Paying by the task or by the piece: is it allowed? Yes, on three conditions

In the Sanu Couture workshop, thirty sewing machines are running for an order of 20,000 school uniforms. The manager wants to switch from fixed pay to piece rates: 150 XOF per shirt. The more a seamstress produces, the more she earns, she thinks. But if the rate is too low, if the collective agreement does not allow it or if advances are missing, the workshop faces back-pay claims and fines.

1. What exactly are we talking about?

Sanu Couture is a fictitious workshop with 30 employees in Bamako: its name and situation are used purely as an example.

Piece-rate pay means paying the employee according to the number of units they produce. Task-based pay means paying them for a defined job, whatever the time spent. In both cases, the person remains an employee: they work under the employer’s authority and enjoy all the protections of the Code.

Not to be confused with the tâcheron, a subcontractor who recruits his own workers and undertakes work for a fixed price (article L.91): he is not an employee of the business that uses him. See Who does the Labour Code apply to in Mali?

Why does the Code regulate this method of pay? Because a badly set rate can push pay below the minimum without anyone noticing.

“Paid by the piece, an employee is still an employee. And their pay does not fall below time-based pay.”

2. First condition: the collective agreement must allow it

This method of pay is prohibited where the collective agreement does not give the employer that option (Labour Code, article L.98). Before changing its pay method, the workshop must therefore check what its agreement says. See Which collective agreement applies to my company?

And if no collective agreement applies to the business? No text relaxes the rule: without an agreement allowing it, piece-rate pay remains prohibited, and the offence is punished like any breach of article L.98 (article L.319). The business may, however, pay a time-based wage and add production bonuses to it.

A company or establishment agreement may also set the conditions and method of calculation for performance-based pay and production bonuses (article L.88).

The most common mistake

Switching to piece rates by a simple memo. For an employee already in post, changing how their pay is calculated is also a substantial change to the contract, which requires their agreement (article L.58).

What you need to do

• Check that the applicable collective agreement allows piece-rate or task-based pay.
• Obtain the written agreement of each employee already in post.
• Where no agreement applies, pay by time and reward output through bonuses.

3. Second condition: a rate that guarantees time-based pay

Task or piece-rate pay must be calculated so that a worker of average ability, working normally, earns at least as much as a time-paid worker doing similar work (Labour Code, article L.98). The rate is therefore tested against the output of an average seamstress, not the fastest one.

Example. A time-paid seamstress earns 120,000 XOF per month. An average seamstress, working normally, produces 700 shirts per month:

At 150 XOF per piece: 700 × 150 = 105,000 XOF, i.e. 15,000 XOF less
than time-based pay
Minimum rate: 120,000 ÷ 700 = 171.43 XOF, rounded to 172 XOF per
piece
At 172 XOF: 700 × 172 = 120,400 XOF, time-based pay is
guaranteed

The guaranteed interprofessional minimum wage remains an absolute floor: pay for a full month cannot fall below it. Social security contributions are in any case calculated on a base that cannot be lower than the minimum wage (Social Security Code, article 189).

The most common mistake

Setting the rate on the workshop’s best worker. The Code takes the worker of average ability as its benchmark: that is who the guarantee is measured against.

What you need to do

• Measure the monthly output of an average employee, working normally, before setting the rate.
• Set the rate so that this output earns at least the time-based pay for the same job.
• Review the rate at every increase in time-based pay or the minimum wage.

4. Third condition: display, pay on time, pay advances

The pay terms for task or piece-rate work are displayed in the employer’s office and where wages are paid, like minimum wage rates (Labour Code, article L.99). See Which documents must the employer display?

For piece-rate or performance-based work lasting more than a fortnight, payment dates may be agreed between the parties, but the employee receives advances of at least 90% of their pay every fortnight, and is paid in full within the fortnight following delivery of the work (Labour Code, article L.103).

A payslip is still required with each payment, detailing the pay (articles L.104 and L.105).

What forgetting costs

Breaches of articles L.98, L.99 and L.103 are punishable by a fine of 20,000 to 50,000 XOF and imprisonment of 15 days to 3 months, or one of these two penalties (Labour Code, article L.319), incurred as many times as there are offences (article L.335). And the employee can claim the difference from time-based pay for three years (article L.118).

Example. Thirty seamstresses paid 150 XOF instead of 172 XOF per piece, for twelve months, at 700 pieces per month:

Shortfall per seamstress: 700 × (172 − 150) = 15,400 XOF per
month
Over twelve months: 15,400 × 12 = 184,800 XOF per seamstress
For the workshop: 184,800 × 30 = 5,544,000 XOF of possible
back pay

What you need to do

• Display piece rates and how they are calculated where wages are paid.
• Pay an advance of at least 90% of pay every fortnight for long jobs.
• Settle pay within the fortnight following delivery.

A closer look: leave, notice and payments for piece-rate employees

A piece-rate employee keeps all pay-related rights. The leave allowance equals one twelfth of total pay received during the reference period (article L.157): it therefore follows their actual output.

For payments in lieu of notice and damages, where pay includes bonuses or variable elements that are not reimbursements of expenses, the monthly average of the last twelve months is used (article L.100). And severance pay is calculated on the average monthly pay of the last twelve months (article L.53): a slack month must not be used as the basis.

Key takeaways in 6 points

1. Check that the collective agreement allows task-based or piece-rate pay; without one, pay by time.
2. Obtain the written agreement of employees in post before changing their pay method.
3. Set the rate so that an average employee earns at least the time-based pay for the same job.
4. Display the rates where wages are paid.
5. Pay 90% advances every fortnight and settle within the fortnight after delivery.
6. Calculate leave and payments on the pay actually received.