Employment law
Personnel management: five domains, one thread
In one week, the HR manager of a cleaning company signs three contracts, changes a night team’s hours, promotes a site supervisor and prepares a worker’s departure. Four ordinary decisions, each of which affects other areas: notice, payroll, leave, disputes. Personnel management means seeing these links before they cost money.
Our fictional running case: Kora Services, an industrial cleaning company in Bamako with 70 employees spread over twelve client sites.
1. What exactly are we talking about?
Personnel management covers everything from recruitment to the employee’s departure. It is organised into five areas:
| Area | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Entry | Choice of contract, written contract, filing, INPS declaration, pre-employment medical examination |
| Life of the contract | Probation, amendments, promotions, discipline |
| Time and absences | Working hours, overtime, leave, suspensions, replacements |
| Pay | Salaries, bonuses, benefits, payslips, contributions |
| Exit | Termination, notice, termination payments, certificate of employment |
One thread links these areas: when a dismissal is challenged, the employer must prove a legitimate ground. This rule explains why good personnel management is first and foremost written management. Labour Code, article L.51
Prepare before deciding. Write while deciding.
2. Choosing the contract: the decision that drives the rest
The open-ended contract is the rule. A fixed-term contract cannot be used to fill, on a lasting basis, a job linked to the company’s normal and permanent activity. Labour Code, article L.22
| The need | The contract | The limit |
|---|---|---|
| Permanent | Open-ended contract | None |
| Temporary, known end date | Fixed-term contract with a precise term | 2 years; 2 renewals outside exceptions |
| Temporary, linked to an event | Fixed-term contract with a minimum duration | 2 years; 2 renewals outside exceptions |
| Absence of an employee | Replacement contract naming the employee replaced | The employee’s return |
| Works to be carried out | Project-based contract | Completion; no renewal |
A mistake here cannot be corrected later: continuing the relationship beyond the legal limits automatically creates an open-ended contract (article L.20). See Workforce management.
What you need to do
- State the ground for using each fixed-term contract in writing.
- Hire on an open-ended contract as soon as the need is permanent.
3. Decisions with knock-on effects
| Decision | Effects in other areas |
|---|---|
| Changing working hours | May be a substantial change to the contract, which the employee may refuse |
| Providing housing or a vehicle | Enters the base for severance pay and the tax and contribution base |
| Renewing a fixed-term contract | Counts towards the renewal limit and the two years |
| Granting an absence | Determines whether it is deducted from annual leave |
| Promoting an employee | Changes their category, hence their notice and, for category A, retirement age |
| Outsourcing HR management | Employees’ contracts and acquired rights are preserved |
Substantial changes
A term is substantial when the employee would not have signed without it: salary, working conditions, place of work, job. If the employee refuses a change proposed by the employer, the employer may end the contract, but the termination is attributable to it and follows the dismissal procedure. If the employee accepts, the change takes effect only after a period equal to notice, one month at most. Labour Code, article L.58
The benefit forgotten in the calculation
Severance pay is calculated on all payments that remunerate work, except reimbursement of expenses. Labour Code, article L.53
Example. A Kora Services site supervisor earns XOF 300,000 a month and has housing valued at XOF 50,000 a month. He has 8 years’ seniority.
Cumulative rate: 20% × 5 + 25% × 3 = 175% Severance pay without housing: 300,000 × 175% = XOF 525,000 Severance pay with housing: 350,000 × 175% = XOF 612,500 Shortfall owed to the employee: 612,500 − 525,000 = XOF 87,500
Promotion
Absent a collective agreement, notice rises from one month for a monthly employee to two months for a supervisor and three months for a manager (article L.41). In the private sector, retirement age is 60 for category A and 58 for other categories (article L.60).
What you need to do
- Have an amendment signed before any change to hours, place of work or salary.
- Include benefits in kind in the base for termination payments.
4. The rhythm of the function
| Frequency | What to do |
|---|---|
| Every month | Variable items, payslips, contributions, payment register |
| Every quarter | Review of contract deadlines, leave balances and headcount thresholds |
| Every year | Periodic medical examinations, equal pay review, leave planning |
| At each event | Workplace accident, pregnancy, absence, change to the contract, departure |
The quarterly review pays off most: a one-page table prevents fixed-term contracts from rolling over by default, the leading cause of reclassification. Reclassification is when the court turns a fixed-term contract into an open-ended one.
5. What must exist at all times
- Employment contracts and their amendments.
- The employer register in three sections, numbered and initialled by the labour inspector (article L.130 and Order No. 2024-4363/MTFPDS-SG).
- The payment register, or its electronic equivalent (article L.107).
- Internal rules, endorsed and posted, in industrial, commercial and agricultural businesses with at least ten employees (article L.62).
- Posting of minimum wage rates (article L.99) and of the INPS workplace accident notice (Social Security Code, article 70).
- Medical examination records and accident declarations.
These are the documents the labour inspector asks for during a visit. See HR administration.
6. Principles that run through every area
The most favourable rule applies
A collective agreement may contain provisions more favourable to employees than the law, but it cannot depart from public-policy provisions. Labour Code, article L.70 In a company bound by an agreement, its terms apply to employment contracts, unless they are less favourable (article L.77).
The most common mistake
Saying that "the agreement overrides the Code". This is only true when it is more favourable. An agreement providing shorter notice than the law, or a prohibited deduction, would not apply on that point. Always check both texts and apply the more favourable one.
Equality and consistency
The employer may not take union membership into account when hiring, promoting, paying or disciplining (article L.257), and must ensure equal pay for the same work (article L.95). A rule applied the same way to everyone is defensible; an unjustified exception weakens the whole. On disputes, see Managing personnel disputes.
What you need to do
- Always compare the Code and the collective agreement, and apply the more favourable.
- Document any exception to an internal rule.
A closer look: introducing internal rules
The head of the company gives the draft to the staff delegates, who have fifteen days to comment. It is then sent to the labour inspector, who has one month to endorse it or request changes. The rules come into force twenty days after endorsement and must be posted in the workplace. Labour Code, article L.68 Their content is limited to the technical organisation of work, discipline, health and safety, and salary payment arrangements (article L.64).
Key takeaways in 6 points
- Choose the contract according to the nature of the need, and keep fixed-term contracts for temporary needs.
- Assess the effects of each decision on the other areas before making it.
- Obtain written acceptance of any substantial change to the contract.
- Include benefits in kind when calculating termination payments.
- Keep registers, internal rules and mandatory postings up to date at all times.
- Always apply the more favourable rule between the Code and the collective agreement.