MAURITIUS Law and Practice Contributed by: Sameer K. Tegally, Sonia Xavier and Ashvan Luckraz, Venture Law
board has all the powers necessary for managing, directing and supervising the management of the business and affairs of the company. The amendments to the Companies Act 2001 intro - duce the requirement of the board of directors of a public company to include, at all times, at least two independent directors and ensure that a minimum of 25% of the board members are women. 3.5 Directors’, Officers’ and Shareholders’ Liability A director is liable, whether to the company or a shareholder, for breach of any statutory duty set out in the Companies Act 2001. Furthermore, there may be instances where a director may be liable to third parties such as creditors. The Act also imposes per - sonal liability on directors in certain circumstances; for example, continuing to trade whilst the company is insolvent. The duties of directors have been extended to include the duty to act in a manner that is not oppressive, unfairly discriminatory or unfairly prejudicial to share - holders. There are limited circumstances where the courts may lift the corporate veil – ie: • when the court is construing a statute, contract or other document; • when the court is satisfied that a company is a “mere facade” concealing the true facts; and • when it can be established that the company is an authorised agent of its controllers or its members, corporate or human.
The WRA regulates the employment relationship of workers and employers, where a worker is defined as a person whose basic wage or salary is at a rate not exceeding MUR600,000 per annum. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the WRA applies to all employees, irre - spective of their salary threshold in relation to matters such as discrimination, work-from-home, equal pay, payment of remuneration in specific circumstances, deduction of salary, juror’s leave, leave to participate in an international sports or cultural event, maternity/ paternity leave and benefits, medical facilities, allow - ance for petrol, complaints by workers, termination of employment including reduction of workforce, the portable retirement gratuity fund, eligibility to the Workfare Programme Fund compensation and vio - lence at work. 4.2 Characteristics of Employment Contracts Under the laws in Mauritius, a contract of employment may be for a determinate or indeterminate duration, subject to the nature of the work. An agreement made verbally will also be considered a duly formed agree - ment. However, every employer has to provide to every worker engaged for more than one month a written statement of particulars of employment within 14 days of the completion of the first calendar month, a copy of which has to be submitted to the supervising officer of the ministry responsible for labour and employment relations within 30 days. The WRA lays down the main features of a contract of employment as follows: • name of the employer; • national pension registration number of the employer; • business registration number of the employer; • address of the employer; • nature of activity carried out by the employer; • name of the worker; • gender of the worker; • national identity card number/passport number of the worker; • date of birth of the worker; • address of the worker; • date of commencement of agreement; • place of work; • grade, class or category of employment;
4. Employment Law 4.1 Nature of Applicable Regulations
In Mauritius, the employment relationship is governed mainly by legislation, case law, employment agree - ments and collective agreements within certain indus - tries. The main laws governing the employment rela - tionship in Mauritius are the Workers’ Rights Act 2019 (WRA) and the Employment Relations Act 2008 (ERA).
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