Working Hours and Overtime in Gambia

In Gambia, your company must comply with working hour and overtime laws – including daily limits, overtime thresholds, and rest requirements – to stay compliant and build a strong employee experience.

As you plan workforce schedules through 2026, you should expect closer scrutiny of working-time practices, better record-keeping requirements, and growing expectations around employee wellbeing. Establish clear written policies on standard hours, overtime approval, and rest periods, and ensure managers are trained to apply them consistently. Regular internal audits of timesheets, payroll, and shift rosters will help you identify risks early and demonstrate good-faith compliance if inspected by authorities or challenged by employees.

• Standard Working Hours
• Overtime Thresholds
• Overtime Pay Rates
• Daily And Weekly Rest Requirements
• Night Work Restrictions
• Penalties For Non-Compliance

What Are The Standard Working Hours In Gambia?

An employee whose age is 18 or younger has a maximum of 6 hours per day and 30 hours per week. An employee whose age is 19 or older is allowed to work 48 hours per week. A minimum meal interval of 30 minutes must be observed by employees who work more than 5 hours in a day. In typical working hours, Monday through Friday, the hours are 8:00 to 16:00.

Maximum Working Hours In Gambia

Under general labour practice in Gambia, the standard workweek for adult employees is 8 hours per day and 48 hours per week, usually spread over 6 days. Many formal sector employers instead operate a 5-day schedule of approximately 8 hours per day, with a shorter day on Friday to accommodate religious observance. You should clearly define the normal daily and weekly hours in each employee’s contract and internal policies, ensuring that any hours beyond these limits are treated as overtime and compensated accordingly.

For young workers under 18, you should apply stricter limits – typically no more than 6 hours per day and 30 hours per week – and avoid scheduling them for night work or excessively long shifts. You must also ensure that working hours are organized so that employees receive adequate rest between shifts and are not routinely scheduled at the legal maximum without justification, as this can raise health and safety concerns.

Industry-Specific Exceptions

• Hospital And Healthcare Services
• Hotels, Tourism, And Hospitality
• Agriculture And Seasonal Harvest Work
• Security, Guarding, And Emergency Services
• Transport, Ports, And Aviation Operations

Managerial And Exempt Employees

Senior managers and certain high-level professionals in Gambia may not be subject to the same strict hour-by-hour controls as rank-and-file employees, particularly where they exercise genuine autonomy over their schedules and are paid higher salaries to reflect this responsibility. However, you should not assume that all managers are automatically exempt from working-time protections. If a person’s role is largely operational, with fixed shifts and limited discretion, it is safer to treat them as covered by standard working-hour and overtime rules.

To manage risk, clearly document in employment contracts whether a role is managerial or supervisory, describe the expected working pattern, and specify whether the salary is intended to compensate for reasonable additional hours. Even where managers are exempt from overtime pay, you still have a duty to protect their health and safety by avoiding excessive hours and ensuring they receive adequate rest and time off.

Statutory Full-Time Working Hours In Gambia

In practice, full-time employment in Gambia is generally based on a 48-hour workweek for adult employees, although many employers adopt a 40–44 hour week as a matter of policy or collective agreement. When defining full-time status in your organization, you should align with sector norms while ensuring that your standard hours do not exceed the legal maximum and that any additional hours are treated as overtime.

Part-time employees should have their hours and entitlements clearly pro-rated in comparison with full-time staff. Clearly stating the normal weekly hours, daily schedule, and any flexibility arrangements in the employment contract will help you demonstrate compliance and avoid disputes about whether an employee is working beyond the agreed full-time standard.

Overtime Regulations In Gambia

What Counts As Overtime In Gambia?

In Gambia, overtime generally refers to any hours worked in excess of the employee’s normal daily or weekly working hours as set out in the employment contract, internal policies, or applicable collective agreements, provided those normal hours do not exceed the statutory limits. For most adult employees, this means work beyond 8 hours per day or 48 hours per week will be considered overtime, unless a different, lower threshold is contractually agreed.

Overtime should always be expressly requested or approved by the employer in advance, except in genuine emergencies. You should avoid informal practices where employees stay late or work on rest days without written authorization, as this can still create an obligation to pay overtime and may expose you to claims. Make sure your policies clearly define what constitutes overtime, how it is recorded, and who has authority to approve it.

Maximum Overtime In Gambia

While Gambian labour standards aim to limit excessive working hours, they typically allow a reasonable amount of overtime on top of the standard 48-hour week, particularly in sectors with fluctuating demand. As a best-practice guideline, you should avoid scheduling more than 2 additional hours per day and more than 12–16 hours of overtime per week for any individual employee, and you should ensure that total hours, including overtime, do not become habitual or continuous over long periods.

In peak seasons or emergencies, short-term increases may be necessary, but you should document the reasons, obtain the employee’s consent where appropriate, and ensure that daily and weekly rest periods are still respected. For young workers and pregnant employees, overtime should be restricted or avoided altogether, given the heightened health and safety considerations.

Overtime Payout Rates In Gambia

Overtime work in Gambia is generally compensated at a premium rate above the employee’s normal hourly wage. A common approach in formal employment is to pay at least 125% of the regular hourly rate for overtime worked on normal working days, and 150% or more for overtime worked on weekly rest days or public holidays. Some employers adopt higher multipliers through company policy or collective bargaining to remain competitive and to recognize the additional burden on employees.

You should calculate the overtime rate based on the employee’s basic wage plus any regular fixed allowances that form part of normal remuneration, divided by the standard number of working hours. Keep accurate records of hours worked, overtime approvals, and payments, and clearly explain the applicable overtime rates in employment contracts and staff handbooks. Where time off in lieu is used instead of cash payment, ensure that it is granted at an equivalent premium (for example, 1.5 hours of time off for each overtime hour worked on a rest day) and that employees receive it within a reasonable period.

Rest Periods And Breaks In Gambia

Employees in Gambia typically work around 8 hours per day and up to 48 hours per week, and within this framework you must organize work so that staff receive adequate rest and meal breaks. Rest periods are designed to protect health and safety by ensuring that no one works for long stretches without a pause, that there is sufficient time between shifts for recovery, and that each week includes at least one full day of rest away from work.

• Meal Break Requirements
• Daily Rest
• Weekly Rest
• Minors
• Employer Duties