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Employ Candidates Compliantly in Ivory Coast (Cote d’Ivoire)

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  1. Overview: Ivory Coast (Cote d’Ivoire)
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Global HR Compliance in Ivory Coast (Cote d’Ivoire)

If you hire an international workforce or plan to hire, then the Hiring and Firing Workforce in Ivory Coast Guide below will help you understand the nuances of labor legislation in the country.

When the company is planning to enter a new foreign market, like Ivory Coast, and has a need to employ a local national there, the first question to answer is how it is going to make local hires.

We have designed a Global Employer of Record service to help you outsource the global employment of your foreign workforce to companies like ours.

This solution helps you employ your global sales force in Ivory Coast as well as in other 180+ countries of the world, provide pay and benefits to your employees, as well as administer any business expenses with our help.

Our solution is different from other hiring modes in that it helps you engage your foreign workforce in full compliance with the local labor legislation. This means you are protected from any non-compliance and employee misclassification risks while we bear all employment risks, not you.

So, it looks very much like hiring your in-house sales force in your home country. However, you focus only on your global business development while we administer your global HR. In addition, you don’t need to open your own entities in foreign countries and can leverage our infrastructure in Ivory Coast instead. With our service, you can become a global company with reduced costs and minimized time and effort on your end.

Your employed foreign sales force will devote 100% of their time to your company’s product and may stay with you longer than foreign sales reps.

The global Employer of Record solution is a 100% compliant solution that guarantees you and your employees full compliance with local legislation in Ivory Coast.

We are experts in global workforce employment in Ivory Coast, and our goal is to become your single provider. Instead of working with numerous local staffing agencies and legal advisors, Acumen International can solve your global business challenges and save you time, costs, and resources.

Our team of English-speaking professionals frees you from working through language nuances. Acumen International works 24/7 and can assist you whenever you need it, regardless of time zones. Our goal is to create tailored labor solutions for you that are managed legally and in full compliance with the local employment laws.

With our knowledge and deep understanding of local nuances, you easily satisfy your need for skilled professionals in your global industry. With our qualified local partners, you can trust that your global workforce satisfies all local tax, social security, and immigration requirements in Ivory Coast.

See Hiring and Firing Workforce in Ivory Coast Guide below for a general overview of labor rules and regulations in the country. Or contact us if you need to employ workers in Ivory Coast or would like to get more details.

Hiring and Firing Workforce in Ivory Coast (Cote d’Ivoire) Guide

# Employment contracts
The contract of employment is passed freely and, subject to the provisions of this code, in the forms that it is appropriate for the contracting parties to adopt.

When written, the employment contract is exempt from all stamp duties and registration.

The contract of employment may be concluded for an indefinite period, or for a fixed term. A fixed-term employment contract is a contract that ends on the arrival of a term fixed by the parties at the time of its conclusion.

The contract of employment concluded for a fixed term must include a precise term fixed as soon as it is concluded; it must indicate either the date of its completion or the precise duration for which it is concluded.

The specific futures contracts cannot be concluded for a duration greater than two years. Specific future contracts may be renewed without limitation. However, these renewals cannot have the effect of causing the maximum duration of two years to be exceeded.

Fixed-term contracts may have an imprecise term when they are concluded to replace a worker who is temporarily absent, for the duration of a season, for an occasional increase in work, or for a short period of time. The term is then constituted by the return of the replaced employee or the termination of his employment contract, the end of the season, or the end of the occasional increase of work or the unusual activity of the company.

At the time of the engagement, the employer must communicate to the worker any elements that might shed light on the approximate duration of the contract.

The imprecise futures contracts can be renewed freely without limit of number and without loss of quality.

Unworked term fixed-term contracts are defined as contracts for daily workers engaged on an hour or a daily basis for short-term work and paid at the end of the day, the week, or the fortnight.

The fixed-term employment contract ends at the end of the term without any compensation or notice.

Minimum (Statutory) Employment Rules and Regulations in Ivory Coast

Hours of work:
The duration and the work schedule are fixed by the employer in compliance with the rules enacted by this code and the texts taken for its application. The duration and the work schedule are displayed in the workplaces and communicated to the labor inspector and social legislation.

In all establishments subject to the Labour Code, with the exception of agricultural establishments, the normal hours of work of staff, irrespective of their sex and mode of remuneration, shall be 40 hours. per week. This period may be exceeded by applying the rules on equivalence, overtime, recovery of lost hours of work and modulation.

In agricultural and similar establishments, the normal hours of work of staff, irrespective of their sex and mode of remuneration, are set at 2400 hours per year. This period may be exceeded by applying the rules on equivalence, overtime, and recovery of hours of work lost.

Working time shorter than normal may be stipulated in part-time work. In this case, the contract must be noted in writing, or a letter of employment, mentioning the duration of the work. Complementary hours may be completed under the conditions and limits laid down by decree.

Probation period:
The employment contract, whether for a fixed term or for an indefinite period, may include a probationary period, the maximum duration of which is fixed by decree.

