Working Hours and Overtime in Senegal

What Are The Standard Working Hours In Senegal?

An employee whose age is 17 or younger has a maximum of 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week. An employee whose age is 18 or older is allowed to work 40 hours per week. A minimum meal interval of 30 minutes must be observed by employees who work more than 6 hours in a day. In typical working hours, Monday through Friday, the hours are 8:00 to 17:00.

Maximum Working Hours In Senegal

Under Senegalese labour law, the general statutory limit for full-time work in the private sector is 40 hours per week, usually spread over five or six days. Daily schedules are typically set between 7 and 8 hours per day, depending on how the weekly hours are distributed. You must clearly define the daily and weekly schedule in the employment contract or internal regulations.

Collective agreements or sectoral conventions can organize working time over reference periods, but they cannot reduce statutory protections or increase working hours beyond legal ceilings without proper authorization. Any arrangement that compresses hours into fewer days must still respect daily rest and break rules. Employers are required to keep accurate time records to demonstrate compliance in the event of an inspection or dispute.

Industry-Specific Exceptions

Companies hiring in sectors like healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, or hospitality may be subject to special scheduling rules. These rules can allow for longer daily shifts or irregular hours, provided that average weekly working time remains at or around 40 hours over the applicable reference period. You must check the relevant collective agreement or decree for your sector before designing shift patterns.

• Healthcare professionals may work 12-hour shifts with extended rest periods.
• Transport workers must comply with EU-aligned rest and driving limits.
• Manufacturing and security staff often rotate through night or weekend shifts.

Even in these sectors, you must ensure the average weekly limit is respected over a reference period. You should also monitor fatigue risks and adjust staffing levels when workloads or peak periods require longer operating hours.

Managerial And Exempt Employees

Senior managerial staff and certain autonomous employees may be treated differently for working-time purposes when they genuinely control their own schedules. In practice, these employees may not be subject to the strict hourly counting applied to rank-and-file staff, but they are still protected by general health and safety principles. You should avoid labeling employees as managerial solely to bypass overtime or hour limits.

Any exemption or forfait arrangement must be clearly documented in the employment contract and aligned with applicable collective agreements. Where a forfait in hours or days is used, you must ensure that the total workload remains reasonable and that the employee receives appropriate rest. Misclassification can expose you to back pay claims for overtime and administrative sanctions.

Statutory Full-Time Working Hours In Senegal

In most private-sector contexts, full-time work in Senegal is defined as 40 hours per week. This is the benchmark used for calculating overtime thresholds and many social security and benefit entitlements. Part-time arrangements are those with contracted hours below this statutory full-time level.

Within the 40-hour framework, you may distribute hours differently across the week, subject to daily rest and break rules and any sectoral agreement. Flexible or staggered hours are permitted if they are agreed with employees and documented. When you introduce variable schedules, you must still ensure that average hours do not exceed 40 per week over the agreed reference period.

Overtime Regulations In Senegal

Overtime in Senegal is tightly regulated, and employers must track hours accurately to ensure that work beyond the statutory 40-hour week is properly authorized and compensated. You are required to maintain reliable timekeeping systems and preserve records that show daily and weekly hours for each employee. Failure to do so can lead to back pay claims, administrative fines, and potential criminal liability in serious or repeated cases.

What Counts As Overtime In Senegal?

Overtime generally refers to any hours worked beyond the statutory 40-hour workweek for full-time employees. Work performed beyond the normal daily schedule but still within 40 hours in the week is usually treated as schedule variation, while hours exceeding 40 in the week trigger overtime premiums. Work performed on the employee’s weekly rest day or on a public holiday is also treated as overtime and attracts higher premium rates.

Collective agreements may define additional triggers, such as overtime for work beyond a set daily threshold, but they cannot reduce statutory protections. You should specify in contracts and internal rules how overtime is requested, approved, and recorded. Employees should not be allowed to work overtime informally without prior authorization.

