SENEGAL

Senegal’s economy focuses mostly on commodities and natural resources. Agriculture is a major factor – producing cash crops of peanuts, sugarcane, cotton, green beans, tomatoes, melons and mangoes.  Other big industries are fish processing, phosphate mining, fertilizer production, petroleum refining, construction materials, and ship construction and repair.

Other growing sectors are tourism and hospitality.

Senegal is a secular state.

Homosexuality is illegal in Senegal

Proportional representation of Senegal Exports

Public Holidays in Senegal[1]

01 January – New Year’s Day

04 April – Senegal Independence Day

22 April – Easter Monday

01 May – Labour Day

30 May – Ascension Day

11 – 12 August – Eid al-Adha – Starts/ends in the evening

15 August – Feast of Assumption

8–9 September – Asura – starts/ends in the evening

16–17 October – Grand Magal of Touba – Starts/ends in the evening

01 November – All Saints’ Day

09-10 November – Mawlid – Starts/ends in the evening

25 December – Christmas Day

Only 8 public holidays in addition to April 4th, May 1st and the Muslim New Year are compulsorily paid days off.

Office Holidays – Senegal

CIES – Labour Legislation

Senegalese are very qualified and competent as many of them have studied abroad, mainly in Europe this creates a competitive environment between locals and foreign professionals, but you still have great chances of being hired provided you have the skills required by the labour market.

Visas are required by visitors unless they are visiting from one of the 59 countries that are exempt from requiring a visa.  Visitors must, however, hold passports that are valid for at least 3 months from the date of arrival.

The below countries may visit Senegal without a visa for up to 90 days.

Historically, work permit applicants, in Senegal, could start working immediately after obtaining their medical report in Senegal (one of the first steps of the work authorization process).

Employment contracts for foreign workers in Senegal can now no longer have a projected start date that takes effect prior to the issuance of the work permit, according to directive issued by the Directorate of Labour in Senegal.

Work Visas take approximately 4 weeks to be issued

Generally, this directive affects the following aspects of a foreign worker’s stay in Senegal:

• Work activities restriction. Foreign nationals taking up long-term employment in Senegal must now wait until their work permit is issued to start work. Since work permit applicants enter Senegal under a business visa, they can no longer perform hands-on work or other work activities until their work permit is issued, which can take up to four weeks.
• Projected employment contract start date. Employment contracts must now contain a projected start date instead of an actual start date, since the start date will depend on when the work permit is approved.

Employees immigrating to Senegal, with their families, for a period of more than 3 months will require a residence permit.  Applications require the following documentation:

• Requests for Residence Permits
• Medical Certificates
• A criminal record dated less than three months
• a family record book (for those married)
• a copy of the passport
• a copy of the contract of employment
• a birth certificate
• three identity photos
• three last bank statements or a commitment of a guarantee of repatriation (the amount depends on the nationality).

Recruitment of expatriates must be submitted to the Ministry of Labour for approval.

Contributions payable to the Social Security Fund

Companies employing staff must be declared to the CSS to which they are required to pay social security contributions. Social contributions are exclusively borne by the employer.

The contribution base is the gross monthly salary of the worker. This base is however capped at CFA 63,000.

Contribution rates are determined as follows:

• Branches
• Family allowances
• Accident at work / Occupational diseases

Contribution rate

• 7 {8870c2225e05d1feea6df94638aa7ff56b3555cf8fa8f542e1293bebc40085d1}
• 1{8870c2225e05d1feea6df94638aa7ff56b3555cf8fa8f542e1293bebc40085d1}, 3{8870c2225e05d1feea6df94638aa7ff56b3555cf8fa8f542e1293bebc40085d1} or 5{8870c2225e05d1feea6df94638aa7ff56b3555cf8fa8f542e1293bebc40085d1} according to the sector of activity

Capped base

CFA 63.000 (corresponds to a maximum contribution of CFA 4.410 per month)

Social contributions paid to IPRES

These contributions are compulsory even for foreign workers except when they are members of a pension scheme established by foreign legislation.

Pension contributions relate to two schemes: the general scheme which concerns all workers and a supplementary scheme which concerns only managers.

The contribution base is constituted by the gross monthly salary of the worker knowing that for each scheme, the base is capped at CFA 256,000 per month for the general scheme and CFA 768,000 per month for the supplementary scheme.

Obligation to join a health insurance institution

An employer with at least 300 employees is required to set up a sickness insurance institution (IPM in French) on behalf of their permanent workers and their families (wives and dependent children).

On the other hand, when the number of staff is less than 300, the employer will either have to regroup with other employers to establish an IPM or join an existing IPM.

Contracts

• Must be in writing
• Contract cannot exceed 2 years
• Employer must notify the labour inspector about all fixed-term contracts that are concluded for more than 3 months
• Two types of contracts exit, namely:
  • Fixed Term
    Cannot be longer than 2 years and can only be renewed once.
  • Indefinite employment contract
• Trial period contracts are also permitted but they cannot extend for longer than 6 months

Employer of Record for Senegal Africa

Although an Employer of Record often works with a staffing agency, the two are separate business entities. Each has specific roles and responsibilities in their symbiotic relationship. We Handle Employer of Record and Payroll throughout Africa.

Purpose

An employer of record serves as an employer for tax purposes while an employee performs work for the client, such as a staffing firm or other business. An employer of record handles all personnel functions, including payroll processing and funding; tax deposits and filing; and employment contracts and paperwork. Maintaining a Certificate of Insurance, and Verification forms; unemployment insurance; and workers’ compensation are done. An employer of record also performs background checks and drug screenings; administers benefits; terminates employees; and may handle worker issues. Conversely, a staffing firm recruits’ employees and assigns them to businesses for worker absences, temporary skill shortages, seasonal work, or special projects. Their main focus is to match temporary, temp-to-hire, long-term, or permanent workers with clients in need.

Benefits

Using an employer of record allows the client company to free up time and cost-effectively outsource its necessary human resource functions, employee benefits, payroll, workers’ compensation, and compliance issues. The money saved by outsourcing these functions can be used to expand the business, provide steady income for the owner, or fill a variety of other purposes. Onboarding quality talent is done quickly by an employer of record so clients can quickly ramp up staff and staffing agencies can deliver top quality workers to their clients. Most staffing agency owners don’t have the HR training, payroll and accounting skills, compliance knowledge, or risk management, insurance, and employee benefits background to meet the demands of being an employer.

Responsibilities and Liabilities

The client company or staffing agency owner retains control over business operations and responsibility for workplace safety and compliance. The employer of record assumes responsibilities and liabilities for employment issues such as administration, payroll, taxes, benefits, and maintaining employee records. Because the employer of record assumes most of the responsibility for compliance and tax laws, the client or staffing services owner receives peace of mind, knowing their business is being taken care of by qualified professionals.

Whereas an employer of record and staffing agency often work together, they have diverse purposes in the workplace.