RWANDA Law and Practice Contributed by: Aimery de Schoutheete, Valence Rukesha, Chloé Stassart and Isaac Rwapasika, Liedekerke
4. Foreign Workers 4.1 Limitations on Foreign Workers
Disciplinary sanctions can also be imposed on employees, depending on the seriousness of the fault committed whilst performing the contract: • oral warning; • written reprimand; • temporary suspension not exceeding eight unpaid working days; and • dismissal.
Occupying foreign workers is strictly regulated in Rwanda. To hire a foreign worker, an employer must: • verify whether the job is on the occupations in demand list; • verify whether the foreigner fulfils the requirements for the job; • comply with immigration and emigration laws in relation to the residence permit; and • recruit a foreigner whose licence is recognised by a regulatory professional body in Rwanda if the job has a regulatory professional body. The occupations in demand list includes 20 job cat - egories, such as managers, science and engineering professionals, life science professionals, health pro - fessionals, teaching professions, business administra - tion professionals, etc, and lists the jobs in demand. The ways to hire a foreigner are: • through a labour market test; • for a position specifically mentioned in an agree - ment ratified or signed by Rwanda; • for public interest (this notion not being defined by law so its implementation will depend on practice); or • secondment. For the labour market test, the employer must: • advertise the vacancy for at least two weeks and request applications from Rwandans only; • examine the applications and, if none fulfils the requirements, issue a written report specifying the names of the applicants; • when a hiring test has been made but no applicant has the required skills for the position, the employ - er issues a written report that indicates the names of the applicants, the name of those who sat for the test, the questions asked during the test, their marks and their answers; • when none of the applicants fulfil the requirements for the job or when none of the applicants has successfully passed the hiring test, the employer
2. Restrictive Covenants 2.1 Non-Competes
There are no provisions regarding non-compete claus - es in Rwandan employment law. The general princi - ples of civil and contract law apply, among which the prohibition of unfair competition. Of course, the par - ties are free to agree on non-compete provisions in their employment contract, as a consequence of their contractual freedom. 2.2 Non-Solicits Nothing is set out in the Rwandan Labour Code regarding non-solicitation clauses. It is, however, advisable to include such a clause, usually applica - ble for a standard period of 12 months following the termination of the employment contract. 3. Data Privacy 3.1 Data Privacy Law and Employment Nothing related to privacy is mentioned in the Rwan - dan Labour Code. Generally speaking, privacy is mentioned in the Rwandan Constitution. Although not expressly stated, it may reasonably be assumed that this provision could be interpreted as applicable within the work sphere. Rwanda adopted a Data Privacy law on 13 October 2021, which states that the Data Protection Officer appointed by a company must monitor compliance with the data privacy law at the workplace. This par - ticularly includes the protection of personal data, awareness-raising and the training of staff involved in personal data processing operations.
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