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Labour law A-Z
Articles, practical guides and legal updates written by our experts.
Ending a fixed-term contract for misconduct in Mali: one door only, gross misconduct
A fixed-term contract is not dismissed: it is terminated early, and only for gross misconduct, written agreement of the parties or force majeure (L.25 and L.39). "Faute grave" does not exist in the Malian Code, which does not define gross misconduct either: the judge assesses it. The burden of proving the ground lies with the employer (L.51), and if the characterisation fails the company owes the remuneration left to run until the term. The risk can be quantified before deciding.
Ending an open-ended contract: what is the employee entitled to?
When an open-ended contract ends, the employee receives acquired rights, severance pay on a scale of 20%, 25% and 30% applied to the average of the last twelve months, and notice. Dismissal on economic grounds adds a non-taxable month, while a procedural defect is capped at one month's salary.
End‑of‑contract compensation for fixed‑term contracts (CDD): calculation
The precarity payment due at the end of a fixed-term contract is calculated by applying the collective agreement rate or, failing that, 2.5% to total gross remuneration, bonuses included and not base salary alone. The article works through the calculation with a numerical example, the excluded contract categories, the effect of absences and the other sums due at the end.
Equality at work
An employer must ensure equal pay for the same work or work of equal value, bonuses and benefits included, with no distinction based on origin, sex, age, disability, invalidity or HIV status. Gaps remain possible on documented objective criteria, and preventing sexual harassment is part of the company's obligations.
Expatriate contract
The expatriate contract is a fixed-term contract for foreigners brought to Mali by the employer, capped at ten years and subject to approval by the National Directorate of Labour. It carries a 40% expatriation allowance, housing, transport and five days of leave per month of service, with end-of-contract travel owed whatever the reason for termination.
Fixed-term contract duration in Mali
In Mali, each fixed-term contract, initial or renewed, lasts two years at most (article L.21) and can be renewed only twice, the initial contract not counted (article L.20): three contracts, six years at most. The “two years in total” reading comes from French law. The real limit is the job: a post that has become permanent calls for an open-ended contract (article L.22). Working beyond the last term creates one by operation of law.
Fixed-term employment contracts (CDD) in Mali
A fixed-term contract in Mali may only meet a clearly identified temporary need, under strict rules on written form, duration (two years and two renewals) and early termination, limited to gross misconduct, written agreement and force majeure. The article covers the mandatory terms, automatic conversion into an indefinite contract and the 2.5% end-of-contract payment.
Grounds for using a fixed-term contract
A fixed-term contract is an exception to the open-ended rule: it requires a precise temporary ground written into the contract, and may neither have the purpose nor the effect of filling a permanent job. The article sets out the permitted grounds, the six-month prohibition following a redundancy and the automatic conversion into an open-ended contract where the ground fails.
HR administration: obligations and deadlines
HR administration: the obligations to keep, their deadlines, and the ones that can never be recovered. …
Health and safety at work
In Mali, workplace safety is an employer obligation: no Code article requires the worker to look after his own, unlike the French rule so often copied. Only the work rules, compulsory from ten workers, make an instruction enforceable. Fines are banned, suspension is capped at eight days, accidents are declared within 48 hours. The employer's inexcusable fault cannot be insured.
Health and safety committee
A health and safety committee is compulsory in industrial establishments with 50 habitual employees and in others with 100; the inspector may require one below that (L.280). It brings together management, a doctor and 3 to 6 elected representatives, protected like staff delegates (L.281). It meets every quarter and after any serious accident, investigates, and sends an annual report before 30 January (D.282-5 to D.282-7).
Hiring a foreign national
A foreign worker’s contract is written, approved by the National Directorate of Labour and accompanied by a permit, granted only if no national can fill the job (L.26, A.26-2). The employer files no later than 15 or 30 days after the contract starts (L.29); the DNT replies within 15 days. In the first two years of residence, only a fixed-term contract is possible. Fees range from 30% to 1.5 months’ salary, multiplied by five without a permit.
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