Ghana - Working time - 2011

07 October 2011.

Labour Act 2003, Act No. 651, Official Gazette 2003 10-10 pp. 1-69.

Public Holidays Law, 1989

Worker means a person employed under a contract of employment whether on a continuous, part-time, temporary or casual basis.

"Employer" means any person who employs a worker under a contract of employment.

"Domestic Worker" means a person who is not a member of the family of a person who employs him or her as househelp.

Young person means a person of or above 18 age but below 21 years.

The hours of work of a worker shall be of a maximum of eight hours a day or forty hours a week except in cases expressly provided for in this Act.

The rules of any undertaking or its branch may prescribe hours of work different from eight hours a day on one or more days in the week, subject to the following,

a. Where shorter hours of work are fixed, the hours of work on the other days of the week may be proportionately longer than eight hours but shall not exceed nine hours a day or a total of forty hours a week;
b. Where longer hours of work are fixed the average number of hours reckoned over a period of four weeks or less shall not exceed eight hours a day or forty hours a week; or
c. In the case of an undertaking the work of which is of a seasonal nature, where longer hours of work are fixed, the average number of hours of work over a period of one year shall not exceed eight hours a day except that the hours of work which may be fixed under this paragraph shall not exceed ten hours a day.

Articles from 40 to 43, as well as articles 33 and 34, do not apply to task workers or domestic workers in private homes.

The hours of work of a worker shall be of a maximum of eight hours a day or forty hours a week except in cases expressly provided for in this Act.

The rules of any undertaking or its branch may prescribe hours of work different from eight hours a day on one or more days in the week, subject to the following,

a. Where shorter hours of work are fixed, the hours of work on the other days of the week may be proportionately longer than eight hours but shall not exceed nine hours a day or a total of forty hours a week;
b. Where longer hours of work are fixed the average number of hours reckoned over a period of four weeks or less shall not exceed eight hours a day or forty hours a week; or
c. In the case of an undertaking the work of which is of a seasonal nature, where longer hours of work are fixed, the average number of hours of work over a period of one year shall not exceed eight hours a day except that the hours of work which may be fixed under this paragraph shall not exceed ten hours a day.

Articles from 40 to 43, as well as articles 33 and 34, do not apply to task workers or domestic workers in private homes.

Subject to subsections (2) and (3), where a worker in an undertaking works after the hours of work fixed by the rules of that undertaking, the additional hours done shall be regarded as overtime work.

A worker shall not be compelled to do overtime work except for undertakings or enterprises
a) the very nature of which requires overtime in order to be viable; or
b) which are subject to emergencies that require that workers engage in overtime work in order to prevent or avoid threat to life and property.

A worker in any such undertaking may not be required to do overtime work unless that undertaking has fixed rates of pay for overtime work.

Notwithstanding section 35, a worker may be required to work beyond the fixed hours of work without additional pay in certain exceptional circumstances including an accident threatening human lives or the very existence of the undertaking.

The time of commencement and closing of a worker’s hours of work in any undertaking shall be fixed by the rules of the undertaking concerned subject to the following:
a. in the case of operations underground, work commences when the worker enters the cage or lift to go down and ends when the worker leaves it at the surface; and
b. in the case of operations underground, where the work place is reached by going down a gallery, the hours of work is reckoned from the time when the worker enters the gallery to the time when he or she leaves it at the surface.

In any undertaking:
a) where the normal hours of work are continuous, a worker is entitled to at least 30 minutes break in the course of the work, but the break forms part of the normal hours of work; and
b) where the normal hours of work are, in two parts, the break should not be of less than one hour duration and does not form part of the normal hours of work.

Articles from 40 to 43, as well as articles 33 and 34, do not apply to task workers or domestic workers in private homes.

Without prejudice to section 40, a worker shall be granted a daily continuous rest of at least twelve hours duration between two consecutive working days.

The daily rest of the worker in an undertaking operating on a seasonal basis may not be of less than ten hours, but of not more than twelve hours’s duration over a period of at least sixty consecutive days in the calendar year.

Articles from 40 to 43, as well as articles 33 and 34, do not apply to task workers or domestic workers in private homes.

A worker shall, in addition to the rest periods provided in sections 40 and 41, be given a rest period of 48 consecutive hours, in every seven days of normal working hours, and the rest period may, for preference, start from Saturday and end on the Sunday following and shall wherever possible, be granted to all of the workers of the undertaking.

Articles from 40 to 43, as well as articles 33 and 34, do not apply to task workers or domestic workers in private homes.

