Maternity and Paternity leave
Expectant mothers in Senegal are entitled to total 14 weeks of maternity leave paid at 100% normal salary. 6 weeks of maternity leave are to be taken before the birth, and 8 weeks after the birth.
Expectant fathers in Senegal are not normally entitled to paternity leave. Some fathers are covered by the ‘interprofessional collective agreement’; they are entitled to one day of paid paternity leave.
Some international employers will offer more paternity leave than required as part of the benefits package.
Healthcare
For employees, healthcare costs are usually covered by the IPM (Institut de Prévoyance Maladie) health fund. The IPM takes care of 40% – 80% of primary care costs, which includes vaccinations, hospitalization, and emergency treatment.
Employers must enroll employees and their families to the scheme. The benefits are managed by a choice of funds: health funds, private insurance, or mother and child protection centers. Employees must contribute for a minimum of two months before claiming any benefits from the scheme.
Employers are also entitled to benefits if they are hospitalized.
- Hospital allowance: a modest payment per day of hospitalization.
- Hospital deposit: If the employee is hospitalized and the IPM does not cover the costs, the employing company will act as guarantor to the employee and pay their hospital expenses up front. The employee will then reimburse the employer during the months following hospitalization.
Medical insurance costs in Senegal represent 6% of the employees’ salary, with 3% being paid by the employee and 3% by the employer.
Since only 22% of employees in Senegal are hired with a formal employment situation (with the rest informal or casual employees), the number of people covered by the IPM is quite low. Those not covered by the IPM are automatically enrolled in the Senegal welfare system, which is organized in a pyramid structure: at the bottom, local / community healthcare, followed by health centers, specialized health centers, and national hospitals & institutes. At each layer, there are more specialized medical professionals, but wait times are long.
Some residents of Senegal have private insurance, which allows them to visit private healthcare facilities in the country for very little cost. Many times, private insurance plans are taken out by individuals and are not related to employment. For foreign staff, it is customary for the employer to offer private health insurance. Despite what is common, private health insurance could be an attractive benefit to local candidates.
With Horizons’ Senegal EOR, companies can offer employees in Senegal affordable private health insurance options.
Pensions
All employees in Senegal who are not working as civil servants for the government are covered by the General Social Security Program (Régime general de retraite). This is available for employees aged 40+ with minimum 5 years of contributions under the mandatory coverage scheme.
In Senegal, pensions are based on a points system. Points are calculated by dividing the amount of contributions by the ‘reference salary’, an amount determined by the Social Insurance Institute of Senegal and adjusted regularly.
The requirements for collecting on the General social security program follow:
- Old-age pension: 55 – 60 years old (depending on difficulty of work conducted) with 400 points. For non-civil-service employees, employment must cease when the pension is collected. For the complimentary program, available only to Senegal civil servants, employment can continue until age 60 (without accumulating additional points). If an employee has 400 points at 53 years old, they may retire early with a slightly reduced pension.
- Old-age settlement: A lump sum to be collected at 55 – 60 years old (depending on difficulty of work conducted) with less than 400 points. Employment must end when the settlement is collected. For the complimentary program, available only to civil servants, they may retire at age 55 and collect the old-age settlement.
- Disability pension: For those 53+ years old and assessed by a Social Insurance Institute doctor as being disabled. Full old-age pension can be collected if the doctor determines the employee is, in fact, disabled.
- Survivor pension: For the family of a deceased pensioner or a deceased employee who is eligible for a pension. Eligible survivors are:
- A widow aged 45+ years old (or younger, if responsible for more than two dependents under the age of 21). Widow must have been married to the deceased for minimum 2 years.
- A widower aged 55+ years old (or any age if disabled, or aged 53+ years old while caring for a disable dependent and unable to work). Widower must have been married to the deceased for minimum 2 years.
- An orphan aged 21 years old or younger, if their guardian ia ineligible to receive the pension.
Funding for general pensions comes from both employee and employer contributions.
Employer: 8.4% of monthly payroll amount, to a max. monthly salary amount of 360,000 CFA francs. (The monthly salary in Senegal can be higher, but for the purposes of the calculation, the maximum is 360,000 CFA francs.)
Employee: 5.6% of monthly payroll amount, to a max. monthly salary amount of 360,000 CFA francs. (The monthly salary in Senegal can be higher, but for the purposes of the calculation, the maximum is 360,000 CFA francs.)
A Senegal EOR will make sure all contributions are paid to the Senegal tax authorities on time and all pensions are paid out according to local law. This increased focus on compliance (performed entirely by the EOR) protects companies from litigation from employees or hefty fines from the government.
