Employment law
Women’s work: prohibited tasks and hours, what the employer must comply with
At the Rizerie du Macina rice mill, the season is in full swing: the hullers run day and night, and 50 kg bags are stacked up to the roof. To meet deadlines, the manager wants to put the sorters on the night shift and have the baggers carry the bags. Two decisions that look like common sense, two offences in reality. And each one is paid for as many times as there are women workers involved.
1. What exactly are we talking about?
Rizerie du Macina SA is a fictitious company with 120 employees, including 45 women, based near Ségou: its name and situation are used purely as an example.
The starting point is equality. For the same work or work of equal value, the employer ensures equal pay between women and men, and job categories are common to both sexes (Labour Code, article L.95). Any discrimination based on sex in employment is prohibited (article L.4).
Alongside this principle, the Code protects women’s health in specific situations: night work in industry, heavy loads, certain dangerous tasks, pregnancy and breastfeeding. It prohibits employing women, pregnant women and children in work that exceeds their strength or presents causes of danger (Labour Code, article L.185), and leaves the details to a decree (article L.189).
Why these rules? To protect health and maternity, not to keep women out of work. A prohibition never justifies lower pay or a refusal to hire. Young workers follow similar rules: see Can you hire a minor?
“Same pay, same career. Only certain posts, certain hours and certain loads differ.”
2. Nights: prohibited in industry, with three exceptions
Women may not be employed at night in any industrial undertaking, public or private, or in its outbuildings (Labour Code, article L.186). The decree covers factories, manufacturing plants, mines, quarries, building sites and workshops (decree no. 96-178/P-RM of 13 June 1996, article D.189-2, as amended by decree no. 2022-0125/PT-RM of 4 March 2022). Night work is work carried out between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. (article L.141).
Three exceptions are provided, in both the law and the decree:
- businesses where only members of the same family work;
- women holding management or technical posts involving responsibility;
- women in health and welfare services who do not normally do manual work.
| Post at Rizerie du Macina | Night shift allowed? |
|---|---|
| Sorter, bagger | No |
| Shift supervisor, technical manager | Yes, technical post with responsibility |
| Factory nurse | Yes, health service, non-manual work |
A temporary exemption exists in industries processing materials liable to very rapid deterioration: the employer notifies the labour inspector beforehand, by letter with acknowledgement of receipt, does not exceed fifteen nights a year without special authorisation, and grants compensatory rest of the same length (article D.189-3). Rice, which keeps, does not in principle fall within this case.
For women, as for young workers, rest between two working days lasts at least 12 consecutive hours (article L.186). See Night work.
The most common mistake
Believing that the worker’s consent is enough. The prohibition cannot be negotiated: a sorter who volunteers for the night shift is still an offence for the employer.
What the offence costs
Breaches of articles L.185 to L.189 are punishable by a fine of 20,000 to 50,000 XOF, and 50,000 to 200,000 XOF for a repeat offence (Labour Code, article L.326). The fine is incurred as many times as there are women employed in breach, up to fifty times the maximum (article L.335).
What you need to do
- Keep workshop night shifts for men, except management posts, technical posts with responsibility or non-manual health posts.
- Guarantee each woman employee 12 consecutive hours of rest between two working days.
- Notify the inspector before any exemption for perishable materials, and limit it to fifteen nights a year.
3. Daytime: ten hours at most, no public holidays at the factory
In industrial and commercial establishments, a woman may not do more than ten hours of actual work a day, broken by one or more rest periods of at least one hour (article D.189-1).
In factories, mines, building sites and workshops, women may not be employed on public holidays, not even to tidy the workshop. Only continuous-process plants are exempt, with compensatory rest of the same length (article D.189-4).
What you need to do
- Cap women employees’ working day at ten hours of actual work, broken by rest periods of at least one hour.
- Close the workshop to women workers on public holidays, even for tidying.
4. Loads: 25 kg, not one more
Women may not be required to carry, drag or push loads above the following limits, inside or outside the workplace (article D.189-5):
| Means of transport | Maximum load |
|---|---|
| Carried on the back or in the arms | 25 kg |
| Wheelbarrow | 40 kg, vehicle included |
| 3- or 4-wheeled vehicle | 60 kg, vehicle included |
| Two-wheeled handcart | 130 kg, vehicle included |
| Wagon on rails | 600 kg, vehicle included |
Other tasks are prohibited for women: underground work in mines and quarries, inspecting, greasing, cleaning or repairing machinery in motion, work in premises where machines are unguarded, and transport by pedal tricycle, hand truck or trolley (article D.189-6). Tables annexed to the decree also prohibit or regulate certain dangerous tasks (articles D.189-7 and D.189-8).
