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Labour law A-Z
Articles, practical guides and legal updates written by our experts.
The temporary replacement contract
A temporary replacement contract covers the absence of an employee whose contract is legally suspended and must name the replaced person, their position and the ground, failing which it becomes open-ended. It ends on the holder's return, requires a minimum duration where the term is imprecise, and carries no entitlement to the 2.5% end-of-contract payment.
The trade union in Mali: what it is, what it can do, what it requires of you
Article L.232, rewritten in 2017, gives Malian unions the study and defence of the rights and the material, economic, social and moral interests, collective and individual, of their members. Formation is filed with the administration: the employer authorises nothing. The union, not the delegate, holds civil personality. Passing over a worker for union membership costs up to XOF 250,000 per worker.
The union delegate: who he is, what he may do, how he is protected
The manager refuses the union delegate access to the notice board, for lack of accreditation. A union delegate is not accredited, he is notified.
The unwritten or unsigned fixed-term contract
Without a written contract, a fixed-term engagement does not vanish: it is presumed concluded for an indefinite duration, and it is the term that disappears. The signature must precede the first day of work, the mandatory particulars form part of the writing, and any renewal must be formalised in an amendment before expiry.
Trade Union: Employees’ Obligations
Three of the four obligations commonly ascribed to unionised workers exist, but none is worded the way it is quoted. The first in fact falls on the employer, and « polemical character » appears in no Malian text. The real obligations come from the mandate, the contract, the work rules and above all strike action: an unlawful strike ends the contract with no notice and no dismissal indemnity.
Trade Union: Protection of the Representative
The director wants the dismissal letter by Friday morning. Without a third party’s written agreement it is worth nothing, and the worker returns.
Trade union: Freedom of association
A dock supervisor hands out union leaflets. The manager withdraws his bonus and moves him. Three decisions in one morning, three offences.
Trade union: Number of representatives
A union committee may be formed by any representative union from eleven usual employees, apprentices and trial workers included. The scale in article A.260 then gives 5 to 26 union delegates by headcount: 17 between 101 and 250 workers. One condition only to be designated: one year's presence. Each delegate has fifteen paid hours a month and protection against dismissal.
Trade unions: Employers’ obligations
Your obligations start on the notification of names, not before. Article L.262 requires posting, a room for the monthly meeting held outside hours, and being received on request. The fifteen-hour credit comes from article L.271, extended by article L.263, and stays bounded by the duties. Two obligations are almost always forgotten: the special claims register and consulting the union committee first.
Unions and staff delegates: two institutions, two regimes, two common mistakes
Staff delegates are elected because the employer must hold elections, for a three-year term since 2017 and not one year. The union committee is formed on the initiative of a representative union from eleven employees. Civil personality belongs to the union, never to the delegate. No text fixes a union delegate's term. Dismissing a delegate without the inspector leads to reinstatement.
Unpaid wages: what remedies for the employee, what risks for the employer?
Monthly wages must be paid no later than eight days after month-end (L.103). An unpaid employee seeks conciliation from the inspector, then goes to the free labour court, which may order immediate enforcement of 50% of the wages claimed (L.190, L.211); they have three years to act (L.118). The employer faces a fine per employee (L.319, L.335). Wages rank before suppliers (L.112).
Using a tâcheron: who pays the workers if they default? Often, you do
A tâcheron recruits their own workers and carries out work for a lump-sum price; the contract is written and two copies go to the inspectorate (L.91). If the tâcheron is insolvent, the contractor steps into their shoes for all obligations towards workers on its sites, and pays the wages of the others (L.92). Paying the tâcheron in instalments, against proof that wages have been paid, limits this risk.
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