Work and Parents/Family

Work and Parents and Family, Labour Laws and Family, Work and Wages and Salaries and Family, Parents and Work and more on AfricaPay Uganda.

What do the regulations state about work and parents?

The current labour regulations in Uganda make certain mentions of family associated issues. However, the mentions are quite brief and do not provide a specific understanding of how working parents should be treated at the workplace. For example, the regulation states that employed working men whose spouses have delivered or had a miscarriage should be given four days of paid leave, but it does not specify how such men should be treated while they have not yet taken their leave or after coming back from the leave, except that they should be allowed to continue with their work.

What do the regulations say about paternity leave?

The regulations state that when a child has been born or a miscarriage has occurred to the spouse of a male worker, he is supposed to get four days of paid paternity leave immediately after the child is born or a miscarriage has occurred. The male worker may ask for the paternity leave from his employer and return to work after completing the leave without being treated unfairly by the employers.

Does the law consider child care?

There are no exact provisions in the regulations for child care. However, as part of best practice some employers do provide child-related services such as time for breastfeeding and a room for it. Some employers also pay school fees for the children of their workers in addition to providing scholastic materials such as pens, books and school uniforms.

Some arrangements made between the employers and workers representatives, for example in the flower sector, also puts into consideration extra support to breastfeeding mothers or those who have just given birth by providing food for both the mother and the child.

What occurs if a child is ill or there is a problem at home?

There is no exact provision in the law for a boss to allow an employee to attend to a child who is ill or any grave problem at home with the exception of death. However, a boss may allow it out of sympathy for the worker.

However, numerous negotiated agreements between employers and workers’ representatives usually state how to deal with issues of child ill health or other problems at the home of a worker.

What about study leave?

In order to develop his or her career, an employee may request a period study leave from his or her boss, even though it is not a legal obligation on the part of the employer to offer the study leave to the employee.

In most cases Ugandan workers are granted study leave, particularly during exam times and with pay, so as to enable them to undertake a course of their choice. Employers generally prefer to support their workers when they have enrolled for a course which fits well with the work which they are doing at the company/organisation or a career path that fits within the objectives of the company/organisation.

Usually, negotiated agreements between employers and workers’ representatives take into account paid study leave for the worker to be able to make progress in his or her career for their own advantage as well as for their families.

What should an employer do for the family of a worker who has died while working?

In case, a worker dies while working for a given employer, and when the family of the worker has been conveyed to the place of employment by the employer, the family shall be taken back to their initial homeland at the expense of the employer. The family also gets other advantages including contributions made to NSSF (in the case of private sector workers) or gratuity and/or retirement benefits (in the case of civil servants).

Some negotiated agreements include additional support which should be made by the employer to the deceased worker’s family in order to help them to start a new life.

What should an employer do if an employee loses a family member or a close relative?

The boss can allow a worker to be missing from work for a time span of three days to mourn for the deceased family member or relative. However, inside any calendar year an employer is only obliged to permit a worker to be absent for the overall period of six working days, which means that an employee can lawfully attend only two funerals where each is taking three days.

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