Maximum Overtime In Senegal

As a general rule, overtime in Senegal is capped at 10 hours per week, meaning total working time should not exceed 50 hours in any given week. Over a year, the typical ceiling applied in practice is 100 hours of overtime per employee, unless a higher limit is authorized by the labour inspectorate. These caps are designed to protect employee health and prevent systematic reliance on overtime instead of proper staffing.

In exceptional circumstances, such as peak production periods or urgent work to prevent accidents, you may request authorization from the labour authorities to exceed the usual annual limit, often up to a maximum of 120 overtime hours per year. Any such extension must be justified and documented. Even with authorization, you must still respect daily rest and safety requirements.

Overtime Payout Rates In Senegal

Overtime hours in Senegal must be paid at statutory premium rates calculated on the employee’s normal hourly wage. For the first 8 overtime hours in a week, the minimum premium is 15%, meaning you must pay at least 1.15x the normal hourly rate. Beyond 8 overtime hours in the same week, the premium increases to at least 40%, or 1.40x the normal hourly rate.

When overtime is worked at night, the premium is typically 60%, so you must pay at least 1.60x the normal hourly rate for those hours. Work performed on Sundays or public holidays is generally compensated at a 60% premium as well, or 1.60x the normal hourly rate, unless a more favourable rate is set by a collective agreement. You should always check sectoral agreements, which may provide higher percentages than these statutory minimums.

Rest Periods And Breaks In Senegal

In Senegal, employees typically work up to 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week, and rest periods are structured around these limits to protect health and safety. During the working day, employees who work more than 6 hours must receive a meal break, and daily schedules must allow sufficient time between shifts. Weekly rest rules ensure that employees have at least one full day off after a series of working days.

• Meal Break: Employees who work more than 6 consecutive hours must receive a meal break of at least 30 minutes, and many collective agreements extend this to 45 or 60 minutes depending on the sector.
• Daily Rest: Employees are generally entitled to a minimum of 11 consecutive hours of rest between the end of one workday and the start of the next, and you should avoid scheduling split shifts that undermine this rest.
• Weekly Rest: Workers must receive at least 24 consecutive hours of weekly rest, usually on Sunday, and if business needs require Sunday work you must grant a substitute rest day during the week.
• Minors: Young workers under 18 benefit from stricter limits on daily hours and must receive longer rest periods, and they are generally prohibited from night work that would cut into their required rest.
• Employer Duty: Employers must organize schedules so that statutory breaks and rest periods are actually taken, and labour inspectors may sanction companies that systematically deny or shorten required rest.

Night Shifts And Weekend Regulations In Senegal

Night and weekend work are legal in Senegal but subject to additional employer responsibilities and employee protections. You must pay attention to specific rules on scheduling, premiums, and vulnerable categories of workers when organizing such shifts. Proper documentation and consultation with employee representatives are recommended where night or weekend work is regular.

Night work in Senegal is generally defined as work performed between 22:00 and 5:00, although some sectoral agreements may adjust this window slightly. The rules apply across most roles, with particular attention to industrial, security, healthcare, and hospitality operations that commonly run overnight. You should clearly identify in contracts or internal rules which positions are classified as night work roles.

• Premium Pay: Regular night work typically attracts a minimum premium of 60%, meaning night hours should be paid at least 1.60x the employee’s normal hourly wage, and some collective agreements provide even higher percentages for late-night or rotating shifts.
• Health Monitoring: For employees who regularly perform night work, you should arrange periodic health assessments to monitor fatigue, sleep disorders, and other risks, and adjust schedules or reassign staff if medical advice indicates that night work is unsuitable.
• Workplace Restrictions: Minors under 18 and pregnant workers are generally prohibited or strongly restricted from performing night work, and you must reassign them to daytime duties or adjust schedules to comply with these protections.

Weekend work, particularly on Sunday, is treated as work on the usual weekly rest day and is therefore subject to stricter conditions. When employees work on Sunday, you must grant a substitute rest day and pay a premium that commonly reaches 60%, or 1.60x the normal hourly rate, unless a more favourable rate is set by a collective agreement.