Managing paid leave is one area where mistakes can prove costly: employee dissatisfaction, disputes, and incorrectly calculated compensation. Here is an overview of the Senegalese legal framework (Law No. 97-17 of 1 December 1997, Labour Code, Articles 148 to 155).
1. How is leave accrued?
Each employee accrues 2 working days’ leave per month of actual work, i.e. 24 working days per year (the equivalent of 4 weeks) after a full year.
Certain periods of absence are treated as actual work: illness duly certified by a doctor, an accident at work, an occupational illness, maternity leave, or a strike or lock-out in accordance with the law.
2. Who is eligible?
All employees on permanent or fixed-term contracts, as well as trainees (since the 2015 decree), are entitled to paid annual leave. Service providers or those on precarious contracts are, in principle, excluded, unless otherwise specified by the employer.
3. When can you take your holiday?
The right to take holiday is only acquired after a reference period of 12 months’ actual service. In other words: you accrue days from the first month, but you cannot take them until the reference year has been completed (unless the employer agrees otherwise).
This entitlement may be carried over by mutual agreement, for a maximum of 3 years, provided that a minimum of 6 working days is taken each year.
4. Additional days based on length of service
In addition to the basic 24 days, the Labour Code provides for additional days:
• +1 working day after 10 years’ service with the same employer
• +7 working days after 25 years’ service
Collective agreements may provide for more favourable entitlements (in which case they take precedence over the statutory minimum).
5. Special case: mothers
Female employees are entitled to additional days for dependent children, specifically 1 day per year per child under the age of 14 registered with the civil registry, with specific rules depending on the mother’s age and the number of children.
6. How should these days be recorded and compensated?
Paid leave allowance is calculated on the basis of 1/12 of the total remuneration received during the reference period (excluding benefits in kind in certain cases), paid before the start of the leave.
In the event of termination of the contract, any leave accrued but not taken gives rise to compensatory pay, including for days currently being accrued.
Note: Confusion between working days and calendar days is a common source of errors. Holiday entitlement is calculated in working days (Monday to Saturday, excluding public holidays) — not in calendar days.