Annual, sick, maternity and paternity leave in Uganda: what the law gives you

Annual leave

Once in every calendar year, an employee is entitled to a holiday with full pay at the rate of seven days for each period of four months of continuous service, which adds up to 21 days over a full year. You and your employer agree when the leave is taken.

The right applies to employees with at least six months of continuous service who normally work 16 hours a week or more.

You cannot give up your minimum annual leave in exchange for money or anything else: the Act makes such an agreement void. When your job ends, you are entitled to holiday pay in proportion to the service for which you have not had leave, or compensation instead.

4 months of continuous service: 7 days
8 months: 14 days
12 months: 21 days

The right to annual leave applies once you have 6 months of continuous service.

Public holidays

You are entitled to a day off with full pay on every public holiday. If you work on a public holiday, you are entitled to another paid day off at the employer's expense instead, unless your employer pays you at least double the normal rate for that day.

Overtime worked on a gazetted public holiday is paid at a minimum of twice the normal hourly rate, unless a written agreement says otherwise.

Sick leave and sick pay

You qualify for sick pay after one month of continuous service, if you are normally employed for at least 16 hours a week. Since the 2026 amendment, the Act provides:

• For the first two months of absence: full wages and every other benefit in your contract.
• If the sickness continues after the second month: half of your monthly wages for the next four months.
• If the sickness continues after the sixth month: the employer may end the contract. Before ending a contract because of sickness, it must seek a medical doctor's opinion on your condition.

Before the amendment, the Act gave full wages for the first month only. To get sick pay, tell your employer about your absence and the reason as soon as reasonably practicable and, if asked, provide a certificate from a qualified medical practitioner, though not more often than once a week. If the employer wants a certificate from a doctor other than the company doctor, it pays the fees and transport.

Separately, a temporary absence from work of up to three months on reliable grounds, including illness or injury, is not a fair reason for dismissal or a disciplinary penalty.

Maternity leave

A female employee has the right to 60 working days of maternity leave on full wages, and at least four weeks of it must follow the childbirth or miscarriage.

She has the right to return to the job she held before, or to a reasonably suitable alternative on terms no less favourable. If sickness arising from the pregnancy or birth affects the mother or the baby and makes returning inadvisable, the right to return remains available within eight weeks after the birth or miscarriage.

To use these rights, give at least seven days of notice of your intention to return to work, or a shorter period that is reasonable in the circumstances, in writing if your employer asks. The employer may ask for a certificate from a qualified medical practitioner or a midwife.

A female employee's pregnancy is listed in the Act among the reasons that cannot justify a dismissal or a disciplinary penalty.

Paternity leave

A male employee has the right to four working days of paternity leave a year, immediately after his wife gives birth or has a miscarriage. He is paid full wages during the leave and has the right to return to his job afterwards.

Breastfeeding and child care

The 2026 amendment added a new duty: every employer must make available at the workplace time, space or a facility for breastfeeding and child care, for children between 3 and 36 months old. The Minister is to set operational standards for these facilities by regulations, so ask HR what arrangement your workplace offers.

Compassionate and other paid absence

Once you have completed three months of continuous service, the Act treats some absences as having good cause, and you are paid as if you had worked:

• The death of a member of your family or a dependent relative: up to three days on any one occasion and six days in a calendar year.
• A summons to attend a court or another public authority that can compel attendance.
• Exceptional events that stop you reaching your workplace or working.

If leave is refused

Put your request in writing and keep the reply. Taking, or proposing to take, leave you are entitled to under the law or your contract is not a fair reason for dismissal or a disciplinary penalty. If the problem continues, you can complain to a labour officer.

• How to file a labour complaint in Uganda

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