Working Hours and Overtime in Sierra Leone

What Are The Standard Working Hours In Sierra Leone?

An employee whose age is 17 or younger has a maximum of 6 hours per day and 30 hours per week. An employee whose age is 18 or older is allowed to work 40 hours per week. A minimum meal interval of 60 minutes must be observed by employees who work more than 5 consecutive hours in a day. In typical working hours, Monday through Friday, the hours are 8:00 to 17:00.

Maximum Working Hours In Sierra Leone

For adult employees, the standard legal working time in Sierra Leone is generally interpreted as 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week in most formal employment contracts. You should structure work schedules so that employees do not routinely exceed these limits without clearly documented overtime arrangements. Where work is organized over five days, this usually means 8 hours per day, while a six‑day schedule often uses slightly shorter daily hours.

Collective agreements or company policies may set lower daily or weekly limits, but they cannot validly require employees to work beyond what is reasonable for health and safety. You are expected to keep accurate time records showing daily start and finish times, breaks, and any overtime worked. These records are critical if there is a dispute about hours or if labour inspectors review your compliance.

Industry-Specific Exceptions

Companies hiring in sectors like healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, or hospitality may be subject to special scheduling rules. In practice, these sectors often rely on shift systems that extend beyond 8 hours in a single day, provided that average weekly hours remain close to 40 and overtime is compensated. You should ensure that shift patterns are clearly documented in employment contracts or written policies.

• Healthcare professionals may work 12-hour shifts with extended rest periods.
• Transport workers must comply with EU-aligned rest and driving limits.
• Manufacturing and security staff often rotate through night or weekend shifts.

Even in these sectors, you must ensure the average weekly limit is respected over a reference period. Where operational needs require longer weeks, you should balance them with lighter weeks or additional rest days. Written rosters and advance notice of shift changes help demonstrate that you are managing working time responsibly.

Managerial And Exempt Employees

Senior managerial staff in Sierra Leone are often treated as having broader availability and may not be subject to the same strict hourly tracking as rank‑and‑file employees. However, there is no blanket legal exemption that allows you to ignore health and safety limits on working time. Contracts for managers should clearly state expected working hours, flexibility requirements, and how any additional time is compensated, whether through salary, time off in lieu, or bonuses.

Where you classify employees as exempt from overtime, you should base this on genuine decision‑making authority and higher‑level responsibilities, not simply on job titles. Misclassifying employees to avoid paying overtime can expose you to back‑pay claims and penalties. Maintaining at least basic records of managers’ working patterns is advisable to show that their workload remains reasonable.

Statutory Full-Time Working Hours In Sierra Leone

In practice, full‑time work in Sierra Leone is generally understood as around 40 hours per week for most sectors. Many employers spread these hours over five days, while others use a five‑and‑a‑half or six‑day week with shorter daily shifts. You should define full‑time hours explicitly in each employment contract to avoid ambiguity.

Part‑time and shift‑based arrangements are permitted as long as they are clearly documented and do not result in disguised full‑time work without appropriate benefits. When you introduce flexible or compressed workweeks, ensure that average weekly hours over the agreed reference period still align with the 40‑hour benchmark. Any hours beyond the agreed full‑time schedule should be treated and compensated as overtime according to your policies and applicable law.

Overtime Regulations In Sierra Leone

Overtime in Sierra Leone should be used to meet genuine operational needs and must be recorded accurately for every employee. You are responsible for tracking hours beyond the standard 40‑hour workweek and ensuring that overtime does not compromise employee health and safety. Failure to manage and document overtime properly can lead to wage claims, disputes, and potential sanctions from labour authorities.

What Counts As Overtime In Sierra Leone?

In most employment relationships in Sierra Leone, overtime is understood as any time worked beyond the standard 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week agreed in the contract. Work performed on an employee’s weekly rest day or on a public holiday is also treated as overtime for pay purposes. You should specify in writing whether overtime is calculated on a daily or weekly basis, and how rest‑day and holiday work is compensated.

Overtime should generally be performed only with prior authorization from a supervisor or manager. You should have a clear policy stating that unauthorized overtime is not permitted, while still paying for any hours actually worked and then addressing the policy breach separately. Keeping signed timesheets or electronic records helps you demonstrate that overtime was requested, approved, and correctly paid.

Maximum Overtime In Sierra Leone

Sierra Leonean legislation does not set a detailed numerical overtime cap comparable to some other jurisdictions, so there is effectively no fixed statutory weekly or annual overtime limit. In practice, many employers cap overtime at about 10 hours per week, resulting in a practical ceiling of 50 total hours per week, to protect employee health and manage fatigue. You should avoid patterns where employees regularly exceed 50 hours per week over extended periods.

