Working Hours and Overtime in South Sudan

What Are The Standard Working Hours In South Sudan?

An employee whose age is 16 or younger has a maximum of 6 hours per day and 36 hours per week. An employee whose age is 17 or older is allowed to work 48 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 South Sudan

Under South Sudanese labour practice, the standard limit for adult employees is 8 hours per day and 48 hours per week, excluding unpaid meal breaks. You should structure work schedules so that employees do not regularly exceed these limits, except where clearly agreed overtime is used. Where shorter daily hours are agreed in the contract, those lower limits will govern the normal schedule.

Collective agreements or internal policies may distribute the 48 hours unevenly across the week, for example using longer days and a shorter day, provided the weekly total does not exceed 48 hours. You must keep accurate time records to demonstrate compliance with daily and weekly limits and to distinguish normal hours from overtime. Any systematic excess over 48 hours per week should be treated as overtime and compensated accordingly.

Industry-Specific Exceptions

Companies hiring in sectors like healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, or hospitality may be subject to special scheduling rules that allow for longer shifts but require compensatory rest. In practice, this often means using compressed workweeks or rotating shifts while still respecting the average 48-hour weekly limit over a reference period. You should document any such arrangements clearly in employment contracts or shift rosters.

• 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. You should also conduct regular fatigue and safety assessments where long or irregular shifts are used, and adjust staffing levels if employees are consistently approaching maximum hours.

Managerial And Exempt Employees

Senior managerial staff in South Sudan are often treated as having broader flexibility in their working hours, but they are not automatically exempt from all protections. Their contracts should clearly state expected weekly hours, whether overtime is included in salary, and any limits on availability outside normal business hours. You should avoid open-ended clauses that imply unlimited working time without clear boundaries.

Where managers are genuinely autonomous in scheduling their own time, you may agree that they are not entitled to overtime premiums, but they should still have reasonable daily and weekly rest. For mid-level supervisors and professionals whose hours are controlled by the employer, it is safer to apply the standard 48-hour limit and overtime rules. Clear written terms reduce the risk of disputes over unpaid hours.

Statutory Full-Time Working Hours In South Sudan

In South Sudan, full-time employment is generally based on 48 hours per week for adult employees, usually spread over 6 working days of 8 hours each. Many employers instead use a 5-day week of 8.5 to 9 hours per day to reach a similar weekly total once breaks are excluded. Any arrangement that significantly exceeds 48 hours per week should be treated as involving regular overtime.

Part-time employees work fewer than the standard full-time hours, with entitlements such as leave and benefits typically pro-rated according to their contracted hours. You may also use flexible or shift-based schedules, but you should always define the normal weekly hours in the contract. This helps distinguish standard hours from overtime for payroll and compliance purposes.

Overtime Regulations In South Sudan

Overtime in South Sudan should be used as an exception rather than a routine staffing tool, and you are expected to manage it carefully. You must keep reliable records of all hours worked beyond the normal 48-hour week, including work on weekly rest days and public holidays. Failure to document and pay overtime correctly can expose you to back-pay claims, penalties, and reputational risk with regