Capital
Port Louis 
Currency
Mauritian rupee (MUR)
Languages
English and French
Payroll Frequency
N/A
GDP per Capita
$14.812 billion (2019 estimate)
Employer Tax
N/A

Employer of Record in Mauritius

Companies wishing to grow into Mauritius without establishing an entity should use the Employers of Record (EOR) option. Without any problems, you may engage, pay, and manage a group of workers in Mauritius. All employment-related tasks, including onboarding and training, compliance concerns, payroll management, taxation, probation, and termination, will be handled by our solution. With our assistance, a difficult activity that calls for knowledge of the regional customs, laws, and commercial procedures becomes simple. Utilise our global network to get employment in Mauritius. Consult our specialists to discover more.

Mauritius at a Glance

  • Capital: Port Louis 
  • Official Languages: English and French
  • Population: 1,265,475 (2019 estimate)
  • Gini Index: 36.8 (2017)
  • Currency: Mauritian rupee (MUR)
  • Nominal GDP: $14.812 billion (2019 estimate)
  • HDI: 0.804 (very high)
  • Group: Developing economy
  • Population below the poverty line: 8%
  • Unemployment: 6.4%
  • Ease-of-doing-business rank: 13th

Employment Landscape In Mauritius

Business expansion is simple in Mauritius, which ranks 13 in the world for business friendliness in 2021. The Mauritius government divides employees into categories depending on their salaries rather than whether they are blue-collar or white-collar. Employees making MUR 50,000 or less are subject to all employment rules in Mauritius without exemption. But only special measures are applicable to workers making more than MUR 50,000. A written agreement between the employer and the employee may contain extra benefits at the parties’ mutual discretion.

Entitlement Explanation
Maximum working hours 45 hours a week, which equates to either eight hours a day for six days a week or nine hours a day for five days a week. Contractually, it may also be agreed upon otherwise.
Overtime Overtime is any hour worked in excess of 45 per week.
Overtime Compensation The agreement between the employer and the employee will determine whether or not an employee receives additional compensation for working overtime under Mauritius labour regulations. But if the business doesn’t provide any special overtime pay, they must factor it into the worker’s monthly pay.

An additional hour is typically compensated at 1.5 times the hourly rate. Similarly to this, an additional hour is paid during a public holiday at double the rate of a regular hour.

Flexitime Work If an employer wants a person to work flextime, they must give them notice at least 48 hours in advance. Such working arrangements may also be requested by an employee, but the employer has the right to refuse the request for a valid cause. Within 21 days of receiving the request, the employer is required to inform the employee in writing of the request’s approval status.
Minimum Wage A full-time employee in an export business is paid MUR 9,000. Other full-time employees are paid MUR 9,700.

  • For part-timers in the export business, multiply 9000 by 195 and the number of hours worked in a month by 1.10.
  • For any additional part-time employees: 9700/195 times the number of hours worked each month x 1.10
End-of-year bonus
  • For employees making MUR 100,000 or less, one-twelfth of their annual salary.
  • Employees making more than MUR 100,000: One-twelfth of the base pay for December multiplied by the number of months the employee has been employed continuously during the calendar year.
Annual Leave Employees who have worked for the company for at least a year are eligible to the following yearly leave: 20 days of paid time off plus an extra 2 days. If the employer and employee have contractually agreed to it, the employer must reimburse the employee for any unused annual leave. They may, however, impose a requirement that an employee use half of their available yearly leave.
Sick Leave A worker is permitted to use up to 15 days of sick time annually. It is possible to store these leaves for up to 90 days.

When an employee is absent due to illness, the employer may send a doctor to check on that person’s health. If any discrepancies are discovered in this situation, the employee may face legal disciplinary measures.

Vacation Leave Employees who have five years of continuous service with a company are eligible for 30 days of paid vacation. The act’s start date of October 24, 2019, shall be used as the starting date for these five years.
Special Leave
  • For a first-marriage celebration, an employee is entitled to six days of paid leave.
  • Three days of paid time off are granted for a kid of an employee’s first marriage.
  • Three days of paid leave are given in the event that an employee’s parents, siblings, spouse, or kid pass away.
Maternity Leave Full compensation for 14 days of paid leave.

If an employee has been employed by the same business for at least a year, the employer will provide her a one-time allowance of MUR 3,000. After providing a legitimate medical certificate within seven days of incarceration, this sum is paid.

  • In the event of a stillbirth, the employee is entitled to up to 14 weeks of fully paid leave upon presentation of a legal medical certificate.
  • If a miscarriage occurs, the employee is entitled to up to three weeks of paid leave upon presentation of a medical certificate.

a worker who has been with a company for a year

Adopting a child younger than 12 months old entitles you to up to 14 consecutive weeks of paid vacation. The adoption child’s birth certificate and a certified copy of the court order must be provided by the employer in this case.

