Hiring in Zambia: the work permit, the contract and a salary worked through, step by step

Move someone who is already in Zambia

An Employment Permit covers the employment it was issued for. A move to a new employer needs the permit varied. The new employer applies, with its letter of appointment or offer and a letter of release from the previous employer. When a foreign employee's employment ends, the employer surrenders the permit to the Director General within a month.

A Zambian citizen needs no permit. Their move turns on the notice their current contract sets. Where it sets none, the notice for a contract of more than three months is 30 days.

Check the role is open to a non-Zambian

An employer fills a vacancy with a Zambian citizen, unless no citizen has the skills the job needs or none applies. An expatriate is employed only in work that is a critical skill on the list Zambia's Skills Advisory Committee prepares.

Where practicable, the employer names a Zambian understudy for the expatriate. The understudy trains under the expatriate, within two years or the period the Labour Commissioner sets, with a view to taking over the job. The employer sends the Labour Commissioner the training and succession schedule, and annual returns.

No citizen or resident can be dismissed or laid off because an expatriate was employed.

Set the contract up right

A contract of employment is permanent, long-term, for a specific task, or for a probation period. A long-term contract runs for more than twelve months, or for a specific task over a period both sides fix in advance. An engagement of six months or more is in writing. Its terms are read and explained to the employee. The Labour Commissioner is told of it in writing within 30 days.

The written contract carries the particulars the Code lists, among them its form and length, the place of work, the hours and days, the wages and how they are worked out, when they are paid and what is deducted. Work that is permanent in nature is not put on a temporary or fixed basis without a reason the Code allows. Employing a foreign national under a permit for a defined period is one of those reasons.

Probation lasts up to three months, and can be extended by up to three more. The employer assesses the employee and gives the result before it ends. Either side can end it on 24 hours' notice. Where the employer confirms nothing in writing, the employee is confirmed when probation ends.

Wages are paid in kwacha, each month for a monthly contract. They are paid no later than five days after they fall due.

A normal working day is eight hours. Work up to 48 hours a week can be agreed without extra pay. Above 48 hours, overtime is paid at one and a half times the hourly rate. Work on a public holiday or the weekly rest day, outside the normal working week, is paid at twice the rate. The hourly rate is a month's basic wages divided by 208. Each employee has 24 consecutive hours of rest in every seven days, and a meal break of an hour each working day.

Know the employee test before you engage a contractor

Zambia's Employment Code treats as an employee anyone who works for wages or commission under a contract of employment. That contract can be express or implied, oral or written. An independent contractor and someone engaged for piece work are not employees.

An employment relationship is one where the work is done on the employer's instructions and under the employer's control. The signs include work done personally and mainly for the employer, set hours or a set place, tools supplied by the employer, and pay that is the person's main income.

A role that needs an Employment Permit goes through employer of record.

Work out what a salary costs you and what the employee takes home

Take a resident citizen on a long-term contract, on ZMW 30,000 a month in basic pay.

NAPSA counts earnings up to its ceiling of ZMW 37,236 a month, so the whole salary counts here. NHIMA and the skills development levy are worked out on the whole salary too.

Income tax is worked out on the whole gross salary, with no pension contribution taken off first. The bands take nothing on the first ZMW 5,100, 20% of the next ZMW 2,000, 30% of the next ZMW 2,100 and 37% of the rest, ZMW 8,726 in all.

Two costs come on top. Workers' compensation contributions are yours alone, at a rate that varies by industry. On a long-term contract, the gratuity of at least 25% of basic pay builds by ZMW 7,500 for each month served. It is paid when the contract ends.

NHIMA covers citizens and established residents. A foreign national holds valid health insurance for their stay in Zambia. An employer whose annual turnover is below ZMW 800,000 pays no skills development levy.

NHIMA is remitted by the 10th of each month. Income tax and the skills development levy are remitted by the 10th of the next month. A late NAPSA contribution carries a penalty of 10% of the amount unpaid for each month or part of a month.

Know the leave your people are entitled to

End employment on the law's terms

Where the contract sets no notice, it is 24 hours for a contract of up to a month, 14 days for one of up to three months, and 30 days for a longer one. Notice for a contract of more than six months is in writing. Notice is not given during leave, or to run alongside it. The employer can pay the wages for the notice period instead.

A termination needs a valid reason, connected with the employee's capacity or conduct or with the operational needs of the business. The employer gives the employee the reason. Where it concerns conduct or performance, the employee is heard first. The employer bears the burden of showing the termination was fair. An employee who believes the termination broke these rules can report it to a labour officer, or complain to the court within 30 days.

Summary dismissal is for gross misconduct, wilful disobedience, lack of a skill the employee claimed, habitual neglect, or continual absence without permission. Where it comes without notice or pay instead, the employer reports it in writing to the district labour officer within four days.

A long-term contract carries a gratuity of at least 25% of the basic pay earned over it, paid at its end. Where the contract is ended early under the Code, the gratuity is prorated to the time served.

A redundancy needs at least 30 days' notice to the employee or their representative, consultation on limiting its effects, and notice to a labour officer at least 60 days before it takes effect. The employee is owed at least two months' pay for each year served, by their last day of duty. Where the job is filled again within nine months, the employee is offered it first.

Wages and allowances due are paid on the day employment ends, with a certificate of service.

See what changed this year, and what is next