Minimum Wage
There are very limited provisions in Cameroonian labour law on minimum wage and these are found within the Labour Code of 1992.
In general, a decree enacted by the government upon consultation with the National Labour Advisory Board, establishes the minimum wage. Professional categories and their respective salaries are established by a collective agreement or enterprise level agreements.
Compliance with minimum wage rates including other provisions of the Labour Code is the responsibility of Labour Inspectors. An employer committing an infringement of the Minimum Wage Decree (latest Decree is from 2014) or a collective agreement regarding wages is punishable with a fine of 100,000 to one million francs.
Source: §62; 105-111 and 167 of the Labour Code 1992
Regular Pay
Under the Labour Code the term wages is defined as the remuneration or the earnings capable of being assessed in cash and fixed, either by agreement or by regulation, which are due because of an employment contract between an employer and an employee, either because a work performed or that has to be performed, or for services provided or that have to be provided.
Wages are payable only in legal tender. Any other method of payment is considered unlawful. Apart from the case of trading and occupations where a different method for the frequency of payment is provided, the wages are to be paid at regular intervals not exceeding one month. The occupations, where the frequency of payment is different, are specified under an Order of the Minister in charge of Labour, issued in consultation with the National Labour Advisory Board. However, workers may, at their request, receive at the end of fifteen days a payment equal to half the monthly amount of their basic remuneration and in such case the balance due to them will be settled at the end of month.
Monthly payments are to be made not later than eight days following the end of the month of employment in respect of which the wages are dues. Moreover, upon the termination of the contract of employment, a final settlement of all wages and allowances is effected as soon as the employment ceases. However, in the case of dispute, the employer can obtain authorization form the President of the competent court to retain provisionally all or part or any attachable portion of the amount payable. Workers absent on pay day are entitled to draw their wages during the normal hours of opening of the pay office in accordance with the internal regulations of the enterprise. Lastly, wages are to be paid on working days only at or near the work-place and not in a public house or in a shop or store except in the case of workers who are normally employed therein.
Payment of wages must be evidenced by a document made out or certified by the employer or his representative and initialed by each worker or by two witnesses if the worker can neither read nor write English or French. In addition, these documents must be preserved by the employer in the same manner as accounting documents and should be made available, upon demand, to labour inspector. The employer should also, at the time of payment, give the worker an individual pay voucher.
Apart from compulsory levies, reimbursement of the value of any facilities provided for housing or food and any deposits which may be stipulated in collective agreements or individual contracts, no deductions from wages can generally be made. Some exception include:
- court order of attachment;
- deduction of trade union contribution from wages;
Any stipulation in a collective agreement or individual contract authorizing other levies is considered null and void.
The rate of the compulsory levies to be deducted from the wages will be determined by a decree issued by the government after consultation with the National Labour Advisory Board. Lastly, it is unlawful for employers to restrict in any way a worker's freedom to dispose of his wages as he thinks fit.
Source: §67-69 and 75-77 of the Labour Code 1992
