Hiring in Togo: the contract visa, the contract and a salary worked through, step by step

Move someone who is already in Togo

Every foreign hire needs its own hiring authorisation and a contract carrying its own visa, so a move to a new employer needs both again.

A Togolese national's move turns on the notice they give: at least fifteen days for staff paid by the hour, a month for workers and employees, and three months for supervisors and managers. A new employer that took part in a worker's unjustified break of a contract, or knew of the earlier contract when hiring, shares the damages, up to twelve months' gross pay.

Check the role is open to a non-Togolese

Togo's Code du travail makes the State the guarantor of local employment, and of the transfer of skills to nationals. A foreign hire needs a hiring authorisation, subject to reciprocity and the treaties Togo has ratified.

When hiring a foreign national, the employer takes the steps needed to train local staff who could fill jobs at the same level in the business. A visa can be extended beyond its renewal only with a plan to train and promote nationals for the job.

Set the contract up right

A contract of employment is freely made, in the form the two sides choose, and without a written one it can be proved by any means. A written contract is in French and free of stamp duty. It names the collective agreement that applies. A contract performed in Togo follows the Code wherever it was signed. One written in another language is translated into French.

The open-ended contract is the ordinary form. A fixed term is only for a precise, temporary task, such as a replacement or a passing rise in work, and never fills a lasting job. It is written, for a first term of up to two years, and renewals take it to no more than four. After four years in a row with no open-ended contract to follow, the employee is owed an end-of-contract indemnity of a month's last gross pay. It is not owed where they turn down an open-ended contract for the same or a similar job at no lower pay, or where the work ends for an economic reason.

A trial period is written into the contract. On an open-ended contract it lasts up to eight days for staff paid by the hour, a month for workers and employees, and three months for supervisors and technicians, each renewable once, and six months for managers, not renewable. On a fixed term, it is a month at most, not renewable. Either side can end it at any time, with 48 hours' warning.

A part-time contract is written, with the hours and how they fall.

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

The week is 40 hours, and the day as a rule no more than ten. Overtime runs to no more than 20 hours a week. Collective agreements set its rates, by day and by night. Night work runs from 22:00 to 05:00. The weekly rest is at least 24 hours in a row, in principle on Sunday.

Know the employee test before you engage a contractor

Togo's Code du travail treats as a worker anyone 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 Togo follows the Code wherever it was signed and wherever either side lives.

A role that needs a contract visa goes through employer of record.

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

Take an employee on XOF 800,000 a month, XOF 9,600,000 over the year, with no dependants. Income tax is worked out on the year's income, so the table shows the year.

The CNSS counts all pay. The employee pays 4% for pensions, XOF 32,000 a month. You pay 17.5%: 12.5% for pensions, 3% for family and maternity benefits and 2% for work accidents.

The CNSS runs universal health insurance for employees under the Code du travail. Its contributions are declared and paid with the CNSS's other contributions. It is 10% of pay: 5% from you and 5% from the employee. Each side pays XOF 40,000 a month here.

Before the tax, the employee's CNSS and health insurance come off, leaving XOF 8,736,000. The CNSS comes off in full, as it is within the 6% of gross pay allowed for pension contributions. A flat deduction of 28% then comes off the part of what is left up to XOF 10,000,000, here XOF 2,446,080. That leaves XOF 6,289,000 of taxable income, rounded down to the thousand. The bands take nothing on the first XOF 900,000, 3% of the next XOF 2,100,000, 10% of the next XOF 3,000,000 and 15% of the rest, XOF 406,350 in all.

Each dependant takes a further XOF 10,000 a month off taxable income, for up to six. The tax is withheld across the year's pay. It is paid by the 15th of the next month, with the CNSS and health insurance.

Know the leave your people are entitled to

End employment on the law's terms

An open-ended contract ends by resignation, dismissal, agreement, force majeure, death or retirement age. A resignation is notified in writing.

A dismissal on personal grounds rests on misconduct, poor performance, a long or repeated absence, or unfitness the labour medical inspector finds. Before it, the employer calls the employee to a meeting by a letter that reaches them at least 48 hours ahead, with the reasons and the right to bring a colleague or a union member. The meeting is minuted. The dismissal letter, with its reasons, goes no sooner than 24 hours and no later than fifteen days after it. For serious misconduct, the employee can be suspended for up to a month meanwhile. Where the procedure is not followed, a court can award up to three months' gross pay.

Notice is at least fifteen days for staff paid by the hour, a month for workers and employees, and three months for supervisors and managers. After a dismissal, the employee has one paid day a week of it to look for work. The employer can waive the notice and pay for it instead. Serious or gross misconduct ends the contract without notice, subject to the court's view of its gravity.

After 12 months' unbroken service, a dismissal other than for serious or gross misconduct carries an indemnity. For each year, it is 35% of the average monthly pay of the last twelve months for the first five years, 40% up to the tenth year and 45% after it.

An economic dismissal starts with talks with the staff representatives on other options, such as shorter hours or redeployment, lasting up to eight days. The order of dismissals weighs aptitude, length of service, family responsibilities and disability. The representatives have eight working days to comment on the list. No final decision is made until 21 days after the labour inspector has the file. Those dismissed are owed a tax-free support payment of at least a month's gross pay, on top of notice and the dismissal indemnity. They keep priority for rehiring for 24 months. For an economic dismissal that breaks these rules or lacks a real reason, a court can award up to six months' gross pay.

Where a court finds a dismissal abusive, it awards between 3 and 24 months' gross pay, set by the harm done. Within five years of retirement, the award is the pay due up to it. The award comes on top of notice, the dismissal indemnity and any award for an irregular procedure.

Both sides can agree in writing to end the contract, for at least the dismissal indemnity. Each side has seven calendar days to withdraw. The labour inspector then has seven calendar days to approve it. Silence counts as approval.

A fixed term ends at its term. Before then, it ends only for force majeure, by written agreement, for a hire on an open-ended contract, for serious or gross misconduct, unfitness, poor performance or a court's ruling. Otherwise, the side that ends it owes damages equal to the pay and benefits up to the term.

A pregnant employee cannot be dismissed during the pregnancy, her maternity leave or the nursing period, except for serious misconduct. A work certificate is owed on request when any contract ends. A claim on the contract or its ending can be brought for five years.

See what changed this year, and what is next

Universal health insurance contributions have been due since 1 January 2024. No change to the CNSS rates took effect in the last twelve months.