Employment law
Fixed-term contract duration in Mali
Sikasso, January 2025: Kanaga Distribution opens a pilot depot and hands the keys to Moussa Coulibaly, hired on a two-year fixed-term contract. Twenty months later, the trucks are running at full capacity and the manager has to decide: renew, for how long, and how many times? Around him, three readings of the Labour Code are circulating, and they do not lead to the same place. Getting it wrong means letting an open-ended contract come into being that nobody signed, or giving up flexibility the law allows.
Kanaga Distribution is a food wholesaler based in Bamako. It employs 48 people and, since January 2025, has been testing a depot in Sikasso run by Moussa Coulibaly, a depot manager classified as a supervisor and paid 450,000 XOF gross per month. We will follow the company throughout this article.
This company and the people mentioned are fictitious: their names are used only as examples.
1. “Two years, renewable”: three readings of the same formula
“A fixed-term contract is two years, renewable.” The formula circulates in every company. It is accurate, but it does not say how duration and renewal fit together. That is exactly the question facing Kanaga Distribution’s manager.
A fixed-term contract is a contract whose duration is set in advance by the parties (Labour Code, article L.18). Its term is the date on which it ends. Renewing it means agreeing, when the term arrives, to extend it for a new fixed period. The Code does not define this last word: it carries its ordinary meaning.
Three readings compete:
| Reading | What it claims | For Moussa, at most |
|---|---|---|
| “Two years in total” | The initial contract and its renewals together do not exceed two years (for example 1 year + 1 year). | 2 years |
| “Two years for the first contract” | The initial contract can run up to two years and the two renewals are added on top (for example 2 years + 2 years + 2 years). | 6 years |
| “Two years per contract” | Each contract, initial or renewed, lasts two years at most, and the contract can only be renewed twice. | 6 years |
The short answer
The correct reading is the third. The second reaches the same figure in the example, but through incomplete reasoning. The first does not come from Malian law: it comes from French law. The sections that follow demonstrate this, text in hand.
The most common mistake
Looking for the answer in sector practice, in a borrowed contract template or in a peer’s opinion. The answer lies in two articles of the Labour Code, which simply need to be read together.
2. Two articles, two questions: how long, and how many times
Kanaga’s manager is really asking two questions. How long can each of Moussa’s contracts last? How many times can it be renewed? The Code answers each in a separate article.
Article L.21 measures each contract
“A fixed-term contract may not be concluded for a period exceeding two years” (Labour Code, article L.21; our translation, as for all quotations from Malian texts below). The ceiling applies to the contract as concluded. The initial contract is concluded; so is each renewal, through a new agreement between the parties. Each one, taken on its own, therefore cannot exceed two years.
Article L.20 counts the renewals
“A worker may not renew a fixed-term contract more than twice with the same company. The initial contract does not count as a renewal” (Labour Code, article L.20). In total, three periods at most: the initial contract, then two renewals.
Why two limits? Because they protect the worker against two different abuses: a single precarious contract that runs too long, and a chain of contracts that never ends.
Example. Moussa’s maximum path at Kanaga Distribution:
Initial contract: 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2026, i.e. 24 months. First renewal: 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2028, i.e. 24 months. Second renewal: 1 January 2029 to 31 December 2030, i.e. 24 months. Total: 24 + 24 + 24 = 72 months, i.e. 6 years.
On 1 January 2031, the counter is exhausted: if Moussa keeps working, he is on an open-ended contract (see section 5).
Article L.21 measures each contract. Article L.20 counts the renewals. No article adds the durations together.
The most common mistake
Reading “renewable twice” as “two contracts in all”. The Code expressly rules this out: the initial contract does not count as a renewal. The opposite mistake also exists: believing a renewal can exceed two years because “only the first contract is capped”. A three-year renewal breaches article L.21.
As a precaution, treat each renewal as a contract in its own right: written, signed, and filed with the labour inspectorate before it starts if it exceeds three months, as article L.21 requires for any fixed-term contract of more than three months.
What you need to do
- Limit the duration of each contract and each renewal to two years.
- Keep, for each employee on a fixed-term contract, a record of the dates of each period and its rank: initial contract, first or second renewal.
- Sign each renewal in writing before the current term ends, then file it with the labour inspectorate if it exceeds three months.
3. Why the “two years in total” reading does not hold
Many employers nevertheless apply the first reading, often on the strength of a contract template or an online article. It does not survive a reading of the Code.
