Leave in Uganda: annual, sick, maternity and paternity rules
What the Employment Act gives every employee: 21 days' annual leave, paid public holidays, sick pay, 60 days' maternity leave and paternity leave.
A written leave policy is one of the cheapest ways to avoid disputes with staff, and in Uganda the floor is set by the Employment Act 2006. Many small businesses either grant less than the Act requires or grant more without realising it. This is what the law says, section by section, with the changes the 2026 amendment brings to sick leave.
Annual leave: seven days per four months
Section 54 entitles an employee, once in every calendar year, to a holiday with full pay at the rate of seven days for each period of four months' continuous service, to be taken at a time agreed between the parties. Over a full year that is 21 days, and the Act counts working days. The section applies to employees who normally work at least sixteen hours a week.
Two practical points follow. Leave accrues with service, so a person who joined in June has earned seven days by October, not 21. And the timing is agreed, not dictated: an employer can plan leave around busy seasons, but cannot refuse it indefinitely. Section 58 adds that any outstanding annual leave is dealt with on termination, which is why a running balance per employee matters.
Public holidays
The same section gives an employee a day's holiday with full pay on every public holiday. Where staff must work on a gazetted public holiday, section 53 sets the overtime rate at two times the normal hourly rate in the absence of a written agreement to the contrary.
Sick pay
Under section 55 an employee who has completed at least one month's continuous service and is incapable of work through sickness or injury is entitled to full wages and every other contractual benefit for the first month of absence. If the sickness continues at the end of the second month, the employer may terminate the contract on complying with all its terms up to that date. The employee must notify the employer of the absence as soon as reasonably practicable and, if asked, produce a medical certificate at intervals of not less than a week.
The Employment (Amendment) Act assented to on 29 April 2026 reshapes this once it commences. Sick leave becomes a six-month regime: full pay for two months, then half pay for the next four, and termination for sickness is allowed only after six months, with a doctor's opinion and settlement of contractual dues. Update your policy to the new regime now so you are not caught by the commencement notice.
Maternity leave: 60 working days
Section 56 gives a female employee the right to sixty working days' leave on full wages as a consequence of pregnancy, of which at least four weeks 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. Where sickness arising from pregnancy or confinement affects the mother or the baby, the Act provides for further protection, so treat such cases with care and medical evidence rather than a quick termination.
The 2026 amendment adds a new duty for every employer, regardless of size, to provide time, space or a facility for breastfeeding and for children aged 3 to 36 months, with standards to be set by the Minister.
Paternity leave: four working days
Section 57 gives a male employee, immediately after the delivery or miscarriage of a wife, four working days' leave each year on full wages, with the right to return to the same job afterwards.
Writing the policy
A one-page leave policy that staff can read is all most businesses need. It should state:
- how annual leave accrues (seven days per four months of service) and how it is requested and approved;
- which public holidays are paid and what the rate is for working on one;
- the notification and medical certificate rules for sick leave, and the pay regime that applies;
- maternity and paternity entitlements as above;
- what happens to untaken leave on termination.
Section 59 of the Act requires the written particulars given to every employee to state the number of days' annual leave and the terms relating to sickness, so the policy is not an optional extra; it is part of the contract.
Keeping the record
Disputes about leave are almost always disputes about records. For every employee keep the start date, the leave taken with dates, the approvals and any medical certificates. When a labour officer asks, the employer who can produce the file wins; the one relying on memory does not.
Sources
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