Employment law
Long-service payment in Mali: the resignation that carries a payment
One Monday morning, at the Djoliba Transports depot, Fatoumata puts a letter on the director's desk: after fourteen years in accounts, she is joining an accounting firm. The director prepares the final settlement with the month's salary, untaken leave and the certificate of employment. "She is resigning, she is entitled to nothing else." That is wrong, and the oversight exceeds XOF 1.2 million.
Djoliba Transports is a road haulage company based in Bamako, with 80 employees. We will follow three departures: Fatoumata, an accountant classified as a supervisor, with 14 years' service; Ibrahim, a mechanic, with 8 years' service; and Seydou, a 57-year-old heavy goods driver with 22 years' service. This company and the people mentioned are fictitious: their names are used for illustration only.
1. What exactly are we talking about?
Resignation is the termination of an open-ended contract decided by the employee. In most cases, it carries no termination payment. There is, however, an exception that is often forgotten.
The long-service payment is the sum due to an employee who resigns after at least ten years of continuous service in the company (Labour Code, article L.54). It rewards long loyalty: an employee who has given the company ten years or more does not leave empty-handed because they chose to go.
What distinguishes it from severance pay
| Point of comparison | Severance pay | Long-service payment |
|---|---|---|
| Who ends the contract | The employer | The employee, by resigning |
| Minimum length of service | 1 year of continuous service | 10 years of continuous service |
| Calculation method | Average of the last 12 months and scale of 20%, 25% and 30% | Identical |
| Text | L.53 | L.54 |
The most common mistake
Believing that "someone who resigns gets nothing". That is true before ten years. Beyond that, it is a mistake that costs as much as severance pay.
Resigning after ten years does not mean leaving empty-handed.
2. Two conditions, and no more
First condition: a genuine resignation
Every employee who resigns must notify the employer of the decision in writing, and the employer may not presume a resignation (Labour Code, article L.40). Fatoumata's letter meets this condition.
An employee who has been absent for several days is therefore not someone who has resigned. Treating their departure as a resignation, without anything in writing from them, exposes the company to having the termination challenged as an irregular dismissal.
Second condition: ten years of continuous service
The employee must have at least ten years of continuous service in the company. Ibrahim, who resigns after eight years, is not entitled to any termination payment. Fatoumata, with fourteen years, meets the condition.
Several periods count towards length of service:
- the probation period, once the hiring has become permanent (L.32);
- periods of temporary lay-off for technical or economic reasons (L.35);
- training leave and workers' education or union training leave (L.10 and L.11).
Leave of absence for personal reasons, which interrupts service at the employee's request, does not count (L.59). And if the company has changed hands, the ongoing contracts continued with the new employer (L.57): length of service is not reset to zero.
What you need to do
- Require a written resignation and never presume one from an absence.
- Calculate length of service from the start date recorded in the employer's register.
- Start calculating the payment as soon as length of service reaches ten years of continuous service.
3. The calculation: that of severance pay, without exception
The long-service payment is calculated on the same basis and under the same conditions as severance pay (L.54, which refers to article L.53). There is therefore no separate scale to learn.
| Item | Rule |
|---|---|
| Calculation base | Monthly average of remuneration over the last 12 months, expense reimbursements excluded |
| Scale | 20% per year up to the 5th, 25% from the 6th to the 10th, 30% beyond |
| Fractions of a year | Taken into account |
| Collective agreement or establishment agreement | May provide more favourable rates |
Example. Fatoumata resigns after 14 complete years of continuous service. Her average monthly remuneration over the last twelve months is XOF 350,000.
First 5 years: 350,000 × 5 × 20% = XOF 350,000
6th to 10th year: 350,000 × 5 × 25% = XOF 437,500
11th to 14th year: 350,000 × 4 × 30% = XOF 420,000
Long-service payment: XOF 1,207,500
That is almost three and a half months' remuneration. Had Fatoumata had 14 years and 3 months, XOF 350,000 × 0.25 × 30% = XOF 26,250 would have to be added, making XOF 1,233,750 in total. For details of the base and scale, see Severance pay.
