As of September 2024, Angola will have a new “National Minimum Wage”, approved by Presidential Decree No. 152/24 of 17 July, as a legislative measure that aims to guarantee human dignity by balancing purchasing power, which is necessary in times of constant price fluctuations. The aforementioned instrument sets the national minimum wage at 70,000.00 (seventy thousand kwanzas), as compensation for the provision of work or services during the period of one month, paragraph 1 of article 1. On the other hand, the minimum wage for micro-enterprises and start-ups, known as “Startups”, is set at 50,000.00 (fifty thousand kwanzas), see paragraph 3 of article 1 of the diploma. The value of the national minimum wage will be 100,000.00 (one hundred thousand kwanzas) after 1 year from the entry into force of the diploma, as stated in the rule of paragraph 2 of article 1 of the same legal instrument.
From the reading of the rules referenced above, it is clear that the national minimum wage constitutes the minimum amount of remuneration, considered as that which guarantees the satisfaction of the basic needs of the worker and his/her family, particularly in less favoured professional classes and with fewer resources or professional skills, and is therefore considered a minimum guarantee for the worker with regard to social conditions.
The diploma in question clearly distinguishes the concept of base salary, which is not the same as the minimum wage, which may mean that the base salary, as a monetary amount agreed between the worker and the employer as consideration resulting from the legal employment relationship, may be lower than the national minimum wage, which is the sum of all the monthly payments that the employer pays to the worker. The national minimum wage is, from this perspective, equal to remuneration.
This equivalence of the national minimum wage to the concept of remuneration may have negative impacts on other legal institutes, since, from a legal point of view, it is the base salary that is the criterion for determining other remuneration components, such as holiday and Christmas bonuses, compensation and indemnities resulting from the termination of the employment relationship, among others.
Despite the novelty of the aforementioned legislative instrument, it has already been subject to rectification, presumably due to various interpretations of the meaning and scope of the rule in paragraph 1 of article 1, which is now worded as follows:
“The minimum sum of monetary income that must be paid to an employee for work performed or services rendered during the period of 1 month is set at 70,000.00 (seventy thousand kwanzas).
*Costa & Castro Advogados*