When the Code wants an overall ceiling, it says so
In three other situations, the Malian legislator wanted the maximum duration to include renewals. Each time, it said so in so many words:
| Situation | Maximum duration | What the text says |
|---|---|---|
| Probationary period (article L.30) | 6 months | “renewal included” |
| Temporary agency work contract (article L.313) | 24 months | “including renewals” |
| Leave of availability (article L.59) | 10 years | “renewal included” |
| Fixed-term contract (article L.21) | 2 years | No mention of renewals |
For temporary agency work, the rule is clear: the contract’s duration “may not exceed 24 months including renewals” (Labour Code, article L.313). For fixed-term contracts, article L.21 sets two years without ever mentioning renewals. Adding “renewals included” means writing a rule the Code does not contain.
The Code itself separates the initial contract from its renewals
By stating that “the initial contract does not count as a renewal”, article L.20 treats the initial contract and each renewal as distinct periods. The ceiling in article L.21 applies to each of them.
No implementing text fills this silence
Decree No. 96-178/P-RM of 13 June 1996, as amended by Decree No. 2022-0125/PT-RM of 4 March 2022, only sets the mandatory content of a fixed-term contract (article D.20-1). Order No. 96-1566 of 7 October 1996, as amended by Order No. 2024-4363 of 27 December 2024, only lists the sectors where fixed-term contracts are customary (article A.20). None of these texts sets a cumulative duration.
So where does “two years in total” come from?
From French law. In France, the maximum duration of a fixed-term contract is assessed renewals included: eighteen months in the general case. This rule has been copied into many templates and commentaries circulating in Mali, as has the “waiting period” to be observed between two contracts, another French concept with no equivalent in the Malian Code.
And the second reading?
It reaches the right total in the example (2 + 2 + 2), but its reasoning is incomplete: the ceiling does not apply only to the first contract. Each renewal is also limited to two years. The exact formulation is therefore the third: two years per contract, two renewals at most.
Stricter than the law is not unlawful
An employer who sticks to two years in total breaks no rule: it is simply stricter than the law. A collective agreement may also provide rules more favourable to workers (Labour Code, article L.70). On the other hand, presenting this limit as a legal obligation is inaccurate, and deprives the company of flexibility the Code grants it.
The Code binds everyone: the employer, the labour inspector and the judge. If the labour inspectorate in your area takes a different reading, ask it for the text on which it relies and keep a record of the exchange.
When the Malian legislator wants an overall ceiling, it writes “renewal included”. For fixed-term contracts, it did not.
What you need to do
- Review your contract templates and remove any rule borrowed from French law: an eighteen-month total duration, a waiting period.
- Check whether your collective agreement regulates the duration or number of fixed-term contracts more strictly.
4. The real safeguard: the job, not the calendar
June 2026. The Sikasso depot is beating its targets and management decides to make it a permanent part of the network. Moussa’s job is no longer provisional in any way. The manager tells himself he still has two renewals left, i.e. four more years of fixed-term contracts. That is where the calculation becomes dangerous.
A fixed-term contract “may not have the purpose of durably filling a job linked to the normal and permanent activity of the company” (Labour Code, article L.22). Normal and permanent activity is what the company does every day and intends to keep doing: for a wholesaler, storing, selling and delivering. A depot manager’s job in a network that is settling in for good is part of it.
The six years in section 2 are therefore a maximum, not an entitlement. The renewal counter tells you how far the calendar can go; article L.22 tells you whether the fixed-term contract is still justified.
Why this rule? Because a fixed-term contract meets a temporary need. It must not become a six-year probationary period for a job that will always exist.
What a fixed-term contract on a permanent job costs
The Code punishes breaches of articles L.20 to L.23 with a fine of 10,000 to 50,000 XOF, raised to 20,000 to 100,000 XOF for a repeat offence (Labour Code, article L.316). The fine is incurred as many times as there are offences, in particular where several workers are concerned (Labour Code, article L.335).
Example. If Kanaga applied the same practice to five jobs that had become permanent, the maximum fine incurred, excluding repeat offences, would be:
5 × 50,000 XOF = 250,000 XOF.
The real cost lies elsewhere. Each of these employees could challenge the use of a fixed-term contract before the labour court, and the company would have to defend, contract by contract, a temporary character it can no longer demonstrate.
