Global HR Compliance in Guinea

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

There are two main reasons for companies hiring foreign workforce:

• Expanding into foreign markets to sell company product or products there. In this case, companies hire sales representatives who would exclusively represent their product in the target market and sell it to their local client base.
• Hiring the right foreign talent with a unique expertise, often related to IT sphere that cannot be found in the home country or that costs less compared to local specialist with similar skills.

After you have found the right candidate, the question is how to hire and provide compensation to this person so you as a business remain 100% compliant when working with global workforce. Another thing to consider is whether you want to keep the talent long-term and how you can do that.

If you need to hire foreign workforce in Guinea so you can expand there, then our Global Employer of Record solution may be of help. We help you legally hire and reward your foreign workforce by making them employees via a global employment outsourcing service. This is simple as employ your in-house workforce with the only difference that workers can live anywhere in the world and Acumen International would be their legal employer on your behalf. This means we would bear all employment risks, not you. Also, we manage bonuses, vacations, sick leave and can rent the office and a car for your foreign sales representatives if that is what you need.

With our solution, you can test new foreign markets before deciding whether you are going to get established there. You gain flexibility and expand with reduced costs, and easily withdraw from the unattractive countries.

We are experts in global workforce employment in Guinea, 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, 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 Guinea.

Hiring and Firing Workforce in Guinea Guide

# Employment contracts

The employment contract is the contract by which a natural or legal person undertakes to put his professional activity at the disposal of a person under whose subordination it is placed for remuneration.

The employment contract may be concluded for an indefinite period or for a fixed period. The contract concluded without limitation of duration is called “contract of indefinite duration”. Any employment contract that does not meet the definitions of the fixed-term contract, the apprenticeship contract, the trial commitment contract or the traineeship contract must be considered as a contract of indefinite duration.

The employment contract can only be concluded with an individual who has reached the minimum age of sixteen. The conclusion of the contract of employment is subject to the rules of common law. The contract of employment may be in the form that the contracting parties agree to adopt. When the parties to the contract opt for the form of a written contract, it is exempt from any stamp duty. Proof of the contract can be reported by any means.

# Minimum (Statutory) Employment Rules and Regulations in Guinea

# Hours of work:
In all private establishments, the actual working hours of employees are usually 40 hours per week. The employer and the employee may, however, conclude an employment contract of less than forty hours duration, the contract then being a part-time work contract.

# Probation period:
The specific futures contracts may include a trial period the duration of which is included in the total duration of the contract which cannot exceed a duration calculated at the rate of one day per week. However, this duration cannot go beyond one month.

# Annual leave:
Unless more favorable provisions of a collective agreement, the employees entitled to annual leave with pay at the expense of the employer at the rate of two and a half working days per month of actual service. The following shall be considered as periods of actual work for the determination of the duration of leave, periods of paid leave, leave for training, absence for industrial accidents and occupational diseases, maternity leave.

Absences due to a non-occupational disease or a common-law accident are treated as periods of actual work under the conditions determined by collective agreement. The working days are every day of the week with the exception of Sunday and legal holidays. However, the first day of leave is the one during which the employee should have been at work, if he had not gone on leave. Any other method of determining the duration of the annual holiday with pay and any other method of counting days off with pay resulting from uses or agreements are allowed if they result in a result at least as favorable for the employee as the method of determination and legal settlement.

The right of enjoyment of the leave is acquired after an effective period of service equal to one month. Leave with pay not exceeding twelve working days must be continuous. The employee must actually take every vacation he takes every year. In no case may it be provided by agreement to grant a compensatory indemnity in place of the leave.

The following may not be deducted from annual leave: days of sickness and work accident, rest periods for lay-up women provided and public holidays provided for in the Labour Code. The period of leave with pay shall be determined by the branch collective agreements. Otherwise, it is fixed by the employer with reference to the uses and after consultation of the shop stewards. The employer must pay to the employee throughout the duration of his leave the wages and benefits that he would have received if he had continued to provide his usual work, excluding the expatriation allowance and allowances which correspond to reimbursements of expenses related to the performance of the work.

In the event of termination or expiry of the employment contract before the employee has been able to benefit from all the annual leave to which he is entitled, a compensatory allowance for leave shall be granted. Special conditions relating to travel time and transport costs shall be covered by collective agreements and individual employment contracts.

