MAURITIUS Law and Practice Contributed by: Sameer K Tegally, Sonia Xavier and Ashvan Luckraz, Venture Law
may now, with the consent of a worker, require the worker to work for the stipulated hours, in any week, on a four-day week basis, provided a notice of at least 48 hours is given to the worker ahead of the new compressed hours. On the other hand, a worker may make a request to his/ her employer to work for the stipulated hours on a four-day week basis and the employer must, subject to their operational requirements, grant the request. The WRA also provides for certain qualifications in the conversion of work from full-time to part- time. In line with the climate changes, the law now recognises that, during periods of extreme weather conditions, where an order is issued by the National Crisis Committee requiring any per - son to remain indoors, or a state of disaster is declared, an employer must not require a worker to work or continue to work, as such situations In the case of a fixed-term contract, the contract comes to an end on the last day of the agree - ment. An employment contract may also be terminated by the employer for the employee’s poor per - formance or misconduct (including misconduct subject to criminal proceedings). In such cases the employer needs to provide the employee with an opportunity to answer any charge that has been levelled against the employee within the statutory timeline. Moreover, a notice of ter - mination not less than 30 days must be given to the employee. Alternatively, the employee may be paid remuneration in lieu of the said notice. could place the worker in danger. 4.4 Termination of Employment Contracts
The employee, on the other hand, may treat the employment agreement as terminated if they have been ill-treated by the employer, in cas - es of non-payment of remuneration, where the employer fails to provide work and to pay remu - neration under an agreement or if the employee is made to resign by fraud or duress. Collective redundancies are implemented in cas - es of economic, technological, structural or any other similar reasons. The Redundancy Board (“Board”) is the entity that deals with all cases of reduction of workforce and closure of enter - prises. Where the Board finds that the reasons for the reduction of the workforce or the closing down are unjustified, the Board shall order the employer to pay the worker severance allow - ance at the rate of three months’ remuneration per year of service. The employee may, how - ever, consent to be reinstated in his/her former employment with payment of remuneration from the date of termination of his/her employment to the date of their reinstatement. The Social Contribution and Benefits Act of 2021 has repealed the Contribution Sociale Generali- see Regulations which were introduced in 2020. These contributions, which are now called “social contributions”, are calculated on the monthly remuneration of the employee, and self- employed people are now required to contribute in accordance with their income level instead of the flat rate which was originally applicable. The mandatory end-of-year bonus section in the WRA now applies exclusively to those workers who draw a monthly basic wage or salary of not more than MUR100,000. The mandatory end-of-year bonus section in the Act now applies exclusively to those work -
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