When the parties to the employment contract decide to submit their relations to a probationary period or to renew it, the contract must be written or noted by a letter of employment stating the length of the probationary period.

However, collective agreements may provide that the employment contracts of all or part of the employees to whom they relate shall necessarily include a probation period and not make the validity of the contract subject to the conclusion of a written contract.

Annual leave:
The Labour Law allows paid annual leave is as follows: for a worker with 1 year of tenure 26.4 working days. One with a five-year contract requires 27.4 working days. Workers with a contract of ten or more years require 28.4 working days.

For the purpose of calculating the duration of the leave granted, the absence for a work accident or occupational disease shall not be deducted, the periods of rest for women in childbearing.
Within the limit of ten days, exceptional allowances granted to the worker on the occasion of family events directly affecting his own home may not be deducted from the duration of the acquired leave.

Parental leave:
The employer must not take into account the pregnancy status of a woman to refuse to hire her or terminate her employment contract during a probation period.

In jobs where a medical certificate is required to be hired, the pregnant woman may submit an incomplete file if certain examinations normally prescribed prove to be dangerous for her health or that of the embryo. Uncompleted examinations are postponed after delivery.

Except in the case of gross negligence on the part of the person concerned or the impossibility of maintaining the contract for reasons unrelated to pregnancy or childbirth, the employer shall be prohibited from dismissing a woman during her pregnancy and only during the twelve weeks following the delivery.

If a dismissal is notified in the absence of knowledge of the pregnancy, the pregnant woman may, within a period of fifteen days from the notification of her dismissal, prove her condition by a medical certificate. The dismissal is therefore canceled unless it is pronounced for one of the reasons justifying, by application of the previous paragraph, the termination of the employment contract.

Any pregnant woman whose condition has been medically declared may terminate her contract of employment without notice and without thereby having to pay a termination indemnity. The same is offered to the mother during the breastfeeding period defined in article 23.7 of this code.

On the occasion of her confinement, and without this interruption of service is considered as a cause of breach of the contract, any woman has the right to suspend her work for fourteen consecutive weeks, including eight weeks after the birth. deliverance; this suspension may be extended by three weeks in case of duly ascertained illness resulting from pregnancy or confinement.

In any case, no dismissal may be served or take effect during the period of maternity leave. At the end of the period of suspension of her contract, the female employee is reinstated in her job.

Sick leave:
Employees are generally eligible for at least 5 days of paid sick leave.

Overtime:
Decrees shall determine the methods of application of the provisions of the preceding article, and shall in particular determine:

  1. the distribution of working hours on days of the week;
  2. the conditions under which employers may deviate from the rule of the collective timetable and practice individual;
  3. where applicable and for certain professions, the number of hours in the workstation deemed to be equivalent to forty hours or two thousand four hundred hours of actual work;
  4. the cases and conditions, including increased pay, in which overtime may be performed;
  5. the cases and conditions in which collective interruptions of work may give rise to a subsequent increase in hours of work in order to compensate for such loss of activity, the hours thus recovered not being considered as overtime;
  6. the conditions under which the social negotiators may enter into modulation agreements which, according to foreseeable seasonal fluctuations in the activities of the undertakings, result in an unequal distribution of normal working hours over the various periods of employment; year, periods of less activity being offset by periods of greater activity;
  7. the limits within which overtime may be performed.

State minimum salary:
Cote d’Ivoire’s minimum wage varies by occupation, the lowest minimum wage is 36,607 CFA franc per month for the industrial sector; a slightly higher minimum wage rate is applied for construction workers. Ivory Coast’s minimum wage was last changed on January 01, 1994.

Employee dismissal:
The termination of the employment contract is subject to a notice given by the party who initiates the break. In the absence of collective agreements, a decree determines the conditions and duration of the notice, taking into account, in particular, the duration of the contract and the professional categories.

The party initiating the breach of the contract must notify the other in writing of its decision. When the initiative emanates from the employer, this notification must be motivated.

During the period of the notice period, the employer and the worker are bound by all the reciprocal obligations incumbent upon them.
For the purpose of finding another job, the worker shall, during the notice period, be granted one day of freedom per week taken, at his choice, globally or hour by hour, paid at full pay.

The party in respect of which these obligations are not respected may not be subject to any period of notice, without prejudice to the damages that it may claim.

Any breach of contract of indefinite duration, without notice or without the notice period being fully observed, shall entail the obligation of the responsible party to pay compensation to the other party. the amount of which corresponds to the remuneration and benefits of any kind that the worker would have received during the notice period that was not actually respected.

However, breach of contract may occur without notice in case of gross negligence, subject to the assessment of the competent court, as regards the seriousness of the fault.

A company manager who plans to make a redundancy for economic reasons of more than one worker must organize an information and explanation meeting with the employees prior to the application of his decision—staff delegates who may be assisted by representatives of their unions. The Inspector of Labor and the Social Legislation of the area participates in this meeting.

Dismissal on economic grounds constitutes termination of employment by an employer as a result of the termination or transformation of employment, in particular as a result of technological changes, restructuring or difficulties.

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