, less family benefits and expenses repaid, on the same timetable.

Family benefits and work accidents are paid by the employer alone. Pensions are shared, with 60% of the contribution from the employer and 40% from the employee. The employee's share comes off pay. Health cover through an IPM is compulsory for every employer, whatever its size. Its contributions are shared too, with no more than half from the employee. Contributions are paid within the first fifteen days of each month by an employer of 20 or more staff, and of each quarter by a smaller one.

Know the leave your people are entitled to

End employment on the law's terms

A contract can end by written agreement. The agreement is lodged with the labour inspectorate. On an open-ended contract, the employee is owed at least the dismissal indemnity.

A dismissal needs a real and serious cause, which the employer proves if it is challenged. Any sanction is preceded by a written request for an explanation, with at least two working days to answer, or by a meeting. The meeting is called at least five working days ahead, with the facts and the right to bring someone. No fault can be sanctioned more than two months after the employer learns of it. The dismissal is notified in writing, with its reasons, its date and, except for gross misconduct, the notice.

Notice under the national collective agreement is a month for workers and employees, two months for supervisors and three for managers. During it, the employee has two paid working days a week to look for work. A dismissal during annual leave doubles the pay in place of notice.

After a year's service, a dismissal other than for gross misconduct carries an indemnity. For each year, it is 25% of the average monthly pay of the last twelve months for the first five years, 30% up to the tenth year and 40% after it, counting part years.

An economic dismissal starts with a meeting with the staff delegates to look at other options. The minutes go to the labour inspector within seven working days. The inspector has 15 clear days to help. The employer then gives the delegates the list and its criteria, and meets them no earlier than seven working days later. Those dismissed are owed a special indemnity of a month's gross pay on top of the dismissal indemnity. They keep priority for rehiring for two years.

A dismissal without a real and serious cause is unfair. A court can then award damages, which it sets by the harm done. Where the cause was real but a step of the procedure was skipped, it can award up to three months' gross pay instead. A dismissal during maternity leave is void.

A fixed term ends early only for gross misconduct, by written agreement or for force majeure. Otherwise the side that ends it owes the other damages. A work certificate is owed when any contract ends. A claim for pay can be brought for five years.

See what changed this year, and what is next