Labor law in Monaco

Monaco’s labor law applies primarily to private employment in which an employee performs personal work under an employer’s authority in return for salary. Public-service status follows a different framework. The main sources are laws, ordonnances souveraines, arrêtés ministériels, conventions collectives, accords d’entreprise and court decisions. French employment rules cannot be transferred to Monaco without checking the applicable Monegasque rule. An employment contract may generally be agreed in any form, but a written contract is required for work below 39 hours per week. The contract may be a CDI, an open-ended contract, or a CDD, a fixed-term contract. A contract may also require an employee authorization or declaration and, for foreign employees, a work permit. The permit is linked to the job and employer. Changing employers normally requires a new application, and telework must be declared in the permit or an amendment request. A foreign national without the required permit cannot take a private job in Monaco. An employer reports each vacancy to the Direction du Travail. Suitable candidates can be referred within four clear days. When candidates are otherwise suitable, the access order gives priority to Monegasque nationals, certain people with Monegasque family links, Monaco residents and then other foreign nationals. The exact category and authorization status should be checked before work begins. A probationary period starts when work begins. If no period is agreed, the default for a monthly-paid employee is one month. Any probation must be expressly stated in the contract and in the relevant authorization, permit or declaration. The employer may extend it once with the employee’s written consent given before expiry, but the total period cannot exceed three months. During probation, either side may generally end the contract without notice or termination indemnity, while salary for work performed remains payable. A new probationary period is not appropriate for continuous follow-on contracts covering the same functions. A CDD normally continues until its agreed end date. Before that date, unilateral termination is limited to a just cause, serious misconduct, force majeure or a case allowed by the contract or workplace rules. A CDI can generally be ended by either party subject to the applicable notice period. Revocation or renewed refusal of a required work permit can end the contract without notice or termination indemnity. The statutory working week is 39 hours. A collective agreement or company agreement can organize compensatory time or distribution over a reference period of up to one year. The average over 12 weeks cannot exceed 46 hours, and an individual week cannot normally exceed 48 hours; short-term exceptions can reach 60 hours. Overtime above 39 hours attracts a 25% increase for the first eight hours and a 50% increase for later hours. Employees receive at least one complete weekly rest day, generally Sunday, subject to exceptions based on business or public-service needs. Public holidays follow the rules in Laws 798 and 800, including whether the day is non-working and paid. Part-time work below 39 hours requires a written contract. Where weekly work is below 19 hours and 30 minutes, additional hours can generally be worked without a premium up to the contractual duration; above that threshold, the applicable premium rules change. Variable-hour jobs can fall under the exception in Ministerial Order 2025-716. Agreements on working-time arrangements may involve a collective agreement, employee delegates or a majority employee vote under Law 1.505. From 1 June 2026, the SMIC is EUR 12.31 per hour. At 39 hours per week, the monthly reference is EUR 2,080.39 for 169 hours. The minimum amount includes a 5% exceptional indemnity, whose 5% share is excluded from social-security and workplace-accident contributions. Equal pay applies to equal or equivalent work and covers direct and indirect benefits. Industrial and commercial workers must generally be paid at least twice per month, with no more than 16 days between payments. Monthly employees must generally be paid once per month. Tips and benefits in kind are included according to the applicable rules. The employer must affiliate with the Caisses Sociales de Monaco and submit a monthly salary declaration covering gross pay, hours, leave, sickness, maternity and accidents. The declaration is due by the 10th of the following month, and payment is generally due within 10 days of the call. The stated contribution rates are 13.40% or 13.45% for CCSS employee contributions, 8.33% for CAR employee contributions and 6.85% for the employer share, giving a CAR total of 15.18%. Assurance Chômage contributions are 4% for employees and 2.40% for employers, giving a total of 6.40%. CMRC contributions are divided 60% for employees and 40% for employers. Workplace-accident coverage is arranged through the employer’s private insurers. Employees accrue 2.5 working days of paid leave per month of effective work, up to 30 working days. Unless a collective agreement or established practice provides otherwise, the employer sets the leave order after consulting employee delegates and generally gives notice at least one month before leave begins. Maternity leave normally comprises eight weeks before birth and ten weeks after