Employment law
Who does the Labour Code apply to in Mali?
Monday, 7:30 a.m., in the Kéné Logistique warehouse in Bamako. Forklift drivers load the trucks, a Burkinabè mechanic tunes an engine, the IT “consultant” switches on the computer in the finance director’s office, and an expert sent by a foreign partner arrives for two months. Which of them fall under the Labour Code? The answer determines the contract, the notice period, the severance pay and the INPS registration: get it wrong, and you discover the bill the day the relationship ends.
1. What exactly are we talking about?
Kéné Logistique is a fictitious transport and warehousing company with 42 employees in Bamako: its name and situation are used purely as an example. We will follow it throughout this article.
The Labour Code does not apply to “the company” in general. It applies to a relationship: the one between a worker and an employer (Labour Code, article L.1). A worker is any person who undertakes to provide their professional activity, for remuneration, under the direction and authority of another person, called the employer.
Three conditions, all required
| Condition | The question to ask | At Kéné Logistique |
|---|---|---|
| A professional activity | Does the person provide work? | The forklift driver loads trucks every day. |
| Remuneration | Are they paid for this work? | He receives a salary every month. |
| An employer’s direction and authority | Do they receive orders, set hours, checks? | The warehouse manager sets his hours and checks his work. |
The third condition has a name: the relationship of subordination. It means working under the authority of someone who gives orders, checks that they are carried out and can penalise failures. This is what separates an employee from an independent contractor.
Why this test? Because the Code protects the person who depends on someone else for their work and income. Where there is authority, there is imbalance, and therefore a need for rules.
The same definition opens social security rights: the Social Security Code applies to workers as defined in article L.1 of the Labour Code (Social Security Code, article 2). The National Social Security Institute (INPS) also requires employers to register all their workers as soon as they are hired (INPS registration procedure).
“It is not the title of the contract that makes someone an employee. It is the authority they work under.”
Once the relationship falls within the Code, the next question is which text to apply first: see Law, agreements, internal rules, contract: which rule prevails?
2. The “consultant” who was really an employee
At Kéné Logistique, Moussa has managed the IT network for three years. He sends an invoice for 400,000 XOF every month. But he works from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the premises, on company equipment, under the orders of the finance director, who approves his absences.
On paper, he is a contractor. In reality, all three conditions of article L.1 are met. The Code adds that the legal status of the employer or the worker is disregarded when deciding who is a worker (article L.1), and that an employment contract can be proved by any means (article L.15): imposed hours, e-mailed instructions, an access badge.
A judge can therefore reclassify the relationship. Reclassification is when the judge gives the contract its true nature: here, an employment contract. And since no written employment contract was signed, the relationship is presumed to be open-ended (article L.21).
What the sham contract costs
If Kéné ends the relationship overnight, Moussa can claim what the Code grants any dismissed employee. Without a collective agreement, the notice period for a monthly-paid worker is one month (Labour Code, article L.41). Severance pay is due after one year of continuous service (article L.53).
Example. Moussa, 400,000 XOF per month, three years of service, terminated without notice:
Payment in lieu of notice: 1 month × 400,000 = 400,000 XOF
Severance pay: 20% × 400,000 × 3 years = 240,000 XOF
Minimum total: 640,000 XOF
On top of this come untaken paid leave, possible damages for wrongful termination (article L.51), and social security contributions never paid, increased by 2% per month of delay (Social Security Code, article 208). Failure to report the hiring is also punishable by a fine of 20,000 XOF, and 75,000 to 200,000 XOF for a repeat offence (Social Security Code, articles 163 and 239). See Employee not registered with INPS: risks and regularisation.
The most common mistake
Believing that an invoice or a “service contract” is enough to keep the Code out. The real test comes down to three questions: who sets the hours, who gives the orders, who checks the work?
What you need to do
- List everyone who works for you, including “contractors” paid every month.
- Check, for each of them, who sets their hours, gives their orders and checks their work.
- Regularise, with a written employment contract and INPS registration, every relationship that meets the three conditions.
3. Nationality, place of signature, type of employer: what does not matter
Ibrahim, Kéné’s mechanic, is Burkinabè. He falls under the Code just like his Malian colleagues. Worker status applies “whatever their sex and nationality” (article L.1), and the Code expressly applies to foreign workers (Labour Code, article L.338).
Where the contract is signed makes no difference either. Any contract concluded to be performed in Mali is governed by the Code, wherever it was concluded and wherever the parties live (article L.15). A contract signed in Ouagadougou or Paris for a job in Bamako is therefore governed by Malian law.
The same logic applies to employers. The employer may be a natural or legal person, public or private, secular or religious (article L.1). An NGO, a parish, a faith school or an association that employs staff therefore applies the Code.
The extra formalities for a foreign worker
The substance is the same; the form differs. A foreign worker’s contract must always be in writing and approved (visa) by the National Labour Directorate, together with a work permit (Labour Code, article L.26). During their first two years of permanent residence in Mali, a foreign national may only work under a fixed-term contract, unless there is a reciprocity agreement with their country (same article).