The most common mistake
Thinking that as long as renewals remain, you are covered. The number of renewals allowed does not make a permanent job temporary. The question to ask at each term is not “how many renewals do I have left?” but “is this job still provisional?”.
Six years is the limit of the calendar. A permanent job is the limit of the reason.
What you need to do
- State in each contract the temporary reason for using a fixed-term contract: the decree requires a precise definition of its purpose (Decree No. 96-178, article D.20-1).
- Reassess at each term whether the job has become permanent, and offer an open-ended contract as soon as it has.
- Make that offer in writing: if the employee refuses an open-ended contract for the same job at a salary at least equal, the precarity payment is not due (Labour Code, article L.24).
5. The day a fixed-term contract becomes open-ended without anyone signing
31 December 2030: Moussa’s second renewal reaches its term. Nobody has told him anything. On 2 January 2031, he opens the depot as he does every morning.
The law has already decided: “continuing to provide services outside the case provided for in the preceding paragraph constitutes, by operation of law, the performance of an open-ended employment contract” (Labour Code, article L.20). “By operation of law” means automatically, without a court decision or an agreement between the parties. This is called reclassification: the fixed-term contract is turned into an open-ended contract, by effect of the law or by a court decision.
Three situations that lead to an open-ended contract
| What happens | Consequence | Text |
|---|---|---|
| No written contract | Contract presumed concluded for an indefinite period | Article L.21 |
| Work continues after the term, without a written renewal | Services continued outside the case provided for: open-ended contract | Articles L.20 and L.21 |
| Work continues after the second renewal | Open-ended contract by operation of law | Article L.20 |
What reclassification costs
Once on an open-ended contract, Moussa can no longer leave “at the end of his contract”: there is no longer a planned end. To part ways with him, Kanaga must follow the dismissal rules: a legitimate reason, a written notice stating the reason, a notice period and informing the labour inspector (Labour Code, articles L.40, L.41 and L.51).
Severance pay is calculated on the length of continuous service in the company (Labour Code, article L.53). The text does not set aside service performed under fixed-term contracts: as a precaution, count seniority from the first contract. The detailed calculation is in our article Dismissal indemnity.
Example. Kanaga parts ways with Moussa without having him work his notice period. Seniority used: 6 years. Average gross monthly salary over the last twelve months: 450,000 XOF. Statutory periods and rates, absent a more favourable collective agreement.
Severance pay, years 1 to 5: 450,000 × 20% × 5 = 450,000 XOF. Severance pay, 6th year: 450,000 × 25% × 1 = 112,500 XOF. Total severance pay: 450,000 + 112,500 = 562,500 XOF. Payment in lieu of notice for a supervisor, 2 months: 450,000 × 2 = 900,000 XOF. Total: 562,500 + 900,000 = 1,462,500 XOF.
Damages are added if the dismissal is found to be unfair, for example for lack of a legitimate reason (Labour Code, article L.51).
The most common mistake
Letting the employee work a few days past the term while the renewal is being signed. Working after the term without a written renewal means entering the continuation of services that article L.20 turns into an open-ended contract. Another mistake: believing that a break of a few weeks between two contracts resets the counter to zero. Nothing in the Code provides for this.
Why this rule? Because an employer who keeps employing the worker shows, through its actions, that it needs him on a lasting basis. The law draws the consequence on its behalf.
No writing, no fixed-term contract. One day too many, and it is open-ended.
What you need to do
- Set an alert two months before each term so you can choose in time: renew, offer an open-ended contract or let the contract end.
- Inform the employee in writing, before the term, that the contract will not be renewed, and arrange their departure on the last day of the contract.
- Pay the precarity payment on departure and hand over the certificate of employment (Labour Code, articles L.24 and L.61).
6. The fixed-term contracts that escape the counter, and the one that escapes the ceiling
March 2026. An institutional client places an exceptional order for food kits with Kanaga, to be delivered within four months. To prepare it, the company hires Fanta Diarra, a warehouse worker, as additional staff. If the order is extended, can Kanaga renew this contract more than twice?
Yes. The two-renewal limit and reclassification for continued services “do not apply” to five categories of workers (Labour Code, article L.20). These contracts nonetheless remain fixed-term contracts: the two-year ceiling per contract in article L.21 still applies, because that article provides for only one exception, the project-based contract.