Paternity Leave By submitting a written declaration stating that he lives in the same house as his spouse and a medical certificate, an employee who has been employed by the same company for more than a year may be granted up to five days of leave.

If an employee has worked for a company for fewer than 12 months in a row, they may take the aforementioned absence without being compensated.

Contractors vs. Full-time Employees

In Mauritius, there are two main categories of employment contracts: those with fixed terms and those with indefinite durations.

Contracts with an ambiguous end date are agreements between employers and employees. They are often referred to as indefinite contracts. Both the employer and the employee must follow the legal steps described in the contract’s termination clause if they choose to do so.

Contrarily, fixed-term contracts, also known as contracts of determinate length, comprise a mutually agreed-upon period of work during which the employee is required to carry out particular one-time activities. These kinds of agreements are frequently used for temporary or seasonal work, to cover for terminated personnel, for training, and in rare situations. In Mauritius, the written employment agreement must specifically define the length of the contract, any specialised knowledge needed, and the duties that must be carried out throughout that period. The fixed-term contract would be legally void if these requirements weren’t included in it.

It is essential to remember that in Mauritius, part-time workers should not experience prejudice in comparison to full-time workers. Employers are required to create employment agreements that guarantee parity between full-time and part-time employees. Additionally, if a full-time position opens up, the employer must give preference to a temporary or part-time employee with the same grade.

If the total number of hours worked by a part-time employee in a comparable position does not exceed the total number of hours worked by a full-time employee in that position, minus the latter’s leave and overtime length, the part-time employee may be paid less for overtime than the full-time employee. The proportionate difference in working hours between the two job kinds is taken into account by this clause.

Recruiting in Mauritius

It is very important to abide by the employment terms and circumstances established by the Wages Regulations while recruiting employees in Mauritius. Any employee who works for an employer’s business for more than one month is required to have a written contract outlining the specific conditions and terms of their employment. Within one month after its execution, this contract must be filed to the supervising officer.

In Mauritius, employers are obligated to offer a specified set of perks to their workers. One of them is health insurance. Employers with more than 10 workers are required to take the appropriate steps to ensure the health and safety of their staff. The cost of transporting an employee who has been injured or becomes unwell at work to the closest hospital, together with a coworker whom the employer designates, is the employer’s responsibility in such cases.

Breaks are allowed for employees during working hours. Employers are required to provide their staff members a one-hour break after every four straight hours of labour. Employees must also have a 20-minute tea break, which can be split into two 10-minute breaks spread out during the day or taken in one long break.

Employers are obligated to give staff members the tools and resources they need to complete their duties. To increase job productivity, these instruments ought to be changed as required.

If an employee lives more than three kilometres from their place of employment, the employer is required to provide free transportation or pay the employee’s transportation costs. Alternatively, if the worker chooses to commute on their own vehicle, the company must provide a stipend equal to the matching bus ticket.

There were reportedly 47,398 students enrolled in graduate programs in Mauritius as of December 2018, including both part-time and full-time students. Students enrolling in online courses are also included in this number. Additionally, in Mauritius, more than 46% of people between the ages of 20 and 24 have completed some type of postsecondary education.

Probation & Termination

A mutually agreed-upon termination of an employment contract between an employer and employee renders it void as of the specified date. In the following situations, an employee may claim that the employer has terminated their employment agreement:

  • The employer breaks their promise to pay the agreed-upon monthly compensation.
  • The employee is mistreated by the boss, who also acts improperly.
  • The worker is forced to sign a resignation letter by the boss.

Depending on the conditions mentioned in the job contract, the typical probationary period in Mauritius ranges from one to three months. Both the employer and the employee evaluate the working environment and performance throughout this time to see if they meet their respective expectations.

In Mauritius, there are specific protocols to follow when terminating an employee. Unless otherwise provided in the employment contract, the minimum notice time for dismissing an employee is one month. A tribunal or court will give compensation based on a predetermined sum if it determines that an employee was fired unfairly.

Due to poor performance or wrongdoing, an employer has the right to suspend an employee immediately. It is crucial to clarify that bad performance-based dismissals are only permitted under the following circumstances:

  • The worker has been given a minimum of seven days’ notice to respond to the accusations.
  • Before deciding to fire an employee, the company considered all other options.

Similar to that, the following prerequisites must be completed before an employee can be fired for misconduct:

  • The employer has notified the employee of the allegations within ten days of learning of the alleged misbehaviour.
  • Seven days’ notice has been given to the employee so that they can react to the accusations.
  • Before deciding to terminate, the employer has tried every other reasonable option.

