Hiring in Congo-Brazzaville: the work card, the contract and what comes off pay, step by step

Move someone who is already in the Republic of the Congo

A foreign national who changes employer needs the new contract validated by ACPE, with a work card for the new job. Hiring a foreign worker whose contract with their last employer has neither expired nor been ended by a court is an offence, unless the labour minister has authorised it. That authorisation keeps the last employer's rights intact.

Where a worker broke their last contract abusively, the new employer is jointly liable for the harm to the last one in three cases. It took part in poaching the worker, or it hired someone it knew was still bound by a contract, or it kept them on after learning they still were.

A Congolese national needs no work card. Their move turns on the notice their contract or collective agreement sets.

Check the role is open to a non-Congolese

ACPE's mission puts nationals' access to jobs first. It also promotes their progress into established posts in private companies.

The labour code lets a decree ban or limit hiring in given regions, for economic, demographic or social reasons. Within those rules, ACPE validates each contract and issues the work card for the job.

Set the contract up right

A contract of employment is agreed freely, in whatever form suits the two sides, and can be proved by any means. A written contract is free of stamp duty. A contract performed in the Republic of the Congo follows the labour code wherever it was signed. So does one under another country's law, once its work in the country runs past three months in a row.

The employee gives all their working time to the business, unless the contract says otherwise. Unless agreed otherwise, they can take other work outside working hours that does not compete with the business or harm the job. A clause barring any work after the contract ends is void.

A fixed term is written. Without that, the contract is taken to be open-ended. It can be renewed once, for no longer than the first term, and it runs for no more than two years with the renewal. A fixed term for an exceptional rise in work, urgent work, or to bridge until a permanent hire starts runs for no more than six months. A fixed term that goes on after its end becomes open-ended.

A trial period is agreed in writing. It lasts no longer than the job needs, and no more than six months with its renewal, not counting travel time. On a fixed term, unless usage or a collective agreement sets less, it lasts up to 15 days where the contract runs for six months or less, and up to a month otherwise. Either side can end a trial without notice, unless the contract says otherwise. The side that ends it shows its reason to the labour inspector. Work that goes on after the trial, without a new contract, makes the contract open-ended from the start of the trial.

Pay is in legal tender. Monthly pay is paid within eight days of the month's end, with a payslip.

The legal week is 40 hours. Hours beyond it are paid at a higher rate, which a decree or a collective agreement sets. Night work runs from 20:00 to 05:00, for no more than eight hours in a row. The weekly rest is at least 24 hours in a row, in principle on Sunday.

Know the employee test before you engage a contractor

The Congolese labour code treats as a worker anyone, whatever their sex or nationality, who has undertaken to put their professional activity under the direction and authority of another person, for pay. The legal status of either side does not count in deciding it.

A contract performed in the Republic of the Congo follows the code wherever it was signed. A role that needs a work card goes through employer of record.

Know what comes off pay each month

The ITS, the tax on salaries, is withheld from each month's pay. A 20% allowance comes off pay once the employee's pension contribution is taken out. What is left, rounded down to the nearest XAF 1,000, is divided by the employee's family shares, and the scale below is applied to one share for the year.

The tax for one share is then multiplied by the number of shares. A single person with no dependent child has one share, and a married person with none has two. A single parent's first child adds one share, and each other dependent child adds half a share, up to 6.5 shares in all. Where gross pay is below the minimum wage, the least tax for the year is XAF 1,200. Where the employee has one source of salary, what is withheld settles the tax.

Pensions count pay up to XAF 1,200,000 a month, and family benefits and work accidents pay up to XAF 600,000. Health insurance is worked out on gross pay. CNSS contributions are declared and paid before the 15th of each month, for the month before. A late payment adds 10% for each month of delay.

You also pay the TUS, a single tax on salaries. The tax administration collects the State's share of it, and the CNSS the shares set aside for public bodies, as it does social contributions.

Know the leave your people are entitled to

End employment on the law's terms

A fixed term ends when its term is reached. Before then, it ends only by agreement, for gross misconduct or for force majeure. Where the employer ends it early otherwise, a court can award the employee the pay and benefits they would have earned to the end of the term.

An open-ended contract ends on notice from the side that ends it. The notice is in writing and gives the reason, and it cannot overlap annual leave. Its length is set by the collective agreement, or failing one by an order of the labour minister. During it, the employee has two paid days a week to look for work. The side that does not give the full notice pays the pay and benefits for the part not worked. A dismissed employee who finds a new job can leave early on two working days' warning, owing nothing.

Gross misconduct ends the contract without notice. The dismissal takes effect only once the employee has put their defence to the employer, with someone of their choice beside them. The working relationship is suspended while they prepare it, for no more than 30 days.

A dismissal for a fall in activity or a reorganisation starts with the staff delegates, who receive in writing the measures planned and the documents behind them. The order of dismissals weighs professional qualification first, then seniority, then family responsibilities. The dismissals follow the authorisation of a disputes commission that the labour inspector chairs. Those dismissed keep priority for rehiring in the same category for a year.

A contract can also end by mutual consent, expressed in writing or by other means. The employee then receives a departure payment the two sides agree, on top of the indemnities the law or the collective agreement owes. A dismissal indemnity is owed where the contract or the collective agreement provides one.

A dismissal without a legitimate reason is abusive. So is one for the employee's opinions, union activity, or membership or not of a political, religious or philosophical group or a union. In a dispute, the employer proves the legitimate reason. A court that finds a dismissal abusive orders reinstatement. Where reinstatement is refused, it sets damages by the harm done. Where a dismissal had a legitimate reason other than an economic one but skipped the legal procedure, the court orders the procedure redone or damages.

A certificate of work is owed when any contract ends. A claim for pay is brought within a year.

See what changed this year, and what is next

No change to the labour code took effect in the last twelve months. None is scheduled in a published text.