birth. Up to six prenatal weeks may be transferred to the postnatal period. The period increases to 18 weeks for an employee with at least two children and to 22 postnatal weeks for multiple births. A medically confirmed pregnancy protects the employee from dismissal during the protected absence and for four weeks afterwards. If the pregnancy was unknown, notification with a medical certificate within 15 days can annul the dismissal. The employee returns to the same or an equivalent job with at least the same pay. The Office de la médecine du travail prevents physical and psychological health risks, conducts individual examinations, supports workplace adjustments and checks risks and hygiene. The Service de l’Inspection du Travail enforces labor rules, conducts inspections, can order action where danger exists, receives accident and occupational-disease reports and provides information. Moral or sexual harassment, sexual blackmail and workplace violence are prohibited. Employees and trainees are protected against disciplinary or career disadvantages because they suffer, refuse, witness or report such conduct. A close relative caregiver can obtain a protected unpaid leave when the employee has worked for the same employer for at least two years. The leave lasts three months and can be extended up to one year. The request is generally submitted at least one month in advance. Seniority and paid-leave accrual continue, dismissal protection lasts from notification until four weeks after the leave ends, and the employee may request adjusted working time; the employer must answer within 15 days. Private establishments with more than 10 regular employees generally have délégués du personnel. They can raise issues concerning pay, job classification, protection, hygiene, safety and social benefits and can contact the Service de l’Inspection du Travail. Company agreements and working-time arrangements may involve these delegates or an elected employee representative. A serving or substitute delegate, former delegate or candidate has dismissal protection; the employer must seek the required commission approval and submit the request to the Inspection du Travail at least 15 clear days before dismissal. A délégué syndical can be appointed from 40 employees: one per union between 40 and 150 employees and two per union above 150. The usual conditions include age 21, five years in Monaco and one year with the company. A collective agreement can become binding for a branch after registration and publication. Notice periods depend on law, contract, workplace rules, collective agreement or established practice. After more than six months of service, the statutory period is one month; after more than two years, it is two months; for a cadre with more than two years, it is three months. A resignation notice is generally half the employer’s period. Notice is given by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt or by hand against a signed receipt. Serious misconduct, force majeure or an agreement between the parties can allow termination without notice. Failure to observe notice normally creates a claim for the salary and benefits covering the remaining period. A dismissal without valid grounds can lead to an indemnity calculated from daily pay and months of service, capped at six monthly salaries, subject to the applicable conditions and deductions. A congédiement in a CDI after at least two years of service carries at least the statutory minimum used in the neighboring economic region and cannot be combined with the dismissal indemnity. Economic dismissals follow statutory selection rules based on residence and nationality and can create a six-month priority for re-employment in the same category. Monegasque rules should not be treated as French dismissal law. A rupture conventionnelle is available only for a private CDI and requires written mutual consent; neither side can impose it. The process includes at least one meeting, written terms and homologation by the Service de l’Inspection du Travail. It takes effect no earlier than the day after homologation, and either party can withdraw within seven calendar days. The minimum indemnity is one quarter of a monthly salary for each year of service, calculated proportionally for complete months, when service is below two years; from two years, it is at least the legal congédiement minimum. Payment is due within one month. Disputes about this procedure belong exclusively to the Tribunal du travail and generally have a six-month claim period. The Service de l’Inspection du Travail can provide advice, prevention, inspections and conciliation, but it does not replace a court’s decision. The Tribunal du travail handles individual disputes arising from an employment contract. Proceedings normally begin with a simple signed requête, followed by service through the court secretariat. A conciliation stage before the Bureau de jugement is generally required, and new or increased claims may be raised there. Conciliation interrupts limitation only when the judgment body is seized within one month. Urgent matters can be brought in référé. Harassment and rupture conventionnelle disputes also fall within the Tribunal du travail. Costs, limitation periods, court language and procedural details depend on the claim and should be checked with the competent Monegasque body.