Employment law
Part-time
In December the garment workshop runs flat out: twenty-eight machines, two shifts, boxes stacked to the door. In February orders halve. The manager offers six machinists three days a week, the wage follows, everyone says yes, and nobody signs anything. Eight months later one of them goes to the labour court and disputes her hours. What was agreed will have to be proved. Without a written contract, that burden falls on the company.
The companies named in this article are fictitious and used only as examples.
1. No, the Malian Labour Code does not « say nothing » about part-time work
This is the most widespread misconception on the subject, and it is wrong. Part-time work has its own article in the Code and a whole chapter in the implementing order.
The Code expressly allows part-time working hours and defines them: hours are part-time when they are at least one fifth below the legal working time, or below the time set by agreement for the branch or the establishment (Labour Code, article L.133).
On the statutory 40-hour week, one fifth is 8 hours. The threshold is therefore 32 hours. Order No. 96-1566 of 7 October 1996 puts it the other way round: the hours written into the contract « may not exceed 4/5 of the legal schedule » (article A.133.1). The two texts agree.
| Situation | Weekly hours (40-hour basis) | Applicable regime |
|---|---|---|
| Full time | 40 hours | Legal working time |
| Part time | 32 hours at most | The part-time regime of article L.133 |
| In between | over 32 and under 40 hours | Neither: the part-time regime does not apply |
The third line is the trap. A 35-hour schedule is not part-time work within the meaning of the law. You think you are applying a special regime; you are in fact applying ordinary law, and the reduction in hours is still a change to the employment contract.
The order in fact lists part-time work among the five lawful ways of organising the forty-hour week, alongside cyclical hours, shift work, individualised hours and job sharing, the last of which allows a full-time post to be split into two half-time posts (article A.131.2).
Below 32 hours a week it is part-time work. Between 32 and 40 it is not, whatever the contract is called.
2. The three formalities nobody completes, and what they cost
Part-time work is not a unilateral organisational decision. The Code requires three things before the first hour is worked.
- A written contract. The employment contract of part-time workers must be evidenced in writing (article L.133). The order states what it must show: the number of days in the year, the month or the week, or the number of hours in the day (article A.133.1).
- The opinion of the staff delegates. Part-time hours may only be operated after obtaining the opinion of the staff delegates (article L.133). An opinion, not an agreement: you must consult them and keep a record of it.
- Notification to the labour inspector. The same article requires it. It is in writing and given beforehand.
The Code requires writing but does not say what happens when it is missing. Two consequences are nonetheless certain. First, a part-time contract is deemed to be of indefinite duration unless it is expressly made for a fixed period (Order No. 96-1566, article A.133.2). Second, without writing, whoever relies on the reduced hours must prove them. Before the labour court that proof is hard to produce.
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3. Pay: proportional, and nothing less
The rule fits in one sentence: taking account of their working time and of their length of service in the establishment, the pay of part-time workers is proportional to that of a worker who, at equal qualification, holds an equivalent full-time post in the establishment (article L.133).
The order goes further: a part-time worker enjoys the same pay and the same accessories as a full-time worker, as well as all rights compatible with the nature of his contract, in proportion to the services provided (article A.133.3). Bonuses and accessories therefore follow the same proportion; they do not disappear.
Example. Faso Textile employs a machinist for 24 hours a week on a post whose full-time pay is XOF 75,000 a month.
- Full-time monthly hours: 40 × 52 / 12 = 173.33 hours
- Part-time monthly hours: 24 × 52 / 12 = 104 hours
- Pay due: 75,000 × 24 / 40 = XOF 45,000 a month
- Hourly rate: 75,000 / 173.33 = XOF 432.70, identical for both workers
The floor remains the guaranteed minimum wage applied to the hours actually worked. It stands at XOF 40,000 a month and XOF 230.77 an hour since 1 January 2016 (Decree No. 2015-0363/P-RM of 19 May 2015). For domestic staff, Decree No. 2022-0125/PT-RM of 4 March 2022 sets a scale from XOF 40,000 to 49,000 by grade and states that the wages of part-time and daily workers are calculated according to the time worked within the hours set by the contract. See also payroll in Mali.
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4. Leave, contributions, representation: what shrinks and what does not
This is where most of the articles in circulation go wrong, in both directions.
What does not shrink
- The right to organise, to bargain collectively and to be represented, and the right to occupational safety and health. No discrimination in employment and occupation is allowed (article A.133.4).
- The benefit of statutory and contractual provisions on maternity protection, termination of the employment relationship, annual leave, public holidays and sick leave (article A.133.6).
- The number of leave days: two and a half days per month of work completed, that is thirty days a year including non-working days (article L.151).
What does shrink
- Cash benefits, which are proportional to working time and pay (article A.133.6). A part-time worker does take thirty days' leave, but his leave allowance, equal to one twelfth of the total pay received during the reference period (article L.157), follows his salary.
- Social security contributions and all payments levied at the same time as them, which are proportional to the hours and days actually worked (article A.133.5).
The claim that « social charges are paid on the same terms » is therefore inaccurate: the rates are the same, but the base is proportional.
And in your headcount?
Part-time workers usually employed count in the establishment's headcount, without pro-rating (Order No. 96-1566, article A.267.2). Workers engaged or paid by the hour or by the day count only if they total the equivalent of six months' work in a year; the same rule applies to seasonal workers. The Code follows the same logic for the eleven-worker threshold of the union committee (article L.258).
This is one of the few points where part-time work saves you no threshold at all: staff delegates, union committee, work rules and the health and safety committee are all triggered by the real headcount.
