Questions / Answers on the Labour Code

The employer must issue to the employee within 8 days of the date of his dismissal the work certificate bearing the legal or agreed information (Article 72). He must also issue the receipt for the balance of any account (art. 73). When the employee receives compensation as part of the preliminary conciliation procedure, the parties must co-sign the remittance receipt in their amount, have these signatures authenticated by the competent services and have the countersigning of the agent responsible for the labour inspectorate (art 41).

The code explicitly mentions the obligation of evacuation of the company housing and its restitution to the employer, at the latest three months after the end of the employment contract whatever the reasons for its extinction, under pain of an equivalent penalty one quarter of salary (art. 77).

The other duties of the worker concern the performance of all his obligations during the period of the notice period as well as the respect of his contractual commitments and the professional secrecy beyond the termination of the contract.

The legal working age is set at 15 years of age. The code instituted a protective regime for minors under the age of 18 on the following grounds:

• the possibility for the labour inspector to request a medical check at a public health hospital to ensure that the work entrusted to them does not exceed their capacity. In accordance with the opinion of the physician conducting the examination, the labour inspector may order the dismissal of the minor if necessary. Parents may, however, request a counter-visit to refute this diagnosis and obtain the subsequent amendment of the decision of the labour inspector (section 144).
• the obligation to obtain the agreement of the labour inspector for their employment as actors or performers in public shows designated by regulation (art 145).
• their protection against advertising may mislead them to exercise the artistic professions by making their lucrative nature prevail (art 145) and against the execution of dangerous games (art 147).

Similarly, employers who perform the activities of “acrobat, mountebank, animal showman, circus director or fairground attractions” can not involve minors under 16 years of age.

Given the principle of equality and non-discrimination, the young employee enjoys the same rights to work and freedom of association as the older worker. Special protection is provided for young workers between the ages of 16 and 18 in occupational health and safety as well as in occupational health.

The salaried woman benefits from special protection, which is based in particular on: the prohibition of any discrimination likely to violate or alter the principle of equality of opportunity and treatment, particularly in the hiring and enjoyment of freedom of association ( art 9).

prohibition of all wage discrimination for work of equal value, which necessitates the comparison of skills and aptitudes at work and reconsidering occupations exercised mainly by women (art. 346). the obligation to ensure the transportation of women who work night work and grant them compensatory rest in this situation (art 172-174 and decree of 29 December 2004).

the prohibition to employ them in quarries and dangerous underground work (art. 181) .protection of maternity by extending maternity leave to 14 weeks and beyond, if necessary, and by permission to resort to further suspension ional of the work contract (art. 156-157) and permanent abandonment of work due to maternity, the prohibition of dismissal during the period of protection (art. 159), leave of absence for breastfeeding (art. 161), the compulsory installation of a nursing room in companies employing at least 50 older employees of 25 years, as well as provisions to reduce the burdens for pregnant women and others allowing him to benefit from a leave to raise his child.

Disabled workers have the right to protection against discrimination, as do all employees (Article 9). After the onset of a disability, the employee retains his job, which predisposes him to perform functions adapted to his disability, at the end of the rehabilitation, unless this rehabilitation proved impossible (art 166). It is also forbidden to occupy it in activities that may aggravate its handicap (art. 167). Special medical attention is reserved for him (Article 168) and appropriate working conditions (Article 169).

The legal duration of work means working time that is not legally allowed to exceed. It is therefore an hourly ceiling that some workers do not reach contractually, knowing that they are all paid according to the agreed working hours.

This legal working time was set for non-agricultural activities at 44 hours per week or 2288 hours per year and in agricultural activities at 44 hours per week or 2496 hours per year, divided by periods, depending on the needs of the activity. and within a daily limit governed by regulation (Decree No. 2.04.569 of 29 December 2004 laying down the procedures for the application of Article 184 of Law 65-99 on the Labour Code and Order of the Minister of Employment and Vocational Training No. 341-05 of 9 February 2005 laying down the procedures for the application of sections 187 to 192 of the Labour Code, as well as the order of the Minister of Employment and Vocational Training No. 340 -05- of February 9, 2005 fixing, according to the periods, the daily distribution of the ordinary duration of the work in the agricultural activities).

As soon as the code came into force, employees were required to comply with the new weekly and / or annual statutory ceiling.

Companies that did not reach the new legal term did not undergo any change. On the other hand, those who employed workers between 44 and 48 hours a week during the year were forced to reduce hours of work without correspondingly lowering wages. As a result, workers who received, for example, the statutory minimum wage over 48 hours, benefited from a 44-hour reduction in their working hours, a relative increase in their wages from the group of “Smicards”.

It is up to the employer to decide on the distribution of working hours over the week or the year, according to the needs of the company, the nature of its activity and the context, subject to asking for prior notice employee representatives and to make public a provisional program for the coming period, without being able to exceed 10 hours per day (Decree No. 2.04.569 of 29 December 2004 laying down the procedures for the application of Article 184 of the Act). 65-99 concerning the Labour Code and Order of the Minister of Employment and Vocational Training No. 341-05 of 9 February 2005 laying down the procedures for the application of Articles 187 to 192 of the Labour Code as well as the Order of the Minister of Employment and Vocational Training No. 340-05 of 9 February 2005 fixing, according to the periods, the daily distribution of the ordinary hours of work in agricultural activities).

In addition to the flexibility in the distribution of the legal working week, the year or the seasons, it is possible to avoid applying the same programming to all employees and to carry out the revision of the distribution. working time as necessary, without reduction of the monthly salary. The labour code has also validated common forms of work organization in enterprises operating on a continuous basis. It has also made it possible for companies experiencing temporary economic difficulties to reduce conventional working hours and the corresponding wages.

Flexibility also appears outside the question of hours of work, notably through the use of fixed-term contracts, temporary work and permanent dismissal of workers for economic, structural or technological reasons.

Within the limit of sixty days per year, it is allowed to the company which passes through a temporary economic crisis or which undergoes involuntarily the effects of exceptional circumstances, to reduce the ordinary duration of the work by continuous or discontinuous periods, by regulating only the wages corresponding to the duration of the actual work, provided that this reduction in the standard hours of work does not affect more than half of the usual remuneration.

For this purpose, the employer must obtain the prior opinion of the workers’ representatives. But when the reduction in the duration of the work must exceed sixty days, its decision is suspended with the agreement of the representatives of the employees or in default, with the authorization of the governor of the province or prefecture (art 185)