Using a tâcheron: who pays the workers if they default? Often, you do

On Kanu Bâtiment’s site, the building is going up fast. The plastering has been given to Seydou, a tâcheron, and his twelve workers, for a lump sum of 6,000,000 XOF. One Monday, Seydou stops coming. His workers wait at the gate: two months’ wages unpaid. They do not go looking for Seydou. They turn to the contractor, and the Labour Code is on their side.

1. What exactly are we talking about?

Kanu Bâtiment is a fictitious construction company with 40 employees in Bamako; Seydou is a fictitious tâcheron. Their names and situation are used purely as an example.

A tâcheron is a labour subcontractor who recruits their own workforce and undertakes, for a contractor, to carry out a piece of work or provide services for a lump-sum price, that is, an overall price fixed in advance (Labour Code, article L.91). Tâcheronnat is this arrangement.

The workers are the tâcheron’s employees: the tâcheron hires and pays them. But the Code knows that tâcherons are often financially fragile. It therefore makes the contractor the guarantor of their workers.

Why this rule? Because it is the contractor who benefits from the work and chooses the subcontractor. The contractor is best placed to check that the workers are paid.

“You choose the tâcheron. You answer for their workers.”

2. A written contract, sent to the labour inspectorate

The tâcheron contract must be in writing. The contractor sends two copies without delay to the regionally competent labour inspectorate, stating where the work sites are located (article L.91).

The tâcheron, for their part, permanently displays in each workshop, store or site their status as a tâcheron and the contractor’s name, address and occupation (Labour Code, article L.93). That way, every worker knows whom to turn to if their employer disappears.

What an oversight costs

Breach of article L.91 is punishable by a fine of 5,000 to 15,000 XOF, and up to 100,000 XOF for a repeat offence (Labour Code, article L.317); the inspector may collect a fixed fine of 7,500 XOF on the spot (Order No. 96-1566, article A.296.1). Failure to display the notice required by article L.93 is punishable by 50,000 to 200,000 XOF, and 100,000 to 400,000 XOF for a repeat offence (article L.318).

The most common mistake

Working “on trust”, on a mere verbal agreement. Without a written contract, no one knows what was entrusted to the tâcheron, at what price, or on which site; and the inspectorate is unaware their workers exist.

What you need to do

• Sign a written contract describing the work entrusted, the lump-sum price and the location.
• Send two copies to the labour inspectorate, with the location of the sites.
• Check that the tâcheron’s notice is displayed on every site.

3. If the tâcheron defaults: who pays what?

The Code distinguishes two situations, depending on where the workers work. In both cases, the rule applies where the tâcheron is insolvent, that is, unable to pay (Labour Code, article L.92).

Where do the workers work?	What the contractor owes	Text
In the contractor’s workshops, stores or sites	The contractor steps into the tâcheron’s shoes for all obligationstowards the workers	L.92, para. 1
Elsewhere	The contractor is liable for payment of wages owed, and each workermay sue the contractor directly	L.92, paras. 2 and 3

Stepping into the tâcheron’s shoes means taking their place as debtor: wages, and in principle the other sums the tâcheron owed their workers. On Kanu Bâtiment’s site, this is the first case: the contractor is liable for everything.

Example. Seydou’s twelve workers, paid 75,000 XOF a month, claim two months’ wages:

Wages owed: 12 × 75,000 × 2 = 1,800,000 XOF
Price already paid to Seydou: 4,500,000 XOF out of 6,000,000 XOF
Kanu Bâtiment must pay 1,800,000 XOF to the workers, on top
of what it has already paid the tâcheron

To recover these sums, the contractor can only turn to the tâcheron, who is by definition insolvent. The real lever is therefore prevention.

The most common mistake

Paying the tâcheron in advance, in one or two instalments, without checking that the workers are paid. Every franc paid without a check may have to be paid twice.

What you need to do

• Pay the price in instalments, as the work progresses.
• Require, before each instalment, proof that the workers have received the previous month’s wages.
• Hold back part of the price until the work is finished and the workers are paid in full.

4. Tâcheron or mere supply of labour?

Tâcheronnat requires a defined piece of work and a lump-sum price. If the “tâcheron” merely supplies workers paid by the day, whom your team leaders direct like your own employees, it is no longer tâcheronnat but a supply of labour.

Yet the supply of workers is reserved for temporary employment agencies approved by the minister responsible for labour (Labour Code, article L.313). And the Code defines a worker by the direction and authority under which they work (article L.1): if that is yours, the court may treat you as their real employer.

On this boundary, see Staff secondment: who is the employer, and on what conditions?

The most common mistake

Confusing a tâcheron with “task-based” pay. Paying your own employees by the task is a regulated method of pay, not tâcheronnat. See Piece-rate and task-based pay.

What you need to do

• Entrust the tâcheron with a specific piece of work, not a number of working days.
• Let the tâcheron direct their own workers.
• Use an approved temporary employment agency for a mere labour need.

5. Check the tâcheron before signing

The Code refers to a tâcheron’s approval certificate: a tâcheron who fails to apply the statutory, regulatory or contractual rules may, at the request of the minister responsible for labour, have it withdrawn, temporarily or permanently (article L.94). However, no implementing text consulted governs how it is issued. If they hold one, ask for it; in every case, check that they are registered with the INPS and declare their workers there.

Their workers are their employees: they must register them with the INPS and pay them at least the minimum wage. See Employee not registered with INPS: risks and regularisation. On the remedies of an unpaid worker, see Unpaid wages: the employee’s remedies, the employer’s risks.

A closer look: the site owner can be targeted too

In building work, the chain goes further up. Masons, carpenters and other workers employed to build or repair a building have a claim against the person for whom the work was done, up to the sums that person still owes the contractor when they bring the claim (Labour Code, article L.116). For public works, sums owed to contractors cannot be attached to the detriment of workers owed wages (article L.112).

Beware of subcontracting agreements copied from French templates, which speak of a “duty of vigilance” and of social security certificates to be collected every six months. This mechanism does not exist in the Malian Labour Code. The Malian rule is more direct: if the tâcheron does not pay, the contractor pays.

Key takeaways in 6 points

1. Sign a written tâcheron contract and send two copies to the labour inspectorate.
2. Have the tâcheron’s status and the contractor’s details displayed on every site.
3. Remember that if the tâcheron is insolvent, the contractor pays their workers.
4. Pay the tâcheron in instalments, against proof that wages have been paid.
5. Entrust a defined piece of work, not mere days of labour.
6. Check that the tâcheron is registered with the INPS and declares their workers there.