Mauritius: Novel four-day workweek option among newly enacted measures

Employer Action Code: Act

The Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023 was signed into law, implementing the government’s 2023 – 2024 budget. The act contains several employment-related measures among its many tax-related and other provisions.

Key details

Notable measures, effective July 1, 2023, include:

• Employers may, with employee consent and at least 48 hours’ notice, require the employee to work his or her stipulated hours, in any week, on a four-day-week basis. Conversely, employees may request a four-day workweek, with the employer required to grant the request unless operational requirements make it unfeasible.
• Employers with more than 250 workers must provide, free of charge, childcare facilities onsite or within one kilometer of the workplace for their employees’ children up to age three.
• Employees may elect to use any of their statutory paid leave entitlements (specifically annual leave, sick leave and any other vacation leave entitlement) to care for a child, parent or grandparent having healthcare-related issues (maximum of 10 such days per year to care for a parent or grandparent).
• Adoptive fathers are now entitled to five working days of employer-paid paternity leave on the same basis as biological fathers for the adoption of a child under 12 months old. Leave is unpaid if the worker has less than 12 months of service.
• Employees suffering a miscarriage (certified by a medical practitioner) are now entitled to five days’ employer paid leave to be taken immediately after the event, in addition to the existing entitlement of three weeks of employer-paid leave for miscarriage.
• Employees who are unable to use their annual leave by the end of the calendar year now have the option to carry forward the unused leave if they so request in writing. The option for employees to receive compensation for unused leave at the end of the calendar year remains in effect. Employees are entitled to compensation for any unused leave on separation from employment for any reason.
• At least 25% of the members of the board of a public listed company must be women.

Employer implications

The Finance Act amended a variety of existing statutes on a wide range of topics, such as personal income tax and labor law. Some of the measures require further guidance from the government, including whether there are any limits on amounts of unused annual leave that workers can carry forward and by when it must be used. Employers should review the changes and adapt their policies and practices accordingly.

Contact

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Michael Brough

Senior Director, Integrated & Global Solutions

email Email phone +971 50 189 5816

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