The law supervising employment contracts and prohibiting the use of subcontracting was published in the Official Journal of the Tunisian Republic (JORT) on Friday May 23, 2025. It appears in edition n ° 61 under the legislative reference n ° 9/2025.
Adopted by the Assembly of People’s Representatives (ARP) during a long plenary session held at the dawn of the previous Wednesday, Law No. 16 of the year 2025 was approved by 121 deputies. Four abstained and no vote against was recorded.
This new legal framework, with a strong impact on labor law in Tunisia, introduces several major transitional provisions. Article 6 provides in particular that the fixed-term contracts (CDD) which do not fall under the exceptions mentioned in article 6-4 new of the Labor Code will be automatically transformed into indefinite contracts (CDI), without regard to their initial term or the nature of the services.
This provision concerns fixed -term contracts still in force on the date of entry into application of the law, but also those experienced after March 14, 2025. The seniority acquired under these contracts will be fully recognized in the calculation of the global seniority, provided that the working relationship has been continuous, without more than one year.
Article 7 specifies that the test periods provided for in the contracts signed before the promulgation of the law remain valid, as long as they do not exceed six months.
Article 8 stipulates that workers recruited through the subcontracting of labor-now prohibited-as well as agents committed permanently in public industrial, commercial or agricultural establishments, will be automatically integrated into the number of the beneficiary structure as soon as the law is entry into force. Their seniority will also be consolidated, subject to an uninterrupted employment relationship for less than a year.
Article 9 introduces an automatic regularization mechanism: any CDD having ended between March 6, 2024 and the date of entry into force of the law-that the rupture comes from the employer or results from the prohibition of subcontracting-leads to the direct integration of the employee if the total duration of the contractual relationship reaches four or more.
In the event of expanding maneuvers from the employer or the beneficiary establishment, the employee may claim an integration compensation equivalent to two months’ salary per year of seniority. This complaint must be made within one year of the entry into force of the law.
Finally, article 10 imposes on the establishments referred to in article 30 new of the Labor Code to regularize their situation within a maximum of three months after the implementation of the text.
