Working hours, leave and public holidays: the 40-hour week, breaks and overtime under the 2023 Order, annual leave, maternity, paternity, sick and circumstantial leave, and Rwanda's fifteen public holidays

Where the rules on hours now sit

Until 2023, Article 43 of Law N° 66/2018 of 30/08/2018 regulating labour in Rwanda fixed a maximum of 45 hours a week. Article 2 of Law N° 027/2023 of 18/05/2023 replaced it with a provision that an Order of the Minister in charge of labour determines working hours, the daily break and the weekly rest, and repealed the separate article on weekly rest. That Order is Ministerial Order N° 01/MIFOTRA/23 of 13/06/2023 on working hours and public servants governed by employment contracts, published on 13 June 2023, whose Chapters II and III on hours in the public and private sectors took effect retroactively from 1 January 2023. It repealed Ministerial Order N° 01/MIFOTRA/22 and Ministerial Order N° 005/19.20 of 17/03/2020. Chapter III, Articles 10 to 18, governs the private sector.

Several commercial employer-of-record guides still quote a 45-hour week. That figure is out of date: for private employers the standard week has been 40 hours since 1 January 2023, and timetables, shift patterns and overtime budgets built on 45 hours generate five overtime hours a week per employee.

The 40-hour week, breaks and rest

Under Article 10 of the 2023 Order the employer sets the daily timetable of working hours and break time, but the weekly working hours of an employee are 40 hours, with overtime possible under the Order. Article 10 also gives the employee a right to a "flexible working hour" where work in the enterprise starts before 9:00 am. Article 2 defines a flexible working hour as one in which the employee may schedule work so as to attend to personal or family affairs, is not obliged to be at the duty station, and may work remotely or report to the duty station when it is urgent. The Order does not say how many such hours are due, so employers with early starts should address the point expressly in their rules of procedure.

Article 12 entitles each private-sector employee to a daily break of one hour, timed by the employer, and to a weekly rest of not less than 24 hours, which is not counted in the 40 hours. Enterprises providing essential services, those whose interruption may prejudice the health, welfare or security of the population, must keep them running without interruption and organise rotation of the employees concerned (Article 11). Article 13 provides that hours worked during the day, at night, on an official holiday or at the weekend are the same and remunerated equally: the Order sets no night, weekend or holiday premium, although a contract, the rules of procedure or a collective agreement may provide one.

Overtime and lost hours

An employee may work overtime at the employer's request where the work is urgent, exceptional, seasonal, done to preserve or increase productivity, or of a special nature (Article 14). Overtime means hours worked beyond 40 a week or, where the rules of procedure or the contract set fewer hours, beyond that lower figure (Article 15). The employer must record overtime hours and days in a register or electronically, and the employee confirms the record by signature, fingerprint or another electronic means the employer chooses.

The primary form of compensation is time off equal to the extra hours, granted within 30 days of the day the overtime was worked. Hours for which compensatory rest is not granted within that period are paid in the next month and must appear on the payslip (Article 17). Payment is at the average hourly salary, which Article 18 defines as the employee's gross salary calculated on the basis of the working hours in the Order, or on the lower hours agreed in the contract; where the contract sets an hourly rate for overtime, that rate applies. Article 16 deals with the reverse case: where work is interrupted by an accident, power cut, bad weather, disaster, shortage of materials or force majeure, salary is not deducted, and the lost hours may be made up by extra hours within 30 days, unless the employer did not allow the employee to leave the workplace during the interruption.

Annual leave

Article 46 of the Labour Law gives every employee 1.5 working days of paid annual leave per month of work, or two working days a month for employees aged 16 and 17, unless the contract is more favourable. An employee gains one additional working day a year for every three years of service in the same enterprise, but annual paid leave may never exceed 21 working days. A new recruit may take annual leave after twelve months of service, probation included. Public holidays falling in a leave period are not counted as leave days, and the employee keeps all contractual rights while on leave.

The employer draws up the leave schedule taking account of the employee's wishes and the needs of the business; an employee asks for leave in writing and the employer replies in writing. Once approved, the schedule may not be brought forward or postponed by the employer by more than three months without agreement, and leave may be split into two periods (Article 47). An employer may recall an employee from leave in writing for work reasons; the remaining leave is resumed within six months (Article 48). Where annual leave coincides with sick, maternity or another statutory leave, the annual leave is suspended and resumes afterwards (Article 62).

Annual leave cannot be exchanged for cash during employment (Article 46). When a contract ends or expires before the leave has been taken, Article 49 requires an indemnity in lieu, including for employees with less than twelve months' service. The right to request leave expires two years after it fell due (Article 50), so carry-forward policies should not allow leave to accumulate beyond that point.

