Employment
Code du travail 2004 with a 40-hour week and slavery-related labour concerns
Loi n° 2004-017 sets a 40-hour week and regulates contracts and dismissal. The distinctive problem is not the Code but the persistence of descent-based slavery and forced labour, addressed by separate criminal legislation and specialised courts.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Inspection du Travail conciliates; the Tribunal du travail decides; specialised anti-slavery courts hear slavery cases.
- Deadline — CDD: limited duration with conversion to CDI on excess
- Deadline — Notice: by category under the Code
- Deadline — Labour claim: to the Tribunal du travail after inspectorate conciliation
Governing law
- Loi n° 2004-017 du 6 juillet 2004 portant Code du travail
- Loi n° 2015-031 portant incrimination de l'esclavage
- Convention collective générale du travail
In practice
Mauritania criminalised slavery in 2007 and strengthened the law in 2015, declaring it a crime against humanity and creating three specialised anti-slavery courts. Convictions have nonetheless been few relative to the estimated prevalence of descent-based servitude, and activists prosecuted for campaigning on the issue have drawn international criticism.