If an employee is hired under an indefinite employment contract, it can be terminated at any time by either party with 1 month's notice or 1 month's basic wage in lieu of notice. If the employee is a disabled worker, the notice period is increased to 2 months. The notice must be given in writing unless the employee is illiterate. In such cases, the notice must be conveyed to the employee in a manner that can be understood.
The notice period cannot include time taken for annual leave. If the employee terminates the employment without notice, the employee is not entitled to payment in lieu of notice.
It is mandatory for anyone coming to Sierra Leone for employment to have a resident employment permit. It is the employer's responsibility to regularize their employees' residential status. Where a resident employment permit has been issued for employment, it is usually restricted to a specific job, with a specific employer, and in some cases to a specific location. Resident permits are normally issued for a period of one year and renewed annually.
A resident permit is issued upon request by an employer. This request can come from either a national or international organization or a business entity doing business in Sierra Leone. The employer must first write to the Immigration Department using an authorized letterhead with the organization or business's full details requesting a resident permit on behalf of their employee.
In Sierra Leone, employees become entitled to annual leave after completing 1 year of continuous service with the same employer. Continuous service is measured from the first day of work until termination.
The Act does not specify how many days of annual leave an employee is entitled to. However, if the employee attempts to take annual leave and is prevented by the employer, the employee is entitled to an allowance equal to 150% of a month's basic wage.
Sierra Leone's labor law stipulates that working hours cannot exceed 8 per day or 40 per week. A full-time employee may agree to work additional hours, but these stipulated hours may not amount to more than 10 hours per day. The weekly limit, including additional hours, is 48 hours per week. Employers cannot force an employee to work more than 5 consecutive days without at least 1 day of rest.
Any hours over 40 worked in any given week must be compensated as overtime (see Overtime Pay for more details).
Sierra Leone requires employers to give at least 14 weeks of maternity leave to their pregnant employers with full remuneration. For this entitlement, pregnant employees must provide their employers with a certificate from a medical practitioner that specifies the anticipated delivery date. Employees must give their employer 7 days' notice before taking maternity leave entitlements.
If illness arises from the pregnancy that makes returning to work inadvisable, the employee is entitled to up to 20 weeks of leave that commences from the period of confinement or miscarriage. The medical practitioner will determine the actual duration required for the employee to return to work.
During the period of maternity leave, employees' normal benefits and entitlements including her contractual rights and the accumulation of pension rights as well as her legitimate expectations to advancement and seniority, shall continue uninterrupted in the same manner. Employee shall have right to return to the job which she held immediately prior to her maternity leave and on terms and conditions not less favorable than those which would have applied had she not been absent unless the job has ceased to exist because of economic, technological or organizational reasons, or she is incapable of continuing to perform that job.
The minimum wage in Sierra Leone is set by the Minister for Industrial Relations in consultation with the Joint National Board. It was last raised to SLL 1,200 (Sierra Leonean leones) per month in April 2026.
The Employment Act prohibits setting an employee's remuneration below the national minimum wage. Any employment contract that stipulates remuneration under the national minimum wage will be null and void.
No law regulates the pay frequency in Sierra Leone. The pay frequency should be outlined in the employment contract, with the most common payroll cycle being monthly.
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