The Contrat à Durée Indéterminée (CDI) is the standard and legally preferred form of employment contract in Senegal, with no fixed end date. It may be in writing or verbal, though written contracts are strongly recommended for evidentiary purposes and are mandatory for certain categories (e.g., expatriates, executives). Termination requires a legitimate cause, adherence to statutory notice periods, and, where applicable, severance pay.
Under the current Labor Code (Law n°97-17, Art. L.42–L.44), a CDD cannot exceed 2 years in total duration (except for specific project-based contracts, seasonal work, or temporary replacements, which are exempt from the cap but cannot be renewed). An employee may not sign more than 2 fixed-term contracts with the same employer, and a CDD may be renewed only once; continued work beyond these limits automatically creates an indefinite contract. Contracts longer than 3 months must be filed with the labor inspectorate. Note: a new Labor Code adopted by the National Assembly on 18 August 2026 (not yet promulgated as of this writing) would extend the maximum CDD duration to 4 years, with up to 3 successive contracts and 2 renewals.
The legal work week is 40 hours (typically 8 hours/day, 5 days/week), per Law n°97-17. Overtime beyond 40 hours is paid at a premium: +15% for the first 8 overtime hours per week and +40% for hours beyond that; work on Sundays/holidays is paid at +60%; night work (10pm–5am) is paid at +60% on ordinary days and +100% on Sundays/holidays. The agricultural sector has a different annual-hours regime (~2,352 hours/year).
Probation length varies by role: general workers and employees are commonly engaged on a 1-month trial (renewable once); supervisors and technicians on 1–2 months (renewable once); managers and executives on up to 3 months (renewable once). Renewal requires the employee's written agreement and must be arranged before the initial period ends. The trial period and any renewal must be agreed in writing — an unwritten 'trial' is deemed to create an indefinite contract from the outset. During probation either party may end the relationship with a much shorter notice than the standard statutory periods.
Senegalese law does not require a 13th- or 14th-month salary. Where paid, it is a matter of individual contract, employer policy, or collective bargaining agreement, commonly ranging from 0.5 to 1 month of base salary, generally disbursed at year-end. A bonus paid consistently over time can become a binding 'acquired benefit' under case law even without an explicit clause.
Senegal has no general statutory register of job titles, but the employment contract must state the employee's job title/function and professional category, which determines minimum pay scale under the applicable collective bargaining agreement (Convention Collective Nationale Interprofessionnelle or a sector-specific convention). Certain regulated professions (e.g., medicine, law, accounting/auditing, aviation, private security) require specific licenses/qualifications tied to the job title, overseen by the relevant professional order or ministry.
Mandatory employer social contributions (excluding any 13th-month/holiday-pay practice) total approximately 19.4%–23.4% of gross salary, made up of: IPRES general retirement pension 8.4% (capped at XOF 432,000/month); IPRES complementary pension for executives/cadres 3.6% (on the tranche between XOF 432,000 and XOF 1,296,000/month, executives only); CSS family benefits (prestations familiales) 7% (capped at XOF 63,000/month); work-injury insurance 1%–5% depending on the employer's occupational risk classification (capped at XOF 63,000/month); and a mandatory health insurance (IPM) contribution of roughly 3% employer share (capped at XOF 250,000/month). Employers are also subject to a separate 3% flat CFCE payroll charge and, for companies with 5+ employees, an apprenticeship/vocational-training levy (~1.5%–2%) that is not included in the figure above.
Employees contribute approximately 8.6% of gross salary: IPRES general retirement pension 5.6% (capped at XOF 432,000/month), plus IPRES complementary pension 2.4% for executives/cadres on earnings between XOF 432,000 and XOF 1,296,000/month, plus a mandatory health insurance (IPM) employee share of roughly 3% (capped at XOF 250,000/month). Employees do not contribute to family benefits or work-injury insurance — those are employer-only.
In addition to statutory leave, employees are entitled to the following statutory benefits:
Senegal's social protection system is funded through employer and employee contributions to the Institution de Prévoyance Retraite du Sénégal (IPRES) for pensions and the Caisse de Sécurité Sociale (CSS) for family benefits and work-injury insurance, plus a mandatory health insurance (IPM) contribution.
Employers are additionally subject to a flat 3% CFCE payroll charge and, for larger employers, vocational-training/apprenticeship contributions (not classified as social security but statutory nonetheless).
Work-related accidents and occupational illnesses are covered under the CSS occupational-risk (accidents du travail) insurance branch, funded entirely by the employer.
Severance pay (indemnité de licenciement) is due to employees with at least one year of continuous service who are dismissed for reasons other than serious misconduct (faute lourde). It is calculated as a percentage of the employee's average monthly salary (based on the last 12 months) multiplied by years of service:
Collective bargaining agreements may provide more generous severance terms than these statutory minimums. Severance is not owed if the employee is dismissed for serious misconduct or resigns voluntarily.
A 13th-month salary or year-end bonus is not a statutory requirement under Senegalese labor law.
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Your employee's hours, time off, holidays, bonuses, and commissions are automatically calculated into payroll. RemoFirst will invoice you in either US Dollars (USD), Euros (EUR), British Pounds (GBP), Canadian Dollars (CAD), Australian Dollars (AUD), or Singapore Dollars (SGD) around the 15th of each month to make sure your employees are paid on time. To make it even easier, you can summarize your entire global team's salaries to aggregate them into one payment (instead of many individual payments).
Unlike full-time employees, contractors work on projects with multiple companies at a given time and are technically self-employed. Full-time employees are solely focused on their employer and usually receive benefits (such as health insurance, equity or stock options, and time off) as an additional form of compensation. While it can be cheaper to work with international contractors instead of paying benefits to a full-time employee, you run the risk of misclassification. It's recommended to work with an EOR for contractor onboarding and payments, so you can know that your international contractors are paid compliantly and on time.
Whenever the employee or employer has a question about, or anything else related to international employment, they can speak with our customer support team to get answers from our team of experts.