Where business needs are exceptional, some employers allow up to 60 total hours in a single peak week, which implies 20 hours of overtime, but only for short, defined periods. In such cases, you should document the justification, obtain senior management approval, and ensure that employees receive compensatory rest in subsequent weeks. If you choose to set internal caps, state them numerically in your policies, for example a monthly overtime limit of 40 hours or a quarterly limit of 120 hours.

Overtime Payout Rates In Sierra Leone

There is no explicit statutory overtime premium rate set in Sierra Leone’s labour legislation, so the law does not mandate a specific percentage such as 150% or 2.0x. In practice, many formal‑sector employers adopt a weekday overtime rate of at least 150% of the employee’s normal hourly wage, that is 1.5x, to remain competitive and fair. You should state this rate clearly in contracts or policies and apply it consistently.

For work performed on weekly rest days or Sundays, employers commonly pay 200% of the normal hourly wage, that is 2.0x, while work on public holidays is often compensated at 200%–250%, that is 2.0x–2.5x. If you choose different numerical rates, such as 125% for weekday overtime or 175% for Saturdays, these must be clearly documented and communicated to employees. Whatever structure you adopt, ensure that overtime pay is itemized separately on payslips so employees can verify the hours and multipliers used.

Rest Periods And Breaks In Sierra Leone

Employees in Sierra Leone typically work around 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week, and rest periods are designed to ensure that these hours do not negatively affect health and safety. During the working day, employees who work more than 5 consecutive hours should receive a meal break, and daily and weekly rest periods must be respected. You should integrate these breaks into your scheduling so that operational needs are met without eroding employees’ entitlement to rest.

• Meal Break: Employees who work more than 5 consecutive hours in Sierra Leone should receive at least a 60‑minute unpaid or partially paid meal break, which should be scheduled roughly in the middle of the work period. You should ensure that employees are genuinely relieved of duties during this time.
• Daily Rest: As a good‑practice standard aligned with regional norms, employees should have at least 11 consecutive hours of rest between the end of one workday and the start of the next. Organizing split shifts or late‑night work must not reduce this daily rest below a reasonable threshold.
• Weekly Rest: Employees in Sierra Leone are generally entitled to at least one full rest day of 24 consecutive hours each week, commonly on Sunday. If business needs require Sunday work, you should provide a substitute rest day during the same week.
• Minors: Young workers under 18 should have shorter daily working hours and more frequent breaks than adults, with a strong focus on schooling and health. You should avoid scheduling minors for evening or night work and ensure they receive at least one full rest day per week.
• Employer Duty: You are responsible for planning rosters so that statutory and contractual rest periods are respected and properly recorded. If employees skip breaks due to workload, you should adjust staffing or scheduling rather than allowing rest periods to be eroded.

Night Shifts And Weekend Regulations In Sierra Leone

Night and weekend work are legal in Sierra Leone but they come with additional responsibilities for employers to safeguard employee health and well‑being. You should carefully manage staffing levels, transport arrangements, and security for employees working outside normal daytime hours. Written policies on night and weekend work help ensure consistent treatment and reduce the risk of disputes.

Night work in Sierra Leone is commonly defined in practice as work performed between 22:00 and 06:00, although specific contracts or collective agreements may refine this window. This definition typically applies across roles, including manufacturing, security, healthcare, and hospitality staff who work overnight shifts. You should clearly state in contracts when the night period begins and ends for pay and scheduling purposes.

• Premium Pay: There is no statutory night work premium expressly set in Sierra Leonean law, so employers are not legally required to pay a specific percentage such as 125% or 1.25x. However, many employers voluntarily pay a night‑shift premium of around 125%–150% of the normal hourly rate, that is 1.25x–1.5x, to attract and retain staff for night work.
• Health Monitoring: While there is no detailed statutory scheme for medical surveillance of night workers, you are expected to consider the health impacts of regular night shifts. Providing periodic health checks and offering transfers to day work where medically indicated are considered good practice in Sierra Leone.
• Workplace Restrictions: You should avoid assigning night work to minors under 18 and to pregnant employees, in line with general protective principles in labour and occupational safety law. Where such workers are engaged, you must ensure that risk assessments and medical advice clearly support the arrangement.

Weekend work, particularly on Sundays, is permitted in Sierra Leone but Sunday is widely treated as the customary weekly rest day. When employees work on Sunday, you should provide a substitute 24‑hour rest period on another day of the week and, in many formal workplaces, pay a premium of around 200% of the normal hourly rate, that is 2.0x, or at least 150%, that is 1.5x, as specified in your internal policies or collective agreements.