Maternity leave, paternity leave and pregnancy protection

Law N° 027/2023 replaced the Labour Law's maternity provisions with a power for a Ministerial Order to set the leave, and Article 54 of Ministerial Order N° 02/MIFOTRA/23 of 01/08/2023 now gives a female employee who gives birth 14 consecutive weeks of maternity leave, including any weeks taken before delivery, plus up to one further paid month where a recognised doctor certifies complications for the mother or child. A stillbirth from the 20th week of pregnancy gives eight weeks' leave; a mother whose child dies after birth keeps the rest of her maternity leave; a miscarriage before the 20th week is treated as sick leave; and after a premature birth the mother receives leave until the normal nine-month term and then the full 14 weeks (Articles 55 to 57).

The cost is shared under Law N° 003/2016 of 30/03/2016 establishing and governing maternity leave benefits scheme, as amended by Law N° 049/2024 of 04/06/2024, which took effect from 2 August 2023. The employer pays the woman her salary for all 14 weeks, and the Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB) reimburses the employer for eight weeks, counted from the seventh week; the employer bears six. RSSB also funds the additional month for certified complications. To be reimbursed the employer must have granted the leave, paid the benefits and filed a reimbursement request with RSSB within six months of the end of the leave (Article 13 of Law N° 003/2016 as amended). The benefit is based on the declared salary divided by 30 and cannot exceed the salary declared during the leave, so an employer that under-declares pay to RSSB recovers less.

A male employee is entitled to seven calendar days of paternity leave on the birth of his child, plus five working days where complications are medically certified (Article 58 of the 2023 Order). Several commercial guides still quote four days; that figure is out of date. Protection runs alongside the leave: Article 24 bis of the Labour Law, inserted in 2023, prohibits terminating a contract because of pregnancy; Article 24 prohibits termination while an employee is on leave; Article 61 requires the mother to return to her same post and forbids a notice of dismissal running during maternity leave; and Article 59 gives a paid breastfeeding break of one hour a day for twelve months after her return.

Sick leave, circumstantial leave and authorised absence

Article 54 of the Labour Law obliges the employer to grant paid short-term sick leave of up to 15 days on presentation of a certificate from a recognised medical doctor. Beyond 15 days, and where a committee of three recognised doctors certifies the illness, the employee is entitled to long-term sick leave of up to six months: full salary for the first three months, then a further three months of unpaid suspension. If the employee is still sick at the end of that suspension, the employer may terminate the contract in accordance with the Labour Law (Article 55), and terminal benefits under Article 31 are then due; see Termination, severance and redundancy. Occupational accidents and diseases are covered separately by RSSB's occupational hazards scheme (Social security: RSSB contributions).

Circumstantial leave is paid leave for family events (Article 51 of the Labour Law). Article 59 of Ministerial Order N° 02/MIFOTRA/23 sets the days shown in the table above. It is granted at the time of the event, cannot be split into instalments or deducted from annual leave (Article 60), and must be requested in writing in advance unless exceptional circumstances prevent it (Article 61). Beyond these entitlements, Article 52 of the Labour Law allows the employer to grant authorised absence for duly justified reasons, on terms the rules of procedure should set out.

Public holidays

Article 53 of the Labour Law entitles employees to official public holidays on full salary, and leaves the list to a Presidential Order. Article 27 of Presidential Order N° 062/01 of 19/10/2022 on official mission, delegation of powers and public holidays lists fifteen. The dates of Eid el-Fitr and Eid al-Adha are announced each year by the Rwanda Muslim Community, and Umuganura Day, the national harvest festival, falls on the Friday of the first week of August.

Under Article 28 of the Presidential Order, a public holiday falling on a Saturday or Sunday is moved to the next working day, except 7 April, the Memorial Day of the Genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi in 1994, which is never moved. If two consecutive holidays fall on a weekend they are compensated by one working day, and where two holidays coincide the following working day becomes a holiday. An employee who works on a public holiday is entitled to an equivalent rest day within 30 days (Article 53 of the Labour Law); because the 2023 Order pays holiday hours at the ordinary rate, the compensating rest day, not a cash premium, is the statutory remedy.

Granting maternity leave and recovering eight weeks from RSSB

1. Confirm the employee is declaredCheck that the employee has been registered with RSSB and that maternity contributions of 0.6% have been declared and paid each month on her actual salary; reimbursement is based on the declared salary.
2. Receive the certificate and agree datesAgree the start date of the 14 consecutive weeks, which may include weeks before delivery, and record any certified complications that extend the leave by up to one month.
3. Pay full salary for 14 weeksContinue to pay salary through payroll for the whole leave, with PAYE and contributions as usual; do not serve any notice of dismissal during the leave (Articles 24 and 61 of the Labour Law).
4. File the reimbursement claimWithin six months of the end of the leave, file RSSB's reimbursement request for the eight weeks counted from the seventh week, and for any additional month for complications (Article 13 of Law N° 003/2016 as amended).
5. Arrange the returnReturn the employee to her same post and schedule the paid one-hour daily breastfeeding break for twelve months (Articles 59 and 61).