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5. Stop confusing them: part-time, daily, seasonal, casual, agency
These words describe different regimes and do not open the same rights. The Code does not define the « casual worker » as a category of its own: it lists situations, in article L.20.
| Situation | Text | Limit | End-of-contract payment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Part time | Article L.133 | 32 hours a week at most | Not applicable (open-ended contract by default) |
| Engaged by the hour or the day | Article L.20, 1° | Work not exceeding one day | Not due |
| Seasonal | Article L.20, 2° | Duration of an agricultural, commercial, industrial or craft campaign | Not due |
| Extra workload | Article L.20, 3° | Fixed-term contract of two years at most | Due |
| Replacing a worker whose contract is legally suspended | Article L.20, 4° | Duration of the suspension | Not due |
| Sector of established usage | Article L.20, 5° | Fixed-term contract of two years at most | Not due |
All five situations escape the two-renewal cap (Labour Code, article L.20). Be careful: the list of sectors of established usage is not open. It is set by order and currently covers forestry operations, ship repair, removals, live shows, cultural work, broadcasting, news, leisure and holiday centres, professional sport, survey and polling work, building and public works, social and health activities, emergency or humanitarian relief, mineral exploration and mine development (Order No. 2024-4363/MTFPDS-SG of 27 December 2024, new article A.20).
« Temporary work » is not what you think
In Mali, temporary work means agency work, not short work. It requires a temporary work agency approved by the Minister for Labour, a supply contract with the user and a written employment contract with the worker lasting no more than 24 months including renewals (Labour Code, article L.313). The agency is deemed to be the employer, and the worker pays nothing for being placed.
The agency must also show a financial guarantee of XOF 1,000,000 when it is set up, then at least 9% of its annual turnover excluding tax (Decree No. 96-178, article D.313-9 as amended). See agency and temporary work.
As for the « three months » limit often attributed to temporary contracts, it does not exist. It comes from another rule: a fixed-term contract of more than three months must be filed by the employer with the labour inspectorate before performance begins (article L.21). That is a filing formality, not a cap on duration.
6. The end-of-contract payment: who is entitled, and how much
Where the contractual relationship does not continue at the end of a fixed-term contract, the worker is entitled to a payment compensating the precariousness of his position (Labour Code, article L.24). Failing a collective agreement, its minimum rate is 2.5% of the total gross pay received over the term of the contract, and it is added to the last month's wage (Decree No. 96-178, article D.24-1 as amended).
It is not due in cases 1, 2, 4 and 5 of article L.20 (daily, seasonal, replacement, sector of established usage), nor where the worker refuses an open-ended contract on the same or a similar job at least as well paid, nor where he ends the contract early or commits gross misconduct.
In other words, the only case in article L.20 that opens the entitlement is extra workload.
Example. Faso Textile hires a machinist on a fixed-term contract for a surge in orders: six months at XOF 90,000 a month.
- Total gross pay: 90,000 × 6 = XOF 540,000
- End-of-contract payment: 540,000 × 2.5% = XOF 13,500
- Payment: together with the wage for the last month of the contract
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7. Moving a worker to part time: the step everyone skips
Cutting a full-time worker's hours is not an organisational decision. It is a change to the employment contract, and a substantial one: a clause is substantial where the worker would not have contracted without it, such as pay, working conditions, place of work or the job held (Labour Code, article L.58).
The consequence is clear. If the worker refuses, the employer may terminate the contract, but the termination is attributed to him and must follow the dismissal procedure. It is wrongful only where the offer stemmed from an intention to harm or from blameworthy carelessness (article L.58).
If the worker accepts, the change only takes effect after a period equal to the notice period, capped at one month (article L.58). You cannot cut the wage from the following month. See notice periods in Mali.
Part-time work as an alternative to economic dismissal
The Code expressly encourages it. To try to avoid an economic dismissal, the employer must consult the staff delegates and look with them for every solution that keeps jobs: shorter working hours, rota work, part-time work, technical lay-off, redeployment, restructuring of bonuses and allowances (Labour Code, article L.47). If agreement is reached, a protocol setting out the measures and how long they apply is signed and sent to the labour inspector for information.
Do not confuse this with technical or economic lay-off, which suspends the contract instead of changing it. It requires the opinion of the staff delegates or the union committee, prior notice to the Regional Labour Director, and may not exceed three months, six months in total in a serious health crisis. During that period no new hiring is possible, and the suspension counts towards length of service (article L.35).
Cutting a worker's hours is not an organisational decision. It is a change to the contract, and it has to be negotiated.
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A closer look: hours worked beyond the contractual schedule
The overtime premium is due only beyond the legal working time, that is beyond 40 hours (Labour Code, article L.137). Hours a part-time worker performs between his contractual schedule and 40 hours are therefore paid at the normal rate, unless a collective agreement or an establishment agreement provides better, in which case that more favourable clause prevails (articles L.77 and L.88).
Two safeguards, however. If the worker regularly exceeds 32 hours, he is no longer part-time within the meaning of article L.133 and the special regime stops applying. And if the hours actually worked drift lastingly away from the written schedule, it is the hours actually worked that a judge will take as the reference.
For the detail of rates, weekly ceilings and equivalences, see working time and schedules.
Key takeaways in 6 points
- Remember the threshold: 32 hours a week at most on a 40-hour basis, otherwise it is not part-time work.
- Draw up a written contract stating the hours, obtain the staff delegates' opinion and notify the labour inspector, before the first hour is worked.
- Calculate pay and accessories in exact proportion to the hours, from the hourly rate of the full-time post.
- Grant thirty days' leave, contribute on actual hours, and count the worker as one whole unit in your headcount thresholds.
- Reserve the 2.5% end-of-contract payment for fixed-term contracts made for extra workload.
- Treat every move from full time to part time as a substantial change to the contract, requiring the worker's agreement and a delay of no more than one month.