Exceptional leave in employment law in Ghana

@The Red One

Hello and welcome !

I think that the Labour Act of 2003 is the one you should refer to

https://moti.gov.gh/v2/labour-employment/

Labour Act 2003

I don't know whether you will find the answers to your queries by reading the above document. I hope members can guide you or if you are looking to work there, maybe HR could guide you.

All the best

Bhavna

@Bhavna

Thank you for your answer. However, upon reading the labor code, this is not mentioned, hence my question via the forum. I think it is at the level of the collective agreement

You would have difficulty getting paid leave for any of the categories you mention as Ghana laws tend to mirror British ones and I know they wouldn't be covered there. You may be able to claim compassionate leave for the illness of a spouse or child or the death of an immediate family.member but it would probably depend on your employer

Thank you for the clarification. Indeed, I have taken note of the difficulty in obtaining a legal text governing this type of exceptional leave. It seems that one needs to consult internally with the employer. Moreover, I am having difficulty finding an interprofessional collective agreement despite Ghana's affiliation with the international labour organization.

The way I look at it:

When the Labour Act 2003, or a possible "collective agreement" as meant in Part XII of the Labour Act 2003 (so an agreement between one or more trade unions and or more representatives of employer organizations that legally applies to the employment contract of the employee in question), does not explicitly grant a certain (paid) leave, an employee does not have a right on it except when a certain type of leave is agreed upon between employer and employee at the start of the employment contract.

Article 20 and 21 of the Labour Act 2003 state that an employee has the right on at least 15 working days of paid leave per calendar, provided the employee worked for at least 200 days at that job.

I understand Article 24 of the Labour Act 2003 such that there is a right on sickness leave provided the employee can prove his/her sickness by handing over a medical certificate to the employer. Sickness leave does not count as the type of leave as mentioned in articles 20 and 21 of the Labour Act 2003. I cannot find any other article that states that sickness leave is a form of paid leave. So, I conclude that the employer does not have to pay the employee during his/her sickness, unless a possible "collective agreement" or unless the employment contract states otherwise.

Article 57 (2) of the Labour Act 2003 gives a female employee the right on paid maternity leave of at least 12 weeks. Proof of (expected) maternity by way of a medical certificate has to be provided to the employer by the employee.

So I conclude that a right on leave for marriage, baptism, and communion like mentioned in the first post of this thread does not exist unless a possible "collective agreement" or the employment contract states otherwise. I would think that such days could count as days of paid leave as mentioned in artciles 20 and 21 of the Labour Act 2003 but they will than of course be deducted from the minimum of 15 days of paid leave per calendar year. But the Labour Act 2003 does not force the employer to grant the leave on the exact day(s) the employee wishes for, so I strongly advise the employee to discuss matters like this as early as possible with the employer.

I was a legal advisor working for the Dutch Housing Agency till my retirement in 2022. I have a university degree in Dutch Law since 1992. But like hkann already wrote: Ghanaian Law is based on English Law, so not on Dutch Law. I cannot guarantee that the above is 100 % correct.