SN HLM Case: Implications for Public Sector Employment Law in Senegal

• The SN HLM case highlights the need for lawyers to review public sector employment contracts in Senegal.
• Thousands of agents work in these structures without a proper status or contract that takes into account their employer - the public power.
• Recent cases, including the SN HLM and Port Autonome de Dakar, demonstrate the flaws in the current system, where directors can dismiss employees citing economic reasons or zero productivity.
• The 2022 Orientation Law has brought all public establishments under a single umbrella, but its implementation is yet to be seen.

This sequence of events - change in direction, series of ruptures, contentions, and political arbitration - is not unique to a particular type of organization but rather a common flaw among entities where the state employs without being part of the public function.

In a recent development, the Société nationale des habitations à loyer modéré (SN HLM) reintegrated nine agents whose dismissal had paralyzed the company for nearly a week. On the same day, July 29, 2026, the Prime Minister announced a circular on the follow-up of human resources decisions from executive organs of the public sector and respect for labor procedures. The text targets the entire public sector, not just agencies, as confirmed by ongoing cases dating back two years. This sequence of events - change in direction, series of ruptures, contentions, and political arbitration - is not unique to a particular type of organization but rather a common flaw among entities where the state employs without being part of the public function.

The Senegalese employment law has been evolving over the years. The 1990 Law No. 90-07, which regulated public establishments, national societies, and majority-public-participation companies, was already in place. However, with the introduction of agencification in 2000, the scale of structures increased, bringing in profiles from the private sector and diaspora without proper encumbered procedures. The legislature followed this trend through various laws, including the Orientation Law No. 2009-20 of May 4, 2009, which established the status, organization, and control of execution agencies and introduced performance contracts. The law further evolved with the Orientation Law No. 2022-08 of April 19, 2022, which abolished the 1990 law and brought all public establishments, agencies, national societies, majority-public-participation companies, and private entities receiving public funds under a single umbrella.

The recent SN HLM case highlights the need for lawyers and compliance officers to review public sector employment contracts in Senegal, particularly those with unclear or ambiguous terms. This is because thousands of agents work in these structures without a proper status, common salary scale, or contract that takes into account their employer - the public power. The actuality of this situation is evident in the SN HLM case where nine cadres were dismissed by a new director general citing economic reasons and zero productivity. It took a workers' rally, police intervention, ministerial mediation, an extraordinary council meeting, and tutelage instruction to reintegrate them. This sequence of events is not unique to the SN HLM but has been repeated in other public sector entities, such as the Port Autonome de Dakar, Caisse des dépôts et consignations, and FONGIP.

This development highlights the need for lawyers and compliance officers to review public sector employment contracts in Senegal, particularly those with unclear or ambiguous terms, to ensure they comply with the latest legislation and avoid potential disputes.

Source: Original reporting via Le Monde