Employment
Code du travail 1998 with a 40-hour week and CDD renewal limits
Loi n° 98-004 sets a 40-hour standard week, requires written fixed-term contracts, and caps CDD renewals — a CDD may be renewed only once, beyond which it converts to a CDI. Dismissal for economic reasons requires notification to the labour inspectorate.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — The Direction Générale du Travail inspectorate conciliates first; the Tribunal du travail hears unresolved claims.
- Deadline — CDD: renewable once only; a second renewal converts the contract to a CDI
- Deadline — Notice on dismissal: one to three months depending on category
- Deadline — Labour claim to the Tribunal du travail: two years from the act complained of
Governing law
- Loi n° 98-004 du 27 janvier 1998 portant Code du travail
- Loi n° 2017-05 fixant les conditions d'embauche, de placement et de rupture du contrat de travail
- Convention collective générale du travail
In practice
Benin's labour law was liberalised by Loi n° 2017-05, which made dismissal easier and shortened notice — a change unions challenged before the Cour constitutionnelle. The practical effect is that Benin now sits at the more employer-flexible end of the OHADA states, while retaining the francophone structure of inspectorate conciliation before any judicial claim.