Per Uganda's Employment Act, before deciding to dismiss an employee on the grounds of misconduct or poor performance, an employer must explain the reason for dismissal to the employee. In addition, the employee is entitled to have another person of their choice present during this conversation. Employers who fail to comply with this procedure are liable to pay the employee a sum equivalent to 4 weeks of net pay.
The statutory minimum notice period in Uganda is established according to the employee's length of service:
The notice must be in writing and in a form and language that the employee can reasonably be expected to understand. Employees may accept payment in lieu of notice. When the employee's pay period is longer than the period of notice to which the employee would be entitled, the employee is entitled to notice equivalent to that pay period.
Uganda issues the following work permits:
Uganda Work Permit Class G
The Uganda Work Permit Class G is for employees who intend to work in Uganda. The work can be either on a paid or an unpaid basis. The work permit is issued by the Department of Immigration in cases where a foreigner has provided adequate evidence to the immigration board that they have been offered and have accepted an offer of employment with a specific company or institution operating in Uganda.
There are two classes of Ugandan Work Permit Class G:
In Uganda, all employees who have performed continuous service for their employer for a minimum period of 6 months and those who normally work under a contract of service for 16 hours a week or more are entitled to annual leave.
Per Uganda's Employment Act, an employee is entitled to 21 annual paid leave days each year at the rate of 7 days for each continuous 4-month period of service.
Employees can take their annual leave at any time during a particular calendar year, subject to any prior agreement they have made with their employer. The 21 days of leave only includes working days. Public holidays are also not counted as leave days.
If an employee gets sick during annual leave, it will still be counted as part of annual leave and not sick leave.
Annual leave days cannot be carried forward into another calendar year unless the employee and employer mutually agree to do so.
Per Uganda's Employment Act, the maximum working hours for employees are generally 48 hours per week and 8 hours per day. However, an employee and employer may agree in advance to increase the maximum working hours per week to more than 48 hours. In that case, hours of work shall not exceed 10 hours per day or 56 hours per week.
Even then, it is permissible to employ shift workers for more than 10 hours in any one day or 48 hours in any 1 week (without paying overtime) as long as the average number of hours over a period of three weeks does not exceed 10 hours per day and 56 hours per week.
In any organization where the maximum working hours are at least 8 hours per day, a 30-minute break must be granted to employees.
After consultation with the Labor Advisory Board, the Minister may regulate the maximum number of hours per week (including overtime work) that may be worked in any industry or occupation. By order, the minister may also provide for temporary exceptions in extraordinary situations where the public interest requires.
In Uganda, female employees are entitled to 60 working days of fully paid maternity leave, of which at least 4 weeks must follow childbirth or miscarriage. The employer is responsible for paying 100% of the employee's earnings during maternity leave.
A female employee who becomes pregnant has the right to return to the job she held immediately before her maternity leave or to a reasonably suitable alternative job on terms and conditions equally favorable to those she would have received had she not been absent on maternity leave.
In the event of sickness arising out of pregnancy or confinement that affects either the mother or the baby and makes the mother's return to work inadvisable, the right to return must be available within 8 weeks after the date of childbirth or miscarriage.
In Uganda, the statutory minimum wage is fixed by a Wages Regulation Order. The minimum wage was last updated in 1984 and set at UGX 6,000 (Ugandan shilling) per month. It has not been revised since.
Uganda's Parliament passed a minimum wage bill in February 2019, but President Yoweri Museveni failed to sign it into law.
Uganda's Employment Act stipulates that in the absence of a written agreement, employees engaged to work for one day must be paid at the end of the day. Similarly, those paid by the hour or week must receive their wages at the end of that hour and week, respectively. Employees paid monthly are to be paid fortnightly or monthly, and those paid by the piece of work must be paid at intervals of not more than 1 fortnight. In case of contract termination, the employee is to receive wages and any accrued benefits or other remuneration within 7 days of the contract's termination date.
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