What forgetting it costs
Fatoumata can claim the payment for three years (Labour Code, article L.118). A "full and final settlement" statement she may have signed does not prevent her from doing so (Labour Code, article L.111).
Same calculation, same scale: only the exit door changes.
What you need to do
- Use the average of the last twelve months, bonuses included and expenses excluded.
- Apply the scale band by band, fractions of a year included.
- Check the collective agreement, which may provide more favourable rates.
4. Notice on resignation: what each party owes the other
A resignation does not end the contract on the day of the letter. The employee owes notice, meaning a period of work between announcing the departure and actually leaving.
Unless a collective agreement provides otherwise, it is 8 days for staff paid by the day or week, one month for employees paid monthly, two months for supervisors and similar staff, and three months for managers and senior executives (Labour Code, article L.41). It runs from the delivery of the written notification. Fatoumata, a supervisor, therefore owes two months.
During the notice period
- Fatoumata may take one day off a week to look for a job, after informing the employer, with no loss of pay (L.44).
- As an employee with responsibilities, she may not leave her post before handing over her accounts (L.43).
If notice is not respected
The party that does not respect notice pays the other a sum equal to the remuneration for the period not worked (L.42). If Fatoumata leaves after one month without the employer's agreement, she owes about one month's remuneration. This debt does not cancel her long-service payment: the two sums are separate. To go further, see Resignation.
What you need to do
- Acknowledge receipt of the resignation letter and record the start date of the notice period.
- Set the end date of the notice period in writing according to the employee's category.
- Arrange the handover of files and accounts before departure.
5. What remains due, whatever the length of service
Ibrahim, who leaves after eight years, receives no long-service payment. But his resignation does not remove any rights already earned.
- The salary for work done up to the last day.
- Payment in lieu of paid leave earned but not taken (Labour Code, article L.162).
- The certificate of employment, handed over on departure and exempt from stamp and registration duties (L.61).
- Return travel costs to the place of recruitment, if the employee was recruited elsewhere and resigns after two years of continuous actual work (L.164).
All these sums are paid as soon as work ends (Labour Code, article L.103).
What you need to do
- Calculate the leave earned and not taken by each resigning employee.
- Hand over the certificate of employment on the day of departure.
- Pay the balance as soon as work ends.
6. How never to forget it
This payment is forgotten because it arises where nobody expects to pay: a voluntary departure. The director of Djoliba Transports has therefore introduced a simple check.
For every resignation letter, the HR department opens the employer's register and notes the employee's start date. If length of service reaches ten years of continuous service, the calculation is started even before the final settlement is prepared.
What you need to do
- Check the start date of every resigning employee on the day the letter arrives.
- Make the long-service payment a standard line in the final settlement template.
- Keep the calculation details with the payment register.
A closer look: resignation or retirement?
Seydou, 57, announces that he is stopping work to draw his retirement pension. The director thinks it is a resignation and prepares the long-service payment calculation. The reasoning is right about the amount, but wrong about the legal basis.
When an employee permanently stops working to draw a retirement pension, the long-service payment is not due. Instead, the employee receives a retirement payment, calculated on the same basis and under the same conditions as severance pay (Labour Code, article L.55). The two payments are not cumulative.
In the private sector, an employee may apply to draw a pension from age 57 in category A and from 55 in the other categories. Such a departure, at the employee's initiative, is not a resignation (Labour Code, article L.60 bis).
Example. Seydou has 22 years' service and an average monthly remuneration of XOF 250,000.
First 5 years: 250,000 × 5 × 20% = XOF 250,000
6th to 10th year: 250,000 × 5 × 25% = XOF 312,500
11th to 22nd year: 250,000 × 12 × 30% = XOF 900,000
Retirement payment: XOF 1,462,500
Key takeaways in 6 points
- Pay the long-service payment to every employee who resigns after at least ten years of continuous service.
- Require a written resignation and never presume one from an absence.
- Calculate it exactly like severance pay: average of the last twelve months and a band-by-band scale.
- Enforce the resignation notice, remembering that notice pay and the long-service payment are separate.
- In every case, pay the salary, untaken leave and provide the certificate of employment.
- Distinguish resignation from retirement, which carries the retirement payment instead.