CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT WITH UNSPECIFIED

DURATION
Contract with unspecified duration are provided for under section 25(2), (b) of the
labor code. The date of termination of such contracts is not fixed in advance by the
parties and may terminate at any time on the request of one of the parties. Article
25(b) states that “A contract of an unspecified period is a contract whose
termination is nit fixed in advance and may be terminated at any time by the
will of the worker or the employer.”
Other forms of labour contracts consecrated by the labour code are: temporal
labour contract, seasonal labour contract and occasional labour contract. Article 25,
(2), (3), (4) of the labour code provides that,
The contact of foreign workers shall be renewed only after endorsement by the
minister in charge of labour.
Contract of unspecified duration of Cameroonian workers shall be renewed only
once with the same company. At the expiry of such renewal, if working relation
continue, the contract shall be transform into one with unspecified duration.
EXECUTION OF LABOUR CONTRACT
Once a labour contract has been entered into, it must be executed and its terms
respected by all the parties. The execution of labour contract is incumbent on all
the parties to the contract. Thus, both the employer and employee owe certain
obligations to each other under the contract. It is important to note that the
obligations of the employer form the rights of the employee and vice versa.
OBLIGATIONS OF THE EMPLOYER UNDER THE
CONTRACT
An employer who hires the services of an employee must pay for the work done by
the employee belong s to a trade union, wages may be controlled by collective
bargaining or collective agreements with workers who are in the same
classification and who have the same skills and receives similar wages. The
employer has the obligation to provide for the employee reasonable safe work
place and safe tools and appliances. What is considered reasonably safe depends
on the type of job being performed and other similar factors.
 REMUNERATION (WAGES)
Remuneration have to do with salary and fringe benefits. There are two elements
of salary namely BASIC SALARY and ACCESSORY SALARY. Basic salary
refers to what is paid to the employee excluding allowances. This is capable of
being evaluated in terms of money. The minimum inter-professional salary for
workers in Cameroon today which is governed by the labour code is 36,270CFA.
Wages are paid in Cameroon in the official legal tender i.e. the CFA francs. All
other mode of payment especially in foreign currency are prohibited by law. The
payment of wages in Cameroon is done monthly. The monthly payment must be
done not later than the 8th of the following month. During the payment, the
employer shall deduct taxes owed to the state, insurance dues and trade union dues
wherever applicable. The payment must be done on a pay slip (VOUCHER).

THE OBLIGATION OF THE EMPLOYEE UNDER THE

CONTRACT
Both employer and employee expect certain duties from each other in the work
relationship. Some of these expectations are determine by the contract of
employment itself, while other are implied into the contract by the law.
The employer has the right to expect that the employee who stated he has certain
skills actually possess such skills. The employer also has the right to expect certain
level of performance from the employees. That is the employees are required to
achieve a reasonable amount of work during working hours. The employees have
obligation to take instructions from the employers on what task to perform and
how to do this. However, it is not all instructions that should be respected by the
employee. The employee has no obligation to respect the instructions who are
manifestly illegal or go contrary to the law.
Again, employee owes his employer the duty not to release trade secret or
confidential information that he learned on the job. He is also expected to be
morally up-right, honest, incorruptible and good nature in and out of work. He is
restricted by Section 31 of the labour code to allow his personal interest conflict
with that of his employer.
 TERMINATION OF LABOUR CONTRACT
Article 32 of the 1192 labour code states that “a contract of employment shall be
suspended:
 During the worker’s absence in the case of illness duly certified by a medical
practitioner approved by the employer or one belonging to a hospital
establishment recognized by the state, for a period not exceeding 6 months.

 During period of maternity leave provided for by section 84.

 During the period disciplinary suspension of the worker, decide in

accordance with section 30

 During the period of leave for worker’s education as define in section 91

 During the period of unavailability following an industrial accident or

occupational diseases

 During the period when the worker is under police custody or in preventive
detention.

The international labour organization convention No 158 stipulates

that the employment of a worker shall not be terminated unless there is a valid
reason connected to either the capacity of the worker, or his conduct, or base on the
operational requirement of the establishment. The Cameroon labour recognizes
only two motives for the termination of a labour contract. These are:

1. MOTIVES LINKED TO THE CONDUCT OF THE EMPLOYEE

The misconduct of an employee is a valid legal ground for his lay-off. However,
for misconduct to be a valid ground for the termination of an employee’s
contract of employment, it must be serious and grievous. Misconduct may
come as a result of a reprehensible penal motive, or a professional fault
The first category of fault includes the following:
 Gross negligence.
 Violation of internal rules and regulations.
 Disobedience and insubordination.
 Unexplained absence from work.
 Persistent late coming, leaving the job side ahead of official closing time.
All the above constitute misconduct that can be sanction by the employer. But the
labour code forbids any sanction that is financial. The only approve sanction are
warning, blames, suspension from work, or dismissal in extreme and recalcitrant
cases.

The second category is criminal misconduct. When the employee commits a

criminal offense for instant theft or assault the employer can terminate his contract
instantly. such worker shall not be entitling to termination benefits. It should be
noted that the labour contact prohibits the termination of an employee’s contract of
employment without notice, or when he has not been warned for at least three
times.

2. MOTIVES LINKED TO THE ECONOMIC SITUATION OF THE

ENTERPRISE
An employer is permitted by law to lay off workers for reason of
unfavorable economic situation of the enterprise. when an enterprise is
bankrupt or facing economic hardship it can be allowed to terminate the
contract of employment of some of its workers.

ILLEGAL TERMINATION OF LABOUR CONTRACT