Ibrahim, hired in Bamako where he already lived, is a locally recruited foreign national: the Code states that he is not an expatriate (article L.26). For details of both regimes, see our articles Foreign worker contract and Expatriate contract.
The most common mistake
Paying a foreign employee outside the pay scale, or without a payslip, because he is not Malian. The employer must ensure equal pay for the same work, whatever the employee’s origin (article L.95).
What you need to do
- Have each foreign employee’s contract approved by the National Labour Directorate, together with their work permit.
- Use a fixed-term contract for any foreign national in their first two years of permanent residence, unless a reciprocity agreement applies.
- Apply the same pay scale to foreign employees as to Malian employees.
4. The only three exclusions, and those wrongly excluded
The Code “formally” excludes three categories: civil servants, judges and members of the armed forces (article L.1). Each is governed by its own statute. The list stops there, and many employers wrongly extend it.
| Situation | Covered by the Code? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Civil servant, judge, member of the armed forces | No | Express exclusion, article L.1 |
| Contract staff of the State or a local authority | Yes | The Code itself sets their retirement age (article L.60) |
| Employee of a public body (administrative, industrial and commercial, hospital) | Yes | Same article L.60 |
| Domestic worker, house guard, childminder | Yes | Decree No. 96-178/P-RM of 13 June 1996, articles D.86-1 et seq. |
| Apprentice | Yes | A special type of employment contract (article L.7) |
| Genuinely independent contractor | No | No relationship of subordination (article L.1) |
For the minimum age and the work young people may not do, apprentices included, see Can you hire a minor?
Kéné’s managing director also employs a guard and a cook at his home. They do not work for the company but for him: he is the employer. The Code applies, supplemented by specific rules for domestic staff (Decree No. 96-178/P-RM of 13 June 1996, articles D.86-1 to D.86-40). In particular, he must give them a payslip with each payment (article D.86-15). See Domestic workers: contract, hours, pay, leave.
The most common mistake
Believing that every public employee is a civil servant. Only civil servants are excluded. Contract staff recruited by a ministry, a town hall or a public body remain workers under the Code: article L.60 even sets a specific retirement age for them.
What you need to do
- Check that everyone you keep outside your workforce really falls into one of the three excluded categories.
- Give your domestic staff a payslip and register them like any other employee.
5. Labour contractors and temping: who is the employer when there are three parties?
In the high season, Kéné uses a labour contractor (tâcheron) to load its trucks. A tâcheron is a subcontractor who recruits his own workforce and undertakes to carry out work for a business at a fixed price (article L.91). The labourers he brings are his employees, not Kéné’s.
But the Code does not leave these workers unprotected. If the tâcheron is insolvent and the work is done on Kéné’s premises or sites, Kéné takes over his obligations towards the workers (Labour Code, article L.92). If the work is done elsewhere, Kéné remains liable for payment of the wages.
With a temporary employment agency, the rule is simpler: the agency, licensed by the Minister of Labour, is deemed to be the employer of the worker it assigns (article L.313). See also our articles Temporary work and Staff secondment.
What you need to do
- Sign every contract with a tâcheron in writing and send two copies to the labour inspectorate without delay (article L.91).
- Check that the tâcheron pays his workers: if he becomes insolvent, the wages may fall on you.
- Only use a licensed temporary employment agency.
A closer look: the work permit since December 2024
Order No. 2024-4363/MTFPDS-SG of 27 December 2024 rewrote the rules on work permits for foreign nationals. Four points change employers’ practice.
- A permit is only issued if the post cannot be filled by a national worker and the foreign national has the required qualifications (article A.26-2).
- A foreign national holding a mission document is exempt from the permit, for a mission of three months at most (article A.26-1).
- For an open-ended contract, the issuing fee is one and a half months of gross salary, subject to reciprocity; it is multiplied by five if the foreign national works without a permit (article A.26-6).
- Before 31 December each year, the employer sends the National Labour Directorate a named list of its foreign staff (article A.26-16).
Example. A foreign engineer on an open-ended contract, 1,500,000 XOF gross per month:
Permit fee: 1.5 × 1,500,000 = 2,250,000 XOF
Employment without a permit: 2,250,000 × 5 = 11,250,000 XOF
The expert sent to Kéné for two months with a mission document therefore needs no permit. If the mission exceeds three months, one is required.
Key takeaways in 6 points
- Apply the Code to anyone who works for you for pay and under your authority, whatever their contract is called.
- Judge the relationship on the facts: imposed hours, orders, supervision. An invoice does not turn an employee into a contractor.
- Treat foreign employees like nationals on substance, and comply with their specific formalities: written contract, visa, work permit.
- Reserve exclusion for civil servants, judges and members of the armed forces only.
- Treat public contract staff, apprentices and domestic workers as employees.
- Register every worker covered by the Code with INPS as soon as they are hired.