In any undertaking every worker is entitled to not less than 15 working days leave with full pay in any calendar year of continuous service.

Continuity of service shall not be regarded as interrupted by mere change of ownership or management of the undertaking.
Where the work is not regularly maintained throughout the year, the requirement of continuous service shall be deemed to have been met if the worker has worked for not less than two hundred days in the particular year.

In any undertaking every worker is entitled to not less than 15 working days leave with full pay in any calendar year of continuous service.

In any undertaking every worker is entitled to not less than 15 working days leave with full pay in any calendar year of continuous service.
The expression "full pay" means the worker’s normal remuneration, without overtime payment, including the cash equivalent of any remuneration in kind.

The expression "full pay" means the worker¿s normal remuneration, without overtime payment, including the cash equivalent of any remuneration in kind.

A worker shall, as much as may be possible, be given notice of the date of commencement of his or her annual leave, at least, 30 days before the worker takes the leave.
Every employer is required to keep a record showing the following particulars,
a) the date of employment of each worker employed by the employer and the duration of the annual leave to which the worker is entitled;
b) the dates on which the annual leave is taken by each worker; and
c) the remuneration received by each worker in respect of the annual leave.

Without prejudice to the provisions of this Sub-Part, a worker may be permitted to take his or her annual leave in two approximate equal parts.

Every worker is entitled to enjoy an unbroken period of leave but an employer, in cases of urgent necessity, may in accordance with this section, require a worker to interrupt his or her leave and return to work.
Where a worker is required by the employer to interrupt his or her leave in the circumstances specified in subsection (1) the worker shall not forfeit the right to the remainder of the leave but shall take the leave anytime thereafter.
Where a worker takes his or her annual leave at the end of a calendar year, the leave may continue except as provided in subsection (1) without interruption, into the following year.

Any employer who requires a worker to interrupt his or her annual leave in the circumstance stated in section 25, shall make up to the worker any reasonable expense incurred on account of the interruption, and also resumption of the leave by the worker.

Public holidays and absence from duty due to sickness certified by a medical practitioner, and pregancy and confinement, shall not affect the annual leave entitlement of a worker.

The days specified in the Schedule to this Law shall be observed as public holidays every year throughout Ghana.

Schedule:
New Year’s Day (1st January)
Independence Day (6th March)
Good Friday
Easter Monday
1st May
4th June
Republic Day (1st July)
Christmas Day (25th December)
Boxing Day (26th December)
31st December

(1)Subject to the provisions of sections 1 and 3 and subsection (2) of this Section no person shall open for sale or trade any ship or engage in any business whatsoever on public holidays.
(1)Subject to the provision of any enactment for the time being in force, subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to the following:
(a) food or grocery shops;
(b) drug or parmacy shops;
(c) licensed restaurants or hotels;
(d) local markets for sale of food or foodstuffs;
(e) premises licensed for the sale of spirit, wine, and beer; under the Liquor Licensing Act, 1970 (Act 331);
(f) the running of any essential public service specified in subsection (3) of this section.
(3) For the purposes of paragraph (f) of subsection (2) of this section "essential public service" means any of the following:
(a) water services;
(b) electricity services;
(c) health and hospital services;
(d) sanitary services;
(e) air traffic and Civil Aviation control services;
(f) Meteorological services;
(g) fire services;
(h) air transport service;
(i) supply and distribution of fuel, petrol, power and light;
(j) telecommunications services;
(k) public transport services.

Unless with her consent, an employer shall not
a) assign or employ a pregnant woman worker to do any night work between the hours of 22h and 07h.
b) The pregnant woman worker or the mother may present a written complaint to the National Labour Comission established under section 135 against an employer who contravenes subsection (1).

Workers may be employed in shifts, but the average number of hours reckoned over a period of four weeks or less shall not exceed 08 hours a day or 40 hours a week if there is an established time-table for the shifts.

A contract of employment of a casual worker need not be in writing.
A casual worker shall:
a) be given equal pay for work of equal value for each day worked in that organization;
b) have acess to any necessary medical facility made available to the workers generally by the employer;
c) be entitled to be paid for overtime work by his or her employer in accordance with section 35; and
d) be paid full minimum remuneration for each day on which the worker attends work, wheter or not the weather prevents the worker from carrying on his or her normal work and wheter it is possible or not, to arrange alternative work for the worker on such a day.

A casual worker shall:
c) be entitled to be paid for overtime work by his or her employer in accordance with section 35;