Labor law in Senegal

A worker is someone who performs paid work under another party’s direction and authority. An employer may be a natural or legal person with at least one employee. Forced labor is prohibited, and employment is generally permitted from age 15, subject to ministerial exceptions. Senegal has ratified all ten ILO fundamental conventions. Direct and indirect discrimination is prohibited on grounds including race, color, age, sex, trade-union activity, religion or confraternity, political opinion, national ancestry, ethnicity, social origin, disability, pregnancy, family situation, health status and HIV status. Employers must apply equal treatment in recruitment, training, duties, working conditions, pay, promotion and termination; a discriminatory measure or retaliatory dismissal can be challenged before the Tribunal du travail, which may order reinstatement and damages. The Code du Travail generally allows freedom of contract, but specific arrangements require written documents or administrative steps. A CDI is an indefinite employment contract and the usual form. A CDD is a fixed-term contract that must be written and normally cannot exceed two years. A contract for a specific completed work has no fixed duration limit but cannot be renewed. The same employer may generally use no more than two fixed-term contracts and one renewal. A CDD lasting more than three months must be filed with the Inspection du Travail et de la Sécurité sociale before work begins. When a CDD ends without continuation as an indefinite contract, the worker generally receives an end-of-contract payment equal to 7% of total gross remuneration, subject to statutory exceptions, including refusal of an equivalent CDI, the worker’s initiative and serious misconduct. Early termination is generally limited to serious misconduct, a written agreement between the parties or force majeure. A probation period must be written and may last up to six months including any extension. Either side may end it without notice during that period; continued work after probation results in a CDI. A written contract, medical visit and DGTSS visa are required when an employment move abroad begins from Senegalese residence. The employer files the visa request, and silence for 15 days constitutes approval. Apprenticeship contracts must be written and filed with the Inspection du Travail et de la Sécurité sociale; a formal defect can result in treatment as a CDI. Alternance, training and internship arrangements must also be written. Part-time work below 80% of normal working time requires a written contract, proportional pay, consultation of employee delegates and information to the Inspection du Travail et de la Sécurité sociale. Temporary work has a separate regime dating from 2009. Normal working time is limited to 40 hours per week, while agriculture is subject to an annual limit of 2,352 hours. Seasonal distribution may be set by ministerial rules. Overtime premiums come from the Convention collective nationale interprofessionnelle, sector agreements or ministerial orders. Night work runs from 22:00 to 05:00. Employees receive at least 24 consecutive hours of weekly rest, normally on Sunday. Paid leave accrues at two working days per month of service and is generally used after 12 months; at least six days per year must be taken under the applicable rules. A mother receives one additional leave day per year for each child under 14, and leave may be carried forward for up to three years under the relevant conditions. Maternity leave lasts 14 weeks, including eight weeks after childbirth, with a possible three-week extension for illness. Termination during a protected suspension is prohibited. A breastfeeding employee may take a paid break of up to one hour per working day until the child is 15 months old. During pregnancy, effective work is limited to ten hours per day, night work is prohibited in industries, mines, construction and comparable activities, and the employee must receive at least 11 hours of rest including the night. Dangerous and underground work is prohibited for pregnant employees. An employer with more than 25 women employees must provide a breastfeeding room. Equal pay applies where employees perform work under the same working, qualification and performance conditions. The national interprofessional minimum wage, known as the SMIG, is FCFA 370.526 per hour for a 40-hour week, approximately FCFA 64,223 per month. The agricultural minimum wage, the SMAG, is FCFA 236.865 per hour. Benefits in kind with the character of wages may be included in wage calculations, but overtime premiums and expense reimbursements are excluded. Wages must be paid in legal currency; payment in alcohol is prohibited. Hourly or daily workers must normally be paid at least every 15 days, while monthly workers must be paid at least once per month and no later than eight days after the end of the month. Employers must provide a payslip and maintain a payment register. Wage claims generally become time-barred after five years. The Convention collective nationale interprofessionnelle, or CCNI, and sector agreements set job categories, higher minimum wages, overtime premiums, bonuses, transport benefits, leave rules and notice periods. Employers must affiliate workers with the relevant social protection