# Parental leave:
The woman has the right to suspend the contract of employment for a period beginning six weeks before the expected date of confinement and ending eight weeks after the date of the birth. In any case, it is forbidden to employ women in childbirth within six weeks of their delivery. When the delivery takes place before the presumed date, the period of suspension of the employment contract may be extended until the end of the fourteen weeks of suspension of the contract to which the employee is entitled.

If a pathological condition attested by a medical certificate as a result of pregnancy or confinement makes it necessary, the period of suspension of the contract is increased by the duration of this medical condition, and may not exceed a total of eight weeks before the expected date of delivery. and ten weeks after the date of it. In the case of multiple births, the maternity leave shall be extended by two weeks.

The salaried woman is entitled, during the maternity leave, to medical care in accordance with the regulations in force. She receives more than half the salary she received at the time of the suspension of work. The National Social Security Fund pays the employee the other half of her salary. On the expiry of her maternity leave, the mother may, if she wishes, take unpaid leave for a period not exceeding nine months.

Employees who do not apply for this leave are entitled to daily rest periods of a total duration of one hour for breastfeeding. This right is granted for a maximum of nine months from the birth of the child. Rest periods may be taken in one, two or three breaks at times determined by the employee and brought to the prior knowledge of the employer. Subsequent modification of rest periods may be by agreement of the parties. Employees who have been granted unpaid leave are also entitled to breastfeeding rest during the resumption of work within the nine-month period following the birth of the child. During the maternity leave or the unpaid leave, the employer may terminate the employee’s contract only if she / he proves a serious fault of the employee not related to the pregnancy or the impossibility for a reason other than pregnancy, confinement or maternity to maintain the contract.

# Sick leave:
Non-occupational diseases or temporary incapacities resulting from an accident which is neither an accident at work nor a commuting accident normally result in the suspension of the employment contract. However, the employer may dismiss a sick employee when the frequency or duration of the employee’s absences, which is equal to or longer than six months, causes a significant disruption in the operation of the company. The suspension is then maintained until the effective replacement of the employee.

# Overtime:
Hours worked during a week beyond forty hours as part of the modulation are not considered as overtime. The employer may unilaterally impose additional hours of work on employees for one hundred hours per calendar year. After the hundredth hour, the employer must obtain an authorization from the labor inspector to work overtime.

Any hour of work which is not an hour of equivalence, modulation or recovery, carried out during a week beyond the fortieth hour, or during a day beyond the eighth hour, is an extra hour. Overtime gives rise to a salary increase. This increase is thirty percent the first four hours, sixty percent beyond. More advantageous methods of remuneration for overtime may be established by individual contract of employment or by collective agreement.

# State minimum salary:
While Guinea’s labor code allows the government to set a minimum hourly wage, no minimum wage has been set except for domestic workers: 440,000 GNF ($62) per month. Guinea’s minimum wage was last changed in January 2015.

# Employee dismissal:
The fixed-term employment contract ends on the expiry of the term. At the end of the fixed-term contract, the employer owes the employee an end-of-contract indemnity equal to five per cent of the total amount of wages and benefits acquired by the latter during the performance of the contract. It must also provide the employee with a work certificate under the conditions provided for in this Code. When an employment contract of indefinite duration follows a fixed-term employment contract when the latter expires, the seniority employee in the company is calculated by including the period covered by the fixed-term contract.

The fixed-term contract may be terminated before the expiry of the term by agreement of the parties provided that it is recorded in writing. The termination of a contract of employment of indefinite duration, after the expiry of the probationary period, which results from an initiative of the employer is a dismissal. Breaks of employment contracts by mutual agreement are not lawful and only make it possible to avoid the rules of dismissal if they are noted in writing signed in the presence of the Labor Inspector.

The termination of an employment contract of indefinite duration, after the expiry of the probationary period, which results from an initiative of the employee is, in principle, a resignation. However, it is assimilated to the dismissal and is subject to the substantive rules governing it when the employee has made the decision to terminate contractual relations at the request of the employer or as a result of a fault committed by the latter.

An employment contract of indefinite duration may also be terminated because of the occurrence of an event beyond the control of the parties that makes the performance of the contract impossible, permanently or for a long time. Subject to any contrary legal or regulatory provisions, the termination of the employment contract occurring under these conditions does not entitle the employee to compensation.