The labour inspector may have a woman employee examined by a doctor to check that her work does not exceed her strength; the examination is a right if she requests it. If the post is too heavy, she is assigned to suitable work; failing that, the contract is terminated at the employer’s initiative (article L.188).
Be careful about the legal basis of the penalty. Article L.326 punishes breaches of articles L.185 to L.189, but does not expressly refer to the decree that sets the loads. Exceeding 25 kg is therefore prosecuted as work that exceeds the employee’s strength (article L.185), which the inspector can have established by a doctor (article L.188).
Example. At Rizerie du Macina, twelve baggers carry 50 kg bags to the stacks every day. If the inspector finds work exceeding their strength:
Load carried: 50 kg, twice the 25 kg limit Maximum fine per employee: 50,000 XOF For twelve employees: 12 × 50,000 = 600,000 XOF For a repeat offence within twelve months: 12 × 200,000 = 2,400,000 XOF at most
The most common mistake
Thinking that a worker who does not complain accepts the load. Organising the post so that she carries 50 kg bags means requiring it of her. The solution lies in 25 kg bags, a conveyor belt or mechanical handling.
What you need to do
- Weigh the loads at every post held by women and bring them below the decree’s limits.
- Equip handling posts: conveyors, compliant trolleys, 25 kg bags.
- Reassign to suitable work any woman whose post exceeds her strength.
5. Pregnancy, maternity, breastfeeding: a timetable to follow
A pregnant woman is entitled to 14 weeks of maternity leave, starting six weeks before the expected date of delivery and ending eight weeks after (Labour Code, article L.179). She may not be employed for seven consecutive weeks, three of them before delivery (article L.180), and the decree also prohibits employing her in the six weeks following delivery (article D.189-12). An illness linked to pregnancy or childbirth extends the leave by three weeks (article L.181).
During the leave, INPS pays a daily allowance equal to the wage received when work stopped (article L.182; Social Security Code, article 28). If the employee remains ill after her leave, her contract is suspended and the employer may not dismiss her during this suspension (article L.183).
A pregnant woman whose condition is medically confirmed may resign with 24 hours’ notice, without paying compensation in lieu of notice (article L.178). As soon as her pregnancy is notified, no load may be imposed on her, nor during the three weeks following her return to work after childbirth (article D.189-13).
For fifteen months from the birth, the mother is entitled to breastfeeding breaks at the workplace, up to one hour per working day, with no reduction in pay (Labour Code, article L.184). This hour is taken as two thirty-minute breaks, morning and afternoon, at agreed times. In an establishment with more than twenty-five women, the inspector may require a nursing room (article D.189-11). See Maternity in Mali.
| Period | Rule |
|---|---|
| Pregnancy notified | No load to carry, push or drag |
| 6 weeks before to 8 weeks after birth | Maternity leave, paid by INPS |
| 3 weeks before to 6 weeks after birth | Employing her is prohibited, even with her consent |
| 3 weeks after returning to work | No load to carry, push or drag |
| Until the child is 15 months old | One paid breastfeeding hour per day |
Example. A sorter at the rice mill earns 90,000 XOF per month. The manager wants to deduct her breastfeeding hours:
Hourly rate: 90,000 ÷ 173.33 = 519.24 XOF Breastfeeding hours in the month: 1 hour × 22 days = 22 hours Planned deduction: 519.24 × 22 = 11,423 XOF This deduction is prohibited: fine of 10,000 to 18,000 XOF, 20,000 to 50,000 for a repeat offence (article L.326)
The most common mistake
Treating the breastfeeding hour as an absence. It is paid working time, for fifteen months.
What you need to do
- Remove all handling from an employee as soon as she notifies her pregnancy, and for three weeks after her return.
- Plan her 14-week leave and send INPS the wage and suspension certificates.
- Agree with her on the two half-hour breastfeeding breaks and pay them until the child is 15 months old.
A closer look: what France changed, Mali did not
Many articles in circulation reproduce French law. France lifted the ban on night work for women in industry in 2001; Mali has kept it, specifying its exceptions in 2017 and 2022.
In France, basic maternity leave lasts 16 weeks, and the breastfeeding hour applies for one year, unpaid unless an agreement provides otherwise. In Mali, leave lasts 14 weeks, and the breastfeeding hour applies for fifteen months, with no reduction in pay.
Key takeaways in 6 points
- Pay women and men equally for the same work, with the same job categories.
- Keep women workers off industrial night shifts, except in the three cases provided.
- Limit the working day to ten hours of actual work and grant 12 consecutive hours of rest.
- Bring loads carried below 25 kg, and rule out hand trucks, trolleys and machinery in motion.
- Remove all loads during pregnancy and for three weeks after returning from leave.
- Pay the breastfeeding hour until the child is 15 months old.