Employment in Togo

The Labour Code applies to dependent paid work carried out under an employer's direction in return for a salary. Togo-wide rules govern employment; no reliable regional special rule for starting work has been established. French is the official working and contract language. A contract written in another language must be accompanied by a French translation. Job seekers can register with ANPE, Togo's public employment service, through SIANPE or directly at an ANPE office. Online registration requires an email address, telephone number and password. The office normally requests a passport photograph, curriculum vitae and a copy of a diploma before issuing a free demandeur d'emploi card. The card has no expiry date. Togolese citizens and foreigners may register, and ANPE can support national or international placement, training guidance and retraining. Candidate registration and placement services are free, and an employer or intermediary must not demand a candidate fee or deposit. An employer may recruit directly when the demandeur d'emploi is already registered with ANPE and must report the recruitment to ANPE within eight days. Placement costs are paid by the employer. Public and state-owned employers must publish vacancies and conduct tests through the public placement service. The usual contract is a CDI, an indefinite employment contract. It may cover full-time or part-time work. A CDD, or fixed-term contract, is limited to a clearly temporary task and may not be used for the employer's permanent normal activity. It must generally be written, may initially last up to two years and may last up to four years in total with extensions. A contract that does not meet the legal requirements for a CDD is treated as a CDI. Occasional work paid by the hour or day is an exception to the written-contract rule. The written contract must identify the applicable collective agreement. No stamp or registration fee is required, and the parties may prove an unwritten employment relationship by any means. A periode d'essai is valid only when agreed in writing. For a CDD, it may last up to one month and cannot be renewed. For a CDI, the maximum is eight days for hourly-paid workers, one month for ouvriers and employes, three months for agents de maitrise and techniciens, and six months for cadres. The one-month and three-month periods may be renewed once; the six-month period may not. Either party may end the trial period, usually with 48 hours' notice, and no severance is due for that ending. Recruitment and employment must not discriminate on grounds such as origin, sex, colour, age, family situation, ethnic or racial identity, political or philosophical opinion, trade-union membership, religion, disability or health. Workers are protected against violence and harassment and must not be punished for rejecting or reporting such conduct. The SMIG is the national minimum wage for the main private-sector employment categories, and the SMAG applies to agricultural work. Since 1 January 2023, both are set at 302.89 FCFA per hour or 52,500 FCFA per month nationwide. Piece-rate work must provide at least the SMIG for 160 hours per month. Wages must be paid in the legal currency and supported by a payslip or another verifiable record. Daily or weekly wages may not be paid at intervals longer than 15 days. Monthly wages must be paid at least once a month and no later than eight days after the end of the month. Wages and compensation owed at the end of employment are payable immediately. Normal working time is limited to 40 hours per week and 10 hours per day. Agriculture is subject to an annual limit of 2,400 hours. Overtime is generally limited to 20 hours per week, although special sectors may be allowed up to 48 hours per week by decree. Employees receive at least 24 consecutive hours of weekly rest, normally on Sunday. Paid leave accrues at 2.5 days per month of effective service. The right normally arises after one year; proportional leave after six months can be agreed. Leave may be carried over for up to two years, and unused accrued leave at the end of employment gives rise to an indemnity. Telework carries the same employment rights as work performed at the workplace. Employers must organize occupational health and safety and provide access for people with disabilities. A safety and health committee is required from 25 employees; smaller workplaces must appoint a safety delegate. Employees covered by the Labour Code must be registered with CNSS, the National Social Security Fund. The employer must register the employee within eight days of hiring or of the first employment relationship. The employee normally submits the form, a legalized birth certificate or, for a foreign employee, a copy of the passport, and a passport photograph. If the employer fails to register the employee, the employee may register directly with CNSS and must not be penalized for doing so. CNSS employee coverage totals 21.5% of the contribution base: 17.5% paid by the employer and 4% deducted from the employee's pay. The base generally includes salary, bonuses, indemnities and benefits, excludes expense reimbursements and family benefits, and cannot be below the SMIG. The employer pays the full amount to CNSS. Coverage includes family benefits, occupational risks and old-age pensions. AMU is compulsory health insurance for covered employees. Its contribution is 10% of contributory remuneration, with at least half paid by the employer and the remainder deducted from the employee's pay. The employer submits workforce declarations twice a year, and contributions are generally due by the 15th of the following month. A CDI can end through resignation, personal or economic dismissal, mutual termination, force majeure, death or retirement age. A resignation must be written. The minimum notice is 15 days for hourly-paid workers, one month for ouvriers and employes, and three months for agents de maitrise and cadres. After at least 12 months of uninterrupted service, personal dismissal generally creates a severance entitlement unless the employee committed serious or gross misconduct. The statutory rate is 35% of average monthly pay for each of the first five years, 40% for years six to ten and 45% from the eleventh year. Economic dismissal includes compensation of at least one gross month's pay and a rehiring priority lasting 24 months. A rupture conventionnelle, or mutually agreed termination, must be written. Each party has seven days to withdraw, after which the agreement goes to the Inspection du travail et des lois sociales for approval; silence is treated as approval after seven days. At the end of employment, the employer must provide a free certificat de travail on request, showing the employment dates, positions and duration. An employee or employer may bring a dispute first to the Inspection du travail et des lois sociales for conciliation. The authority should summon the parties within 15 days. If conciliation fails, the Tribunal du travail can hear the individual employment dispute. Claims concerning performance or termination of the employment relationship generally become time-barred after five years. Formal dependent employment is only one part of the labour market. ERI-ESI 2017 and INSEED data recorded about 91.6% of jobs as informal, 74.7% as vulnerable work and salarisation at about 22.5%; the figures are historical and must not be treated as a current rate. Vulnerable work affected about 87.4% of women and 60.6% of men in that dataset. Informal work commonly occurs in trade, services, agriculture and domestic work, often without a written contract or CNSS protection. A 2018 RGE survey counted 305,948 employees in the economic units it covered, with 71.4% of that survey's employees located in Grand-Lome; this was not a count of the entire national labour market.