Employment law
Workforce management: adjusting headcount without losing control of contracts
From April to July, mango trucks arrive day and night at the packing station. Fruit must be sorted, washed, packed and loaded before it spoils. In September, the lines run slowly. Hire fast, rotate teams, then scale down: Malian law offers several tools, each with a limit that is costly once crossed.
Our fictional running case: Djenné Agro-Export, a mango packer in Bamako with 60 permanent employees and up to 150 people in peak season.
1. What exactly are we talking about?
Managing the workforce means matching the number of people and hours worked to the actual volume of activity. The starting point is simple: the open-ended contract is the rule. Any contract that does not meet the definition of another contract is an open-ended contract (article L.19).
A fixed-term contract cannot be used to fill, on a lasting basis, a job linked to the company's normal and permanent activity. This rule prevents an employee from being kept in insecurity in a post that will always exist. Labour Code, article L.22
A temporary need justifies a temporary contract. A lasting need calls for an open-ended contract.
2. The toolbox and its limits
Temporary contracts
| Need | Tool | Limit and specific features |
|---|---|---|
| Replacing an absent employee | Replacement fixed-term contract | Ends when the employee returns; the contract must name them; no renewal limit; no precarity payment |
| Absorbing extra activity | Additional-staff fixed-term contract | Two years at most; no renewal limit; precarity payment due |
| Covering a season | Seasonal fixed-term contract | Length of the season; no precarity payment |
| One day's work | Hourly or daily engagement | One day at most; leave compensation paid the same day |
| Carrying out defined works | Project-based contract | Ends on completion; never renewable |
| Using staff from a provider | Temporary agency work | Approved temporary work agency; contract of 24 months at most, renewals included |
The Code lifts the two-renewal limit for daily engagements, seasonal workers, additional staff, replacements and customary sectors. For other fixed-term contracts, continuing service beyond two renewals automatically constitutes an open-ended contract. Labour Code, article L.20
In temporary agency work, the temporary work agency is the employer of the assigned worker, not the company that uses the worker. Labour Code, article L.313 See Temporary agency contract.
Working-time tools
| Need | Tool | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| One-off peak in workload | Overtime | Up to 18 hours a week with the inspector's authorisation, 60 hours a week in total at most |
| Hours lost after a breakdown | Making up hours | Paid at the normal rate; one extra hour a day at most |
| Lasting reduction in activity | Part-time work | Delegates' opinion, notice to the inspector, written contract |
| Collective stoppage of activity | Technical or economic short time | Three months at most, six in a serious health crisis |
The overtime limits come from Order No. 1566/MEFPT-SG of 7 October 1996: a renewable three-month authorisation, and at most 75 hours a year for urgent and exceptional work. The 24-hour weekly rest remains mandatory and can never be replaced by a payment (article L.142).
What you need to do
- Match each need with the right tool, and state the ground in the contract.
- Ask the inspector for overtime authorisation before the peak season.
3. The first question to ask
Before choosing a tool, one question matters: is the need temporary, and can you say when it will end?
| Answer | What it points to |
|---|---|
| Yes, on a known date | Fixed-term contract with a precise term |
| Yes, when an event occurs | Fixed-term contract without a precise term, with a minimum duration, or project-based contract |
| Yes, but nobody knows when | Reconsider: a need with no identifiable end is often permanent |
| No | Open-ended contract |
The most common mistake
At Djenné Agro-Export, two forklift drivers have been on "extra activity" contracts for eighteen months, in and out of season. That is no longer extra activity: it is normal activity. Once the two years are up, the contract cannot be extended, and the post calls for an open-ended contract. See Grounds for using a fixed-term contract.
4. What the tools cost
The precarity payment
When a fixed-term contract ends and is not continued, the employee receives a precarity payment, which compensates for the instability of the job. Absent a collective agreement, it is 2.5% of total gross pay (Decree No. 96-178/P-RM, article D.24-1). It is not due for seasonal workers, daily engagements, replacements and customary sectors.
Example. A Djenné Agro-Export handler on an additional-staff contract works 8 months at XOF 120,000 per month.
Total gross pay: 120,000 × 8 = XOF 960,000 Precarity payment: 960,000 × 2.5% = XOF 24,000
Overtime
Absent a collective agreement, daytime hours on working days carry a 10% premium from the 41st to the 48th hour, then 25% beyond. Night hours carry a 50% premium. On non-working days, the premium is 50% by day and 100% by night. Labour Code, article L.137
Example. A sorter paid XOF 1,000 per hour works 52 daytime hours on weekdays.
Hours 41 to 48: 8 × 1,000 × 1.10 = XOF 8,800 Hours 49 to 52: 4 × 1,000 × 1.25 = XOF 5,000 Cost of the 12 overtime hours: 8,800 + 5,000 = XOF 13,800 for the week
What you need to do
- Provision the precarity payment when signing extra-activity contracts.
- Compare the cost of overtime with that of extra staff before each season.
5. Limits to monitor
- Two years: maximum length of a fixed-term contract, except project-based contracts. Labour Code, article L.21
- Two renewals for fixed-term contracts without an exception: beyond that, an open-ended contract by operation of law.
- Return of the replaced employee: the replacement contract ends.
- Three months of short-time working: beyond that, any termination is attributable to the employer.
- Six months after an economic redundancy: no fixed-term contract on abolished posts, except a non-renewable contract of three months at most (article L.23).
- 24 hours of weekly rest, never replaced by a payment.
What you need to do
- Keep a table of deadlines for all temporary contracts.
- Review each quarter the posts held on fixed-term contracts for more than a year.
6. When activity falls for the long term
Technical short time responds to an accidental stoppage; economic short time, to a shortage of work. Both are limited to three months. See Technical unemployment.
If the decline persists, the employer must first consult the staff delegates and look for solutions with them: fewer hours, rotation, part-time work, short time, redeployment. If redundancies are still needed, the order of departures follows three criteria: voluntary departures, professional aptitude, family responsibilities. Labour Code, article L.48
The step imported from French law
The individual "preliminary interview" often mentioned does not appear in the Malian Code. The procedure rests on consulting the delegates, sending them the list, meeting within eight days and informing the labour inspector. Seniority is used to decide between two employees of equal professional value (Order No. 2024-4363/MTFPDS-SG).
A closer look: what never changes
Whatever the contract, some rules apply to everyone: equal pay for the same work or work of equal value (article L.95), the same health and safety rules (article L.170), the same medical follow-up. A part-time employee has the same rights as a full-time employee, in proportion to their working time (Order No. 1566/MEFPT-SG, article A.133.3).
Key takeaways in 6 points
- Keep open-ended contracts for permanent needs and temporary contracts for temporary needs.
- Choose the fixed-term ground that matches the real need and state it in the contract.
- Respect the two-year limit and, outside the exceptions, the two renewals.
- Have overtime authorised and pay the statutory premiums.
- Track all deadlines in a table reviewed every quarter.
- Consult the delegates before any economic redundancy and follow the statutory order of departures.