Ending an employment relationship in Tunisia requires careful attention to local labour law. Tunisia doesn’t permit at-will dismissal, and every termination must rest on a real and serious cause (cause réelle et sérieuse). Failure to meet this standard exposes you to significant financial penalties, so understanding the rules upfront helps you move fast while staying compliant.
Tunisia’s cause-based termination framework
Tunisia’s Labour Code governs all employment terminations and prohibits arbitrary dismissal outright. You must be able to demonstrate a legitimate basis for any termination before serving notice, and the cause must be documented in writing. Courts can award substantial additional damages if they determine a dismissal was abusive, so getting the process right matters from the very first step.
RemotePass operates as an Employer of Record (EOR) in Tunisia, which means it employs workers on your behalf and handles the full termination process in line with Tunisian law. This includes drafting the required documentation, calculating final payments, and managing social security formalities with the CNSS.
Termination for cause (faute grave)
Tunisia distinguishes between ordinary termination and termination for serious misconduct (faute grave). A faute grave finding allows for immediate dismissal without a notice period, though several financial obligations still apply.
Grounds for serious misconduct
The following conduct can support a faute grave finding:
- Voluntary action or omission that disrupts business operations or damages company property
- Deliberate reduction in production or quality driven by clear bad faith
- Repeated unjustified absences
- Violations of workplace safety rules
- Serious insubordination
The dismissal process for faute grave
You must issue a written dismissal letter (lettre de licenciement) that states the cause clearly. In cases of faute grave, immediate dismissal without notice is permitted if the conduct is sufficiently serious and well-documented. Payment in lieu of notice doesn’t apply, and the employee isn’t entitled to statutory severance. That said, you must still settle all outstanding wages, accrued but unused vacation leave, and any earned contractual benefits before the final working day.
Termination without cause
Termination for reasons other than serious misconduct (including poor performance, objective incapacity, or legitimate operational reasons) still requires a real and serious cause. Arbitrary dismissal isn’t permitted and gives rise to a separate head of damages beyond the standard severance formula.
Notice requirements
You must serve written notice via a lettre de licenciement that sets out the reason for termination. The statutory notice period is typically one month, though collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) in certain sectors or the individual contract may specify a longer period. Payment in lieu of notice is permitted if you’d prefer to end the employment immediately rather than work out the notice period.
Risk of wrongful dismissal
If a court finds that your stated cause wasn’t genuine or serious enough, it can classify the dismissal as abusive (licenciement abusif) and award additional damages on top of standard severance. Those damages range from one to two months’ salary per year of service, capped at a maximum of three years’ total salary. Getting the documentation right before you issue the letter significantly reduces this risk.
Severance pay (indemnité de licenciement)
Severance is payable on termination without cause. It isn’t payable where a faute grave has been established.
Calculating severance
The statutory formula is one day’s salary for each month of service, subject to a legal minimum cap of three months’ total salary. The calculation uses the employee’s total gross remuneration from the last month before the notice period begins, with a floor of the average monthly gross over the last 12 months (whichever is higher).
Worked example: An employee earning TND 2,000 per month gross who has worked for 18 months would be entitled to: 18 days’ pay at TND 2,000 / 30 = TND 66.67 per day x 18 = TND 1,200. Since this falls below the three-month cap (TND 6,000), the full TND 1,200 is payable.
Cba variations
Some sectors have more generous severance formulas set out in collective agreements. In the insurance sector and parts of the construction industry, for example, agreements may provide one month’s salary per year of service, capped at six to twelve months rather than the statutory three. Always check whether a sector CBA applies to your employee before calculating the final settlement.
Fixed-term contracts (cdd)
Fixed-term contracts (contrats à durée déterminée, or CDDs) have their own termination rules that differ from open-ended contracts (CDIs).
Natural expiry
A CDD ends automatically at the date specified in the contract. No notice is required from either party, and no statutory severance is owed. If you allow the employee to continue working past the contract end date without formalising a new agreement, the contract may be reclassified as a CDI by a labour court.
Early termination by the employer
Ending a CDD before its natural expiry date without a lawful reason exposes you to a compensation claim equal to the salary the employee would have earned for the remainder of the contract term. Early termination is lawful only in cases of serious misconduct (faute grave) or force majeure.
Reclassification risk
If the original CDD didn’t meet the legal requirements for fixed-term use (for example, if it covered a permanent role rather than a temporary need), a court can reclassify it as a CDI. This would trigger all the rights that come with open-ended employment, including full severance entitlements.
Mutual termination agreements
Both parties can agree to end the employment relationship on mutually acceptable terms. This route can be quicker and less contentious than a contested dismissal, but it needs to be structured properly to hold up legally.
Requirements
The agreement must be in writing. There’s no fixed statutory notice period; the parties agree on the termination date themselves. The severance indemnity must be at least equal to what the employee would receive under a standard termination without cause, though the parties can negotiate a higher amount. The final settlement should cover salary to date, any earned bonuses, unused leave compensation, and all social contributions.
Documentation
A mutual termination should be accompanied by a written termination agreement, a final settlement statement (reçu pour solde de tout compte), and a certificat de travail. These documents protect both parties in the event of any future dispute.
Employee resignation
When an employee chooses to resign, they must do so in writing. The notice period mirrors that for employer-initiated termination: one month for CDI employees, though some sector CBAs or individual contracts extend this to three months.
If the employee fails to serve the required notice, you’re entitled to compensation equivalent to the wages they would have earned during the unserved notice period. Equally, if you waive the notice requirement and ask the employee to leave earlier, you’ll owe them payment for the days not worked. No statutory severance is payable on voluntary resignation.
Final documentation
Every termination in Tunisia, regardless of the type, requires you to produce a specific set of documents before the employment ends.
Required documents
| Document | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Certificat de travail | Confirms employment dates, job titles, and roles held |
| CNSS clearance | Confirms social security obligations are settled with the national social security fund |
| Final pay statement | Itemises salary, severance, unused leave compensation, and all deductions |
| Reçu pour solde de tout compte | Signed settlement receipt acknowledging final payment |
The certificat de travail is a legal obligation and you must issue it on or before the last working day. Failure to do so can expose you to a separate claim.
Redundancy and EOR limitations
Collective redundancy isn’t available under an EOR setup in Tunisia. If your business circumstances change and you need to reduce headcount for economic reasons, the appropriate path is individual termination on legitimate grounds, handled on a case-by-case basis with proper documentation for each affected employee. Your RemotePass team can advise on the correct approach for your specific situation.
RemotePass EOR services in Tunisia cover local Tunisian nationals only. Expat hiring via EOR isn’t available in Tunisia. If you’re looking to place foreign nationals in the country, reach out to discuss alternative structures.
How an EOR handles compliant termination in tunisia
Managing a termination through an EOR removes most of the procedural risk. RemotePass handles the drafting of the lettre de licenciement, the severance calculation (including any applicable CBA check), the CNSS clearance, and the issuance of the certificat de travail. You define the business reason and confirm the timeline; RemotePass manages the legal execution.
This matters particularly in Tunisia because of the documentation requirements and the risk of abusive dismissal findings. Having every letter, statement, and social security filing handled by a local compliance team means you’re not exposed to procedural errors that could turn a clean exit into a court claim.
If you’re hiring in Tunisia and want to make sure every hire and every exit is handled correctly from day one, RemotePass can help. Book a demo at https://remotepass.com/demo to see how we manage compliant employment across the region.
