Employment 2025

DRC Law and Practice Contributed by: Aimery de Schoutheete, Serge Badibanga, Chloé Stassart and Trésor Badibake, Liedekerke

9. Dispute Resolution 9.1 Litigation

tion may not exceed 36 months of the employee’s last net salary. In practice, labour courts often grant the maximum compensation when the dismissal is deemed abusive. If a fixed-term contract is unlawfully terminated by the employer, the employee is entitled to damages equal to the full salary and benefits they would have received until the original end date of the contract. 8.2 Anti-Discrimination The Congolese Labour Code states two particular dis - crimination issues: pregnancy and affiliation to a union delegation. As to pregnancy, it cannot be a source of discrimination in employment. In particular, it is pro - hibited to require a woman who applies for employ - ment to submit to a pregnancy test or to present a certificate attesting the state of pregnancy, except for work that is totally or partially forbidden to pregnant or breastfeeding women, or that involves a recognised or significant risk to the health of the woman and the child. As to the workers’ representatives, they enjoy an appropriate protection against all acts of discrimina - tion that aim to impair their freedom of association. In this respect, it is prohibited for any employer to sub - ject an employment relationship to a (non-)affiliation to any professional organisation and to dismiss a worker or otherwise cause that worker any harm because of their affiliation to a professional organisation and/or participation in trade union activities. Nothing is mentioned in the Congolese Labour Code regarding the burden of proof. It may reasonably be assumed that, without any specific rule thereof, it is the worker who invokes discrimination who must prove that they are effectively a victim of discrimina - tion. The worker could claim compensation before courts. 8.3 Digitalisation There are no regulations in the DRC on the digitalisa - tion of employment disputes. There is no possibility of recording or conducting court proceedings via video.

There are no specialised employment forms and class actions are not available as such. In the DRC, indi - vidual disputes are not admissible before the labour court unless they have first been submitted to the conciliation procedure, at the initiative of one of the parties, before the local Labour Inspectorate. Parties can always be assisted by a lawyer. 9.2 Alternative Dispute Resolution Under the OHADA Treaty and OHADA Uniform Act on Arbitration (Article 2, indent 1), “Any natural or legal person may resort to arbitration with respect to any rights that may be freely disposed of.” It has been judged by the Appeal Court of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, that conflicts relating to the performance or termination of the employment contract may be subject to arbitration in the OHADA countries (Appeal Court of Abidjan, order number 1435, 27 March 2003 (short proceedings)). However, this decision has been criticised because “arbitration is not compatible with the mandatory rules of employment law”. The OHADA Common Court of Justice (CCJ) found in a judgment of 28 April 2016 that the CCJ has no juris - diction on disputes in relation to labour law. Hence, the matter is debatable. One can, however, reasonably consider that a worker is free to resort to arbitration, once the dispute has arisen (but not before). It is worth noting that a uniform act on employment law is expected but still under discussion (which first started in 2006). This uniform act will probably address this topic. 9.3 Costs A prevailing employee cannot be awarded attorney’s fees.

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