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Ghana Leave Laws & Holidays

Paid Time Off, Annual Leave, Sick Leave, Maternity Leave, Paternity Leave, Bereavement Leave, Jury Duty Leave, Military Leave, and Voting Leave

Table Of Contents

Last updated on January 16, 2024.

Public Holidays in Ghana for 2024

Date Holiday
January 1 New Year
January 7 & 8 Constitution Days
March 6 Independence Day
March 29 Good Friday
April 1 Easter Monday
April 10 Eid al-Fitr
1 May Spring Day
May 25 Africa Unity Day
Jun 16 Eid al-Adha
July 1 Republic Day
August 4 Founders’ Day
August 5 Founders’ Day Holiday
September 21 Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day
September 23 Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day Holiday
December 6 Farmers’ Day
December 25 Christmas
December 26 Boxing Day

PTO

  • Vacation/Annual Paid Leave

Every employee is entitled to not less than fifteen working days’ leave with full pay in any calendar year of continuous service.

Public holidays and absence from duty due to sickness certified by a medical practitioner, and pregnancy and confinement, employee’s participation in voluntary communal work, the discharge of civic duties, or the granting of special leave with or without pay will not affect the annual leave entitlement of an employee.

Every employee is entitled to enjoy an unbroken period of leave but an employer, in cases of urgent necessity, may require an employee to interrupt his or her leave and return to work. The employee will not forfeit the right to the remainder of the leave but is entitled to take the leave any time thereafter.

An employee is entitled to take his or her annual leave in two approximately equal parts.

  • Use-it-or-lose-it policy

Where an employee takes his or her annual leave at the end of a calendar year, the leave may continue into the following year. 

  • PTO payout at the termination

Where the employment is terminated, the employee is entitled to annual leave in proportion to the period of service in the calendar year.

The employee will not be deprived of any other grants or awards to which the employee is entitled including payment instead of notice of termination.

Maternity Leave

A female employee, on the production of a medical certificate issued by a medical practitioner or a midwife indication the expected date of her confinement, is entitled to a period of maternity leave of at least twelve weeks in addition to any period of annual leave she is entitled after her period of confinement.

A female employee on maternity leave is entitled to be paid her full remuneration and other benefits to which she is otherwise entitled.

The period of maternity leave may be extended for at least two additional weeks where the confinement is abnormal or where in the course of the same confinement two or more babies are born.

Where an illness, medically certified by a medical practitioner, is due to her pregnancy, the female employee is entitled to additional leave as certified by the medical practitioner.

Where an illness, medically certified by a medical practitioner, is due to her confinement the female employee is entitled to an extension of the leave after confinement as certified by the medical practitioner.

Sick Leave

Medical or sick leave is not calculated as part of an employee’s annual leave.

Jury Duty Leave and Voting Leave

Not specified by law

Bereavement Leave

Employees are entitled to paid leave due to the death of their close family members.

Military Leave

  • Not specified by law.

Please consult your local legal counsel to learn more about Ghana Leave Laws.

To learn more about laws in various countries, check out our Leave Laws page.

All materials have been prepared for general information purposes only to permit you to learn more about this region's leave laws. The information presented is not legal advice, is not to be acted on as such, and may not be current. Please contact your local legal counsel to learn more about the leave laws in your country.

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