Hiring in Seychelles: the work permit, the contract and a salary worked through, step by step

Move someone who is already in Seychelles

A non-Seychellois worker's contract is a fixed term. The employment ends when it expires, unless it is extended or renewed. The permit is applied for by the employer, for the post. A move to a new employer starts the steps again: the Ministry's approval, and a permit the new employer applies for.

A Seychellois worker needs no permit. Their move turns on the notice their current contract carries, which is a month for most workers once probation is over.

Check the role is open to a non-Seychellois

A non-Seychellois can be employed only where the vacant post has been advertised and no Seychellois national with the qualifications it needs is available for it. Alternatively, the Minister can be satisfied that no unemployed Seychellois national is available. The employer sets out a training and localisation programme with the application.

A non-Seychellois worker has the same terms and conditions as a Seychellois worker, with any added benefits the Ministry allows. An employer cannot lay off or make redundant a Seychellois worker while a non-Seychellois holds a similar post, unless it has first started the procedure for the non-Seychellois worker.

Set the contract up right

A contract can be for continuous employment, a fixed term, part-time work or casual work. Except for casual work, it is put in writing by the employer, in two copies, in English, French or Creole. It names the employer and the worker, the work, the place, the pay and when it is paid, the hours each week and any overtime. A fixed term also states its term or the project, and a continuous contract any probation.

A fixed term set by time runs for at least three months. Fixed terms with a gap of no more than 90 days between them count as continuous employment. A casual worker is engaged for no longer than three months, unless a competent officer allows more.

Probation is only on a first contract of continuous employment, for up to six months unless a competent officer allows more.

Wages are paid in rupees, at least once a month. Hours are capped at 60 a week or 12 a day, whichever is less, with at least 24 hours' rest in every seven days. Overtime is paid at one and a half times the hourly rate on a weekday, and twice on a Sunday or public holiday. It runs to no more than 60 extra hours a month. A worker who works on a Sunday or public holiday is owed twice the day's pay, or another day off, at the employer's choice.

Know the employee test before you engage a contractor

Seychelles's Employment Act covers anyone aged fifteen or over in employment in Seychelles, and every trainee.

Every non-Seychellois worker needs a Gainful Occupation Permit, whether the work is paid or unpaid, full-time or part-time. A role that needs a permit goes through employer of record.

Work out what a salary costs you and what the employee takes home

Take a Seychellois citizen on basic pay of SCR 30,000 a month.

The Pension Fund takes 5% from the employee and 5% from you, on the whole salary, with no ceiling.

Income tax is worked out on the whole salary, with nothing taken off first. Pay here falls in the third bracket. The tax is SCR 216.68 for the first two brackets, and 20% of the SCR 20,000 above SCR 10,000. Pay above SCR 83,333 a month is taxed at 30%.

Basic pay here is within the thirteenth month pay's limit of SCR 45,450 a month. So, for a full year's service, the employee is also owed a month's basic salary, SCR 30,000, by 31 January. It is free of income tax, and no pension is paid on it.

Tax withheld is paid within 21 days of the end of the month. Pension contributions are paid by the 21st of the next month.

Know the leave your people are entitled to

End employment on the law's terms

Outside probation, casual or part-time work and a serious disciplinary offence, an employer ends a contract only through the negotiation procedure. A competent officer of the Ministry of Employment decides whether it may end.

Where the end is in no way the worker's doing, the worker is owed compensation of five sixths of a day's wage for each completed month of service, and twice that on a fixed term. Where the worker is partly or wholly to blame, the officer can set less, or none.

Notice is seven days on probation, and a month for most other workers. For a non-Seychellois worker, it is the notice the contract sets, or a month where it sets none. Pay can be given instead of notice. Notice is not given to a worker on sick leave, pregnant or on maternity leave, unless the competent officer allows it.

A serious disciplinary offence can end the contract without notice. An employer tells a worker on a fixed term a month before it ends, or pays a month's wages instead.

A worker who resigns or retires after at least five years' continuous service is owed compensation for length of service too. A certificate of employment is given within 21 days of the end.

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