Employers are required to inform the proper authorities if they plan to cut back on staff or close their business. In the absence of such unions, an employee designated as the employees’ representative must be notified. These authorities include a recognized trade union (if relevant), a trade union with representational status, and, in some cases, a trade union with recognition.

EOR Solution

When trying to establish your business abroad, it might be challenging to understand and adhere to local legislation at various stages. Our business collaborates internally with a team of HR specialists, benefit experts, international lawyers, and accountants to deliver services that are superior to those offered by other record firms in Mauritius. While managing all of the HR obligations from our end, we update you on the most recent changes to compliance, tax, and regulations. 

We will search among the country’s knowledge workers for the top applicants on your behalf as a business wishing to develop abroad. We assume responsibility for finding applicants that fit the requisite profile, screening those prospects for drugs and ability, and seeing that they go through the onboarding process. 

To learn how to outsource your HR obligations, schedule a demo.

Types of Visas In Mauritius

A Mauritius work visa may be obtained at the Immigration Office or a foreign Mauritian diplomatic post. An immigration officer conducts an interview with a foreign employee to see if they are qualified for transit through or entrance into Mauritius. A foreigner is authorised to enter Mauritius through one of the specified entry ports after they have been issued a visa. When someone arrives, the immigration officer assesses their financial status to decide how long they may stay.

A Mauritian visa is not required for some people, including:

  • Those who dwell in Mauritius’s children or stepchildren.
  • passport holders having diplomatic status (apart from those granted by the governments of Yemen, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Sudan, and Algeria).
  • Those who just want to stay in Mauritius during the visit of their ship.
  • partners of Mauritius people.

Visas of many kinds are available in Mauritius, including:

  • Visa for tourism: Permits visitors from other countries to enter the nation for leisure travel only.
  • A transit visa, which is only good for three days, allows travellers to reach a port in Mauritius before going on to another nation.
  • Visas granted upon arrival at the port of entry in Mauritius are available to travellers from nations where such visas are authorised.
  • Those with a temporary worker visa are permitted to work in Mauritius for a set amount of time.
  • International students who are enrolled in a college in Mauritius are granted a student visa.
  • Visas for spouses of Mauritian nationals are available.
  • A business visa is intended for people travelling to Mauritius for a brief period of time to work or do business.

Our organisation provides sponsorship services to help you meet the requirements if you wish to streamline the process of getting Mauritius work visas for your foreign workers.

Work Permits

An employer applying for a work visa in Mauritius must pay a processing charge of MUR 700. The employer must pay the yearly fee required by Mauritius legislation to guarantee that the employee’s work permit is not suspended once the application for a work permit there for foreigners has been accepted by the appropriate authorities. 

Without a job offer, we assist your staff in obtaining a Mauritian work visa. To learn more about the work permit sponsoring procedure, speak with our specialists.

Payroll & Taxes in Mauritius

In Mauritius, the fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30. The table below contains information about Mauritius employer payroll taxes and other social security fees.

Tax Explanation
Individual tax
  • 15% on a yearly income over MUR 650,000
  • 10% of an MUR 650,000 or higher yearly income
Corporate tax
  • A business engaged in exporting goods: 3%
  • Other businesses: 15%
Social security
  • Employees: 1.5% of their base pay (if making MUR 50,000 or less per month) and 3% of their base pay (if not)
  • Employer: 2.5 percent of the salary
Dividends Tax-exempt
Payroll tax However, under the PAYE system, an employer is required to withhold taxes from an employee’s wages even if there are no explicit Mauritius payroll tax rates.

In Mauritius, growing your business may be a challenging process that involves plenty of paperwork and dealing with local authorities. We provide a comprehensive HR outsourcing platform that enables you to remotely manage your staff as needed, doing away with the necessity to create a holding company in Mauritius. This streamlines the procedure and streamlines your business operations.

By delegating your HR duties to our platform, you may benefit from our experience and understanding of regional laws, guaranteeing compliance while concentrating on your main business goals. Our team of professionals has extensive knowledge of the Mauritius business environment and can offer insightful advice on the possibilities for your growth.

By working with us, you may take advantage of our broad network and resources and more effectively negotiate the complexities of growing your company in Mauritius. With a variety of services available on our platform that are adapted to your unique requirements, you can efficiently manage your teams, payroll, compliance, and other HR-related tasks from a distance.

We welcome you to speak with our specialists to learn more about the business prospects that Mauritius has to offer and the crucial part that we can play in your growth. They will give you helpful advice and information that will enable you to make wise choices and plan a successful course for your company in Mauritius. To start a dialogue and explore the possibility of growing your company in this market, get in touch with us right now.