A temporary increase in activity is a temporary rise in workload beyond what the usual workforce can absorb. A customary fixed-term contract is one concluded in a sector where it is standard practice not to use open-ended contracts for certain jobs, because of their temporary nature.
| Type of fixed-term contract | Two-year ceiling per contract | Two-renewal limit | Precarity payment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ordinary fixed-term contract | Yes | Yes | Due |
| Worker hired by the hour or the day, for one day at most | Yes | No | Not due |
| Seasonal worker hired for an agricultural, commercial, industrial or craft campaign | Yes | No | Not due |
| Additional staff for a temporary increase in activity | Yes | No | Due |
| Replacement of an employee whose contract is suspended | Yes | No | Not due |
| Sector where fixed-term contracts are customary | Yes | No | Not due |
| Project-based contract | No | Renewal prohibited | Due |
The customary sectors changed in 2024
The list is set by order (Order No. 96-1566 of 7 October 1996, article A.20, as worded by Order No. 2024-4363 of 27 December 2024). It covers forestry, ship repair, removals, entertainment, cultural activities, audiovisual, news and information, leisure and holiday centres, professional sport, survey and polling activities, building and public works, social and health activities, emergency or humanitarian aid activities, and mining exploration and establishment activities.
Hotels and restaurants, education, and meat storage and warehousing were on the 1996 list and no longer appear on the 2024 one. A hotel or a school can therefore no longer rely on this exception.
The project-based contract: duration without renewal
A fixed-term contract concluded for the completion of a specific project “is not subject to the aforementioned maximum limit but, in that case, it may not be renewed” (Labour Code, article L.21). It lasts as long as the project, once. See our article The project-based contract: a fixed-term contract with no end date, but not without an end.
What a misunderstood exception costs
Additional staff escape the counter, not the precarity payment: article L.24 does not exclude them. Absent a rate set by a collective agreement, the payment equals 2.5% of the total gross remuneration received during the contract (Labour Code, article L.24; Decree No. 96-178, article D.24-1).
Example. Fanta Diarra’s contract: 4 months at 250,000 XOF gross per month.
Total gross remuneration: 250,000 × 4 = 1,000,000 XOF. Precarity payment: 1,000,000 × 2.5% = 25,000 XOF, paid with the last month’s salary.
The cases and the calculation are detailed in our article End-of-contract indemnities for fixed-term contracts: calculation.
The most common mistake
Believing the exception also removes the two-year ceiling, or that a replacement contract can last indefinitely. Only the project-based contract escapes the ceiling, and it cannot be renewed.
Why these exceptions? Because these jobs are temporary by nature. Limiting renewals would, for example, prevent the same seasonal worker from being called back every year.
The counter has exceptions. The ceiling has only one: the project.
What you need to do
- State in the contract the exception relied on and its details: name and qualification of the employee being replaced, campaign or order concerned (Decree No. 96-178, article D.20-1).
- Check that your sector is still on the 2024 list before chaining customary fixed-term contracts.
- Budget for the precarity payment for every additional-staff contract and every project-based contract.
7. A closer look: what the 2017 reform changed, and what it left untouched
Law No. 2017-021 of 12 June 2017 rewrote article L.20 of the Labour Code. It is this law that now sets the two-renewal limit, specifies that the initial contract does not count and lists the five exceptions.
The same law did not touch article L.21: the two-year ceiling per contract stayed as it was, with no “renewal included” added. The legislator therefore revised the renewal counter without creating an overall ceiling. Had it wanted one, the reform was the opportunity to write it.
The implementing texts followed. Decree No. 2022-0125/PT-RM of 4 March 2022 updated article D.20-1, which now refers to “new article L.20”, and Order No. 2024-4363 of 27 December 2024 revised the list of customary sectors. Neither introduced a cumulative duration. Be wary, therefore, of contract templates and commentaries written before 2017: they describe an article L.20 that no longer exists.
Key takeaways in 6 points
- Cap each contract, initial or renewed, at two years: that is the rule in article L.21.
- Count no more than two renewals, not including the initial contract: three contracts and six years at most.
- Set aside the “two years in total” reading: it comes from French law and appears nowhere in the Malian Code.
- Check at each term that the job is still temporary: a job that has become permanent calls for an open-ended contract, whatever the counter says.
- Sign each renewal in writing before the term: working beyond the last term creates an open-ended contract by operation of law.
- Identify the fixed-term contracts that escape the counter (daily, seasonal, additional staff, replacement, customary sectors) and the project-based contract, which has no ceiling but cannot be renewed.