Annual Leave and Holidays
Paid Vacation / Annual Leave
An employee is entitled to annual leave with full pay (equal to the remuneration of a working day) for all workers on completion of at least six months of service. A worker, working weekly for sixteen or more hours, is entitled to 21 paid annual leaves at the rate of 7 days for each period of continuous 4 months of service on completion of 12 months of continuous service.
To qualify, an employee must have:
- completed six months of continuous service; and
- be employed for at least 16 hours per week
The time to take annual leave has to be agreed upon between the parties. There is no provision to carry the annual leave into the next calendar year.
Upon termination of employment, an employee is entitled to either a paid holiday in proportion to their length of service for which they haven't yet taken a holiday or compensation in place of the unused holiday.
No provision could be located in the Employment Act regarding higher annual leave provisions for child workers and young/adolescent workers. The above provisions (21 calendar days) for all workers, irrespective of their age.
Moreover, the Act does not address the accumulation/splitting or carry-forward of annual leave.
Source: §53 of the Employment Act 2006, last amended in 2023
Pay on Public Holidays
Workers are entitled to paid Festival (public and religious) holidays. Festival holidays are announced by the Ugandan Government at the start of the calendar year usually 12 in number. In addition to these holidays, the President may declare any other day to be a public holiday and may limit the observation of any such public holiday to any area or place in Uganda.
The public holidays are regulated under the Public Holidays Act, 1965.
These are 12 public holidays in Uganda;
- Birth of Prophet Muhamed Day (12th of 3rd Lunar month)
- New Year’s Day (January 01),
- Women’s Day (March 08),
- Good Friday (April 18),
- Easter Monday (April 21),
- Martyrs’ Day (June 03),
- National Heroes Day (June 09),
- Eid al-Fitr (End of Ramadan),
- Eid al-Adhua (Feast of Sacrifice),
- Independence Day (9 October)
- Christmas Day (December 25) and
- Boxing Day (December 26).
The Minimum Wages Advisory Board is empowered to recommend the minimum holidays with pay to be allowed by their employers to employees.
Source: §53 of the Employment Act 2006, last amended in 2023, §1-3 & section 2 of the Public Holidays Act 1965, last amended in 2023; §5 of the Minimum Wages Advisory Boards and Wages Councils Act 1974
Weekly Rest Days
The Constitution protects the right of rest such as weekend/ weekly rest day after consecutive days of work. Under the Employment Act, an employee shall not be required to work more than six consecutive days without a rest day.
Workers are entitled to 24 consecutive hours of rest per week. The weekly rest may be taken on a customary rest day (Sunday) or as agreed between the two parties.
According to the Employment Act, workers holding managerial positions and those working in family establishments employing not more than five dependent relatives may be excluded from weekly rest day.
A rest break of 30 minutes is granted to the employees working for at least 8 hours per day.
Source: §40 of the Constitution of Uganda, 1995, amended in 2017; §50 & 52(6) of the Employment Act 2006, last amended in 2023
Regulations on Annual Leave and Holidays
- The Constitution of Uganda, 1995 (revised in 2005)
