Employment law
Payroll in Mali: pay on time, in the right place, and keep the proof
On the 10th of the month, outside the Nour Distribution SARL warehouse in Bamako, the storekeepers are still waiting for last month's wages. The accountant promises payment "within the week", once the payslips are finished. A delay of a few days looks harmless. For the labour inspector, it is already an offence, multiplied by the number of employees.
The companies and people named in this article are fictitious. Their names are used for illustration only.
1. What exactly are we talking about?
Nour Distribution, a wholesaler with 35 employees, pays wages, bonuses and commissions every month. Payroll is not just that transfer or that envelope. It is the set of rules governing payment: form, place, timing, proof and record-keeping.
The Code defines remuneration as the basic salary and all other benefits, in cash or in kind, that the employer pays in return for work (article L.95).
Why so many rules? Wages support the employee and their family. The Code therefore protects them more than an ordinary debt: wage claims rank ahead of all other preferential claims, including those of the Public Treasury (article L.115).
| Question | Rule | Text |
|---|---|---|
| What to pay in? | Legal tender | Article L.102 |
| Where to pay? | At the workplace or at the employer's nearby office | Article L.102 |
| When to pay? | No later than 8 days after the end of the month for monthly staff | Article L.103 |
| How to prove it? | Payslip and payment register | Article L.104 |
| How long to keep the proof? | Five years after the last entry | Article L.108 |
Paying is not enough. You must pay on time, in the right place, and be able to prove it.
2. In what currency and where?
During the festive season, the Nour Distribution manager suggests paying part of the wages in bags of rice. The idea looks generous, but it is unlawful.
Wages are paid in legal tender, notwithstanding any clause to the contrary. Paying all or part of wages in kind is prohibited, except in the cases provided for by the texts, such as housing or food rations set by decree (Labour Code, article L.102 and article L.96).
The same article sets the place. Save in cases of force majeure, pay is made at the workplace or at the employer's office if it is nearby. It may not be made in a bar or a retail shop, except for employees who work there, nor on the employee's rest day.
Why these prohibitions? They prevent the employee from having to travel, spend money or give up rest in order to receive what is owed. An employee absent on payday may collect wages during the cash office's normal opening hours, in line with the internal rules (article L.103).
A closer look: bank transfers
The Code does not deal expressly with bank transfers. The internal rules, which may govern wage payment arrangements (article L.64), are the right place to organise this method of payment.
What irregular payment costs
Breaches of articles L.102, L.103 and L.104 are punishable by a fine of 20,000 to 50,000 XOF and imprisonment of fifteen days to three months, or one of these penalties (Labour Code, article L.319).
Wages are paid in money, never in goods.
What you need to do
- Pay the full wage in money, keeping benefits in kind for the cases provided for by the texts.
- Organise payment at the workplace on a working day, or provide for bank transfers in the internal rules.
3. On what timetable?
This is where companies slip up most often, usually in good faith. The Code sets a maximum pay interval and precise deadlines (Labour Code, article L.103).
| Situation | Deadline to meet |
|---|---|
| Employee hired by the day or the week | Paid at least every 15 days; exceptionally every month, with the labour inspector's written authorisation |
| Employee hired by the fortnight or the month | Paid at least every month |
| Monthly payment | No later than 8 days after the end of the month worked |
| Piecework lasting more than a fortnight | Advances of at least 90% every fortnight, balance within the fortnight after delivery |
| Commissions earned in a quarter | Within 45 days of the end of the quarter |
| Profit-sharing | In the following year, within six months at the latest |
| End of contract | As soon as the work ends |
For Nour Distribution, March wages must be paid by 8 April at the latest. On 10 April, the company is already in breach.
The most common mistake: the final settlement "with the next payroll"
When a contract ends, wages and allowances are due as soon as work ends, not on the next payday. Payment in lieu of paid leave is also made immediately upon termination (article L.162).
If the amounts owed are disputed, the employer has only one option: ask the president of the labour court to deposit with the court registry all or part of the attachable portion of the sums owed, meaning the share of wages that may lawfully be seized (article L.103).
What a delay costs
The fine under article L.319 applies as many times as there are offences, up to fifty times the maximum (article L.335). The Code expressly covers the case where several employees are affected.
Example. Nour Distribution pays its 35 employees on 15 April instead of 8 April. The fine incurred may reach:
Maximum per offence: 50,000 XOF
Number of employees paid late: 35
Total: 35 × 50,000 = 1,750,000 XOF
Legal ceiling: 50 × 50,000 = 2,500,000 XOF, not reached
Monthly staff: no later than eight days after month-end. Leavers: as soon as work ends.
What you need to do
- Set a monthly payday that falls no later than the 8th of the following month.
- Prepare the final settlement before the employee's last working day.
- Pay quarterly commissions within 45 days of the end of the quarter.
4. Payslip and register: two records that do not replace each other
The Nour Distribution accountant issues payslips but has never opened a register. He thinks he is compliant. He is not.
