Employer in Chad

Chad's Labour Code, Loi n°38/PR/96, applies to contracts performed in Chad regardless of where the contract was signed, where the parties live or what nationality they hold. An employer can be a natural or legal person in the public or private sector that uses one or more people for payment under its direction and authority. Magistrates, armed forces, permanent public administration and state or local administrative agents under special statutes follow separate systems. A business should notify the Inspection du Travail and ONAPE before opening. ONAPE is the employment agency under the labour ministry; it handles job offers and requests, placement, workforce statistics and recruitment pathways for foreign workers. The employer also submits the personnel declaration required by the relevant ministerial instructions and keeps an employer register at the workplace. The register must remain available to labour inspectors and must be kept for five years after the last entry. The Inspection du Travail checks compliance, advises employers and workers, attempts conciliation and records infringements. Inspection capacity remains limited: a 2026 ILO finding counted 102 labour inspectors and reported irregular inspections linked to transport and office constraints. Employment records should state the actual relationship and its duration. A fixed-term contract, called a CDD, must be written, specify its end date or duration and generally cannot exceed two years, including the permitted renewal. A CDD without a precise end date is limited to situations such as replacing an absent worker, seasonal or campaign work, an occasional increase in activity or an unusual task. A CDD lasting from six months to two years requires ONAPE approval. Probation periods under the Labour Code are up to six months for managers, three months for white-collar workers, technicians and supervisors, and one month for other workers. The General Collective Agreement provides shorter periods in some cases: 15 days for hourly workers, one month for monthly-paid workers and three months for executives and first-line supervisors, with one renewal. An internal workplace regulation is required in industrial or commercial establishments with at least 25 workers. It may cover work organisation, discipline, hygiene and safety, and payment arrangements. The employer consults worker representatives, submits three copies to the Inspection du Travail and changes or removes unlawful clauses when the inspector requires it. Companies with at least 10 workers must support apprenticeship development. Continuing training may take place inside or outside the company, depending on the organisation's needs and available arrangements. Pay must be equal for equal or equivalent work without discrimination based on origin, nationality, sex or age. The applicable SMIG and SMAG are statutory minimum-wage standards agreed through representative employer and worker organisations and made legally binding between the parties; the current nominal amount requires case-specific verification. Branch wage classifications and collective minimums may provide higher rates. Piece-rate or task-based pay cannot fall below the comparable time-based wage. Non-agricultural working time is generally limited to 39 hours per week. Agricultural work is subject to a maximum of 2,400 hours per year. Overtime is decided by the employer with notice or information to the labour inspector and is generally limited to 94 hours per year, 11 hours per day and 54 hours per week unless a special rule applies. Overtime premiums come from the applicable decree and may be improved by a collective agreement. Workers receive at least 24 consecutive hours of weekly rest, normally on Sunday. Annual leave accrues at two working days for each month of effective work and can normally be taken after one year. The employer gives at least 15 days' notice and pays the full leave allowance before leave begins. When employment takes place away from the recruitment location, the employer also has travel and family-transport duties under the applicable rules. The Caisse Nationale de Prévoyance Sociale, known as CNPS, manages social protection. The employer and workers register with CNPS, the employer files an employment notice for each new worker and obtains a certificate of cessation when employment ends. The employer transfers the total contribution, including the worker's share. Payment is monthly for employers with at least 20 workers and quarterly for employers with fewer than 20 workers or domestic workers. Salary declarations are monthly by the 20th day after the reporting month for the larger group and quarterly by the 20th day after the quarter for the smaller group. Failure to declare can lead to taxation d'office. The assessed monthly salary is capped at 500,000 CFA francs and cannot be below the SMIG. The standard total contribution is 20%: 16.5% from the employer for family benefits, occupational accidents and diseases, and old-age, invalidity and survivors' pensions, plus 3.5% from the worker for the pension branch. A detached public servant in private-sector employment has a reduced employer rate of 11.5%. Workplace accidents must be reported to CNPS within 48 hours, or within 72 hours in force majeure. CNPS operates through 18 regional agencies. The employer provides a clean workplace, safe machinery, accident and occupational-disease prevention and practical safety training for new hires, workers changing jobs or techniques, and workers returning after more than six months away. The employer supplies non-alcoholic drinking water and keeps safety measures under continuous review. Where conditions are hazardous, the labour inspector or medical inspector can require measures, and imminent danger requires immediately enforceable action. A Comité d'hygiène et de sécurité is required from 50 workers. It meets at least twice a year, prepares an annual report and sends anonymised accident and occupational-disease information and meeting minutes to the Inspection du Travail, the medical inspector and CNPS within one month. Members receive 10 paid hours per year for committee work and protection against retaliation. Workers may join or support a union freely. An employer may not use union activity or membership to decide hiring, work allocation, training, promotion, discipline, pay, benefits, transfer or dismissal, and may not pressure workers to support or reject a union. Elected worker delegates and union delegates represent workers. Their mandate lasts two years and can be renewed. The employer holds a monthly collective reception, provides a notice board and, from 60 workers, a local for representatives. Each titular worker delegate receives 15 paid delegation hours per month in addition to paid meeting time. The employer consults representatives on social and economic organisation, complaints and workplace safety. Dismissal of a titular or substitute delegate, a former representative within 12 months or an unelected candidate within six months requires prior Inspection du Travail authorisation. The Conseil National du Patronat Tchadien, or CNPT, is the national employer federation and supports employer representation, social dialogue, training and small-business interests. Branch and interprofessional collective agreements are negotiated through mixed commissions with equal employer and union representation under the labour minister or a representative. Enterprise negotiations use employer and worker delegations, require notice to the inspector at least one week beforehand and treat negotiation time as paid. Agreements are deposited with the ministry, which has a one-month period for observations or reopening. The national General Collective Agreement of 2002 covers representation, contracts, pay, benefits, working time, leave and classifications. If a company is sold, merged or transformed, existing collective agreements continue to bind the new employer. A worker normally refers an individual conflict to the Inspection du Travail or a controller, orally or in writing. Mandatory conciliation comes before the Labour and Social Security Court; a settlement report can be enforced and is filed with the court registry. The court handles disputes about making, performing, suspending, changing or ending an employment contract, collective agreements and CNPS matters. In dismissal disputes, the employer carries the burden of proving the grounds. Ordinary dismissal requires an objective or serious reason, written summons and notice. For an indefinite contract, notice is 15 days, one month after one year of service and two months after at least three years; payment in lieu can replace notice. After at least two years, severance is 25% of average gross monthly salary per year for the first five years, 30% for the next five and 35% from the eleventh year. Unfair-dismissal damages have no statutory ceiling. Collective conflicts use conciliation and, where agreed within two working days after a non-conciliation record, arbitration by a Court of Appeal board; strikes and lockouts follow the Labour Code. Economic dismissal covers job elimination or transformation caused by technological change, restructuring, economic difficulty or closure. The employer gives worker representatives written lists of affected jobs, proposed workers and selection criteria; representatives have eight working days to respond, after which the information goes to the inspector. The employer, representatives, workers and inspector then seek alternatives for up to 30 working days, such as reduced hours, shift changes, part-time work, technical unemployment, company restructuring, a collective agreement or agreed wage reductions. Selection uses professional skills, seniority, family responsibilities and age in the statutory order. Notice and severance remain payable, and a worker has re-employment priority for one year after requesting it within one month; the General Collective Agreement may extend this to two years.