systems, including the Caisse de sécurité sociale for family benefits and occupational accidents and diseases, IPRES for pensions, and an IPM or ICAMO health arrangement where applicable. Employers must keep workplaces, machines, substances and processes safe and provide occupational medicine. The Inspection du Travail et de la Sécurité sociale supervises compliance and may intervene. A Comité d’Hygiène et de Sécurité du Travail is required from 50 employees; it has six members and a three-year mandate. Occupational accidents and diseases must be reported to the Caisse de sécurité sociale. Pension rules cover all employees, including daily workers; continued work after the applicable retirement age may be agreed or authorized by decree up to age 65, with special rules for certain occupations. Employees may form and join trade unions. An employer may not use union membership or activity as a factor in recruitment, assignment, training, promotion, pay, discipline or termination. Délégués du personnel are elected in establishments with at least 11 employees for renewable three-year terms. Dismissal of a Délégué du personnel requires prior authorization from the Inspecteur du Travail; an unlawful dismissal may lead to reinstatement and damages. The CCNI adopted in December 2019 and sector agreements may provide terms more favorable than the statute. Representativeness is assessed under the amended L.85 bis through nationwide elections. For a bilan social or DASMO meeting, employee representatives must receive the information at least 15 working days in advance, and the final document must be sent to the regional Inspection du Travail et de la Sécurité sociale. Ending a CDI requires written notice and a stated reason. CCNI notice guidance is three months for cadres and assimilated employees, one month for monthly-paid employees, and between eight days and one month for hourly, daily or weekly workers depending on category and seniority. Failure to observe notice creates an indemnity equal to the pay and benefits due for the notice period; the applicable rules also provide increased compensation when notice is connected with leave. Serious misconduct can justify termination without notice. In an abusive dismissal claim, the employer must prove a legitimate reason, and the employee may seek damages. The employer must provide a certificate of employment at departure. Economic dismissal may be based on financial difficulty or reorganization. The employer must consult employee delegates and examine alternatives such as reduced working time, changed shifts, temporary unemployment, training and redeployment. A record must be sent to the Inspection du Travail within eight days, followed by a request for bons offices within 15 days. Selection generally starts with the employee considered least professionally suitable; a tie is resolved by lower seniority, with one additional year counted for a married employee and one year for each dependent child. The employer must send the selection list and record to the Inspection du Travail. The worker receives a special indemnity equal to one month of gross pay in addition to notice and severance payments. Severance under the CCNI is generally 25% of annual pay for each year from years 1 to 5, 30% for years 6 to 10 and 40% from year 11 onward. Economic dismissal adds one further month of gross pay, and priority for re-employment in the same category lasts two years. Chômage technique is limited to cyclical or accidental circumstances, requires consultation of employee delegates and leaves the employment contract in force. An individual labor dispute normally begins with a written request to the Inspecteur du Travail for amicable settlement. The request suspends the five-year limitation period until a procès-verbal is issued. A conciliation record is enforceable after the inspector’s review. If conciliation fails or a party does not attend, the worker may file a written claim with the Greffe of the Tribunal du travail. The formal labor-court procedure is free. The Tribunal du travail hears disputes concerning contracts, wages, dismissal, safety and social protection. Its president generally summons the parties to conciliation within five days, with the hearing scheduled within a maximum of 12 days; urgent matters may use référé proceedings. An appeal is generally filed within 15 days. Individual arbitration is not provided for this process. A collective conflict must be reported immediately to the Inspection du Travail or DGTSS. The applicable collective procedure provides conciliation and requires a meeting to be convened within 48 hours. After unsuccessful conciliation, a 30-day notice period may lead to a lawful strike or lockout; violations can make the action unlawful and trigger sanctions. An arbitration board may handle a collective conflict after conciliation fails. Economic dismissal does not require automatic authorization from employee representatives, but their consultation remains mandatory. Dakar and the regional or departmental labor inspections provide the main public access points. Formal access to the Tribunal du travail costs nothing, while access is weaker in unregistered, informal and domestic work; written contracts, payslips, CSS, IPRES and IPM registration, and other records therefore have strong practical value.