Tunisia Employment Law

The normal working hours shall not exceed 48 hours per week, exclusive of overtime or an equivalent restriction established over a period of time other than the week and not exceeding one year.

The duration of 48 hours per week can be reduced up to 40 hours per week or an equivalent limitation can be established by collective bargaining over a period of time other than the week and not exceeding one year. In certain circumstances through a mutual agreement, the normal working hours can lower by 40 hours per week or to an equivalent limitation established over a period of time other than the week without however the working time this period may exceed one year.

In order to make up for the loss of time resulting from the interruption of work or the nature of the work, the working hours may be increased for certain companies or certain categories of employees to a maximum of 64 hours per week by order of the ministry.

The employer shall not extend the daily working hours to more than 10 hours per day(inclusive overtime) for any employee in certain exceptional circumstances for the performance of urgent work in the event of accidents, necessary repairs or rescue, or an extraordinary increase in workload.  The extensions of working hours must be compensated during the year by equivalent hours of rest. [This compensation is made by reducing the working time by at least one hour. If it is not carried out during the year, it is carried out during the first quarter of the following year before any use of a new authorization]

The hours lost as a result of collective work stoppage in a facility can be recovered within 6 months following the interruption of work. The hours thus recovered are paid at a regular rate. Even when recovering the lost working hours, the total hours of work cannot exceed 60 hours per week including overtime work. Labour Code of 1966 (Amended as of 2017), § 79 – 80.

Work Schedule – Employees can only be employed in accordance with the indications of a timetable specifying, for each day and possibly for each week or each month, the distribution of working hours. This schedule sets the times at which the duration of work begins and ends.

Any change in the distribution of working hours gives rise, before application, to a rectification of the schedule previously established. This timetable, dated and signed by the head of the company or by the person to whom the head of the company has delegated powers for this purpose, is displayed in legible characters and affixed in a visible manner in all the workplaces to which it applies or, in the case of employees employed outside the company, at the premises to which the employee is at that time assigned. 

A copy of the timetable and of any modification that may be made to it must be sent beforehand to the labor inspectorate. 

Part-Time Employee – Part-time employees are entitled to similar rights and obligations as compared to full-time employees. The salary of a part-time employee and the allowances to which they are entitled such as paid annual leave, paid public holidays, maternity leave, and dismissal, are proportional to the duration of the work done by them.

Any hours worked by the part-time employee beyond the normal working time fixed by the employment contract are considered overtime. The overtime work requires the agreement of both employer and part-time employee, provided that the number of hours does not exceed one-third of the duration of work fixed by the employment contract and that the total of this duration and overtime does not exceed normal working time applicable to full-time employees in the same company. Labour Code of 1966 (Amended as of 2017), § 85, 94 (4-6).

Recording Requirements

An employer shall maintain a register consisting of names and addresses along with the duration of the vacation period, the amount of compensation paid for annual leave, etc. The register must be signed by the employee and made available to the labor inspectors. Labour Code of 1966 (Amended as of 2017), § 130.

Any work which is performed beyond the regular weekly hours (48 hours) is considered overtime. In the event of recovery of work or overtime work the maximum weekly working hours including overtime shall not exceed 60 hours per week. 

In case of exceptional emergency situations or due to the extraordinary nature of the work an employee can be required to work overtime, but the total working hours shall in no case exceed 10 hours per day including overtime. The extension of such working hours shall be compensated with an equal amount of rest. The amount of rest shall be taken by reduction of daily work hours by 1-hour minimum. If such rest is not provided in the applicable year, it can be postponed to the first quarter of the following year.

Pay – An employee who performs overtime work is entitled to an increased rate of wages in the below manner:

• • • 75% at the regular rate for full-time working employees over a 48-hour workweek;
    • For full-time employees working with an arrangement of fewer than 48 hours work week – 25% at a regular rate increase for the hours worked up to 48 hours and a 50% increase for subsequent hours.

The hours lost as a result of collective work stoppage in a facility can be recovered within 6 months following the interruption of work. The hours thus recovered are paid at a regular rate. Even when recovering the lost working hours, the total hours of work cannot exceed 60 hours per week. Labour Code of 1966 (Amended as of 2017), § 83 – 92.

The working day of an employee shall be interrupted by one or more unpaid breaks, the duration of which shall not be less than 1 hour. The working hours of an employee shall be arranged in such a manner that an employee does not work beyond 6 consecutive hours of work without an unpaid break of at least 30 minutes. If an employee’s daily working hours do not exceed 7 hours, an employee may be allowed to work without taking breaks. Labour Code of 1966 (Amended as of 2017), § 89.

Daily Rest

An employee is entitled to not less than 10 hours of uninterrupted daily rest from work.

If work is organized by successive shifts or teams, the work of each team must be continuous in a manner that each employee gets a daily uninterrupted rest of at least 10 hours between each shift. Labour Code of 1966 (Amended as of 2017), § 89.

Weekly Rest

An employee is entitled to a break of at least 24 consecutive hours each week. This rest break is generally provided on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. The weekly rest can also be granted on any other day of the week if there is an agreement between the employer and the employee.

The Governing authority may, at the request of one of the trade union organizations of employers or employee’s representative, set the terms of application of the weekly rest for a profession, a set of professions in the region, a city or a specific locality.

In cases, where due to certain emergency situations work could not be suspended on the weekly rest day, such a case, an employee is entitled to compensatory rest of duration equal to the lost rest period.

The Governor may help to fix a weekly rest period at the request of trade unions or organizations or employee representatives. They can suggest the same day of the week in the entire region or only in certain localities;  fix for rest a day other than Friday, Saturday, or Sunday;  decide that the rest will take place from noon on one day of the week until noon on the following day; or Friday, Saturday or Sunday afternoon with a compensatory rest of another half-day taken in rotation and each week; or by rotation of all or part of the employees.

In situations where the forced rest periods are taken due to bad weather, the period of forced rest period will be deducted from the weekly rest days provided to employees.

Outdoor industries that only work at certain times of the year or 4 Industries of perishable materials can suspend weekly rest 15 times a year but the employee must enjoy at least 2 days off per month.

Compensatory Rest Period- An employee is entitled to a compensatory rest period of equal duration for loss of rest period in a case where the employee has been employed for delivery of urgent work. Labour Code of 1966 (Amended as of 2017), § 95 – 98.