The employer must give each employee a payslip at the time of payment. The particulars on that payslip must be copied into a register known as the "payment register" (article L.104).
The payslip must show (Labour Code, article L.105):
- the employer's name and address, or the company stamp;
- the employee's name, address and serial number in the employer's register;
- the payment date and the corresponding period;
- the job and occupational category;
- gross pay and all its components: basic salary, bonuses, allowances, overtime, benefits in kind;
- individual deductions, such as taxes, pension contributions or repayments of advances;
- net pay, and the number of hours worked if wages are paid by the hour.
The payslip is written in indelible form. No signature or initialling is required (article L.106).
| Document | What it is for | Keeping and retention |
|---|---|---|
| Payslip | Telling the employee what was paid and why | Issued with every payment |
| Payment register | Copying all payslips and breaking absences down by cause | Fixed, numbered and bound sheets, kept in date order, with no gaps or overwriting; kept five years |
| Employer's register | Tracking employees, contracts, work, pay, leave and the inspector's observations | Three parts; kept five years |
The payment register also contains a record of absences broken down by cause: illness, workplace accident, authorised or unauthorised absence (article L.107). It is kept for five years after the last entry and made available to labour inspectors (article L.108). The same rules apply to the employer's register (articles L.108 and L.130). For the employer's register, the fine applies for each omitted or incorrect entry (article L.319).
See Payslip preparation and Personnel administration.
The payslip informs the employee. The register proves compliance to the inspector.
What you need to do
- Check that each payslip shows all the particulars required by article L.105.
- Open and keep up to date a payment register, with absences classified by cause.
- Keep registers and payslips for at least five years after the last entry.
5. Running payroll on software: the forgotten condition
Nour Distribution has just bought payroll software. The accountant concludes that he no longer needs a paper register. He is right in principle, but not on the conditions.
As worded since Law No. 2017-021 of 12 June 2017, the Code allows payslip particulars to be recorded in a computer file instead of a paper register. Three cumulative conditions apply (Labour Code, article L.107):
- the medium must make it possible to obtain all the required particulars, without difficulty of use or understanding and without risk of alteration;
- it is presented under the same conditions and kept for the same period as the paper register, i.e. five years;
- the computerised register is validated by the competent authority, the National Institute of Statistics (INSTAT).
The most common mistake: forgetting validation
Good software does not remove the need for INSTAT validation. Without it, the computer file does not validly replace the payment register.
A closer look: outsourced payroll
Handing payroll to a provider does not transfer the Code's obligations: the employer remains bound to issue the payslip and keep the register (article L.104). The provider changes who does the work, not who is responsible. See Payroll and administration outsourcing.
What you need to do
- Have your computerised register validated by INSTAT before giving up the paper register.
- Check that the software can produce all required particulars, without alteration, over five years.
6. What the employee's signature is not worth
A sales representative leaves Nour Distribution at the end of January 2026. He signs a receipt "in full and final settlement" although 400,000 XOF of commissions remain unpaid. The manager thinks the matter is closed.
Two articles of the Code rule that out.
- Accepting a payslip without protest, signing it or signing the words "in full and final settlement" does not amount to waiving payment of all or part of the pay (article L.110).
- The words "in full and final settlement", or any equivalent wording, signed after the contract ends and by which the employee waives rights, cannot be used against the employee (Labour Code, article L.111).
The most common mistake: the six-month deadline
Some receipt templates state that the employee has six months to challenge the final settlement. That deadline comes from French law. Malian law provides nothing of the kind: the wording simply cannot be used against the employee.
The deadline that really matters: three years
Claims for wages, bonuses, allowances and any sum owed in return for work are time-barred after three years (Labour Code, article L.118). The limitation period is the time after which legal action is no longer possible. It runs from the day the sums fall due, and the last day of the period bears the same date as the starting point (article L.119). Only a certificate from the labour inspector to whom the dispute was referred, or a court summons, interrupts it (article L.120).
Example. The representative's commissions fell due on 31 January 2026. He may claim them until 31 January 2029, despite the signed receipt. And his claim is preferential for wages of the last twelve months (article L.113).
A signed settlement protects nothing. An accurate settlement needs no protection.
What you need to do
- Itemise every sum in the final settlement rather than obtaining a blanket signature.
- Check the calculation of commissions and allowances before the employee leaves.
- Keep proof of payment for at least three years after each due date, and five years for registers.
Key takeaways in 6 points
- Pay wages in money, at the workplace and on a working day: payment in kind is prohibited outside the cases provided for.
- Pay monthly wages no later than eight days after month-end, and the final settlement as soon as work ends.
- Issue a complete payslip with every payment and copy it into the payment register, absences included.
- Keep registers and files for five years, available to the labour inspector.
- Have your computerised register validated by INSTAT before dropping the paper register.
- Do not rely on the employee's signature: only an accurate calculation protects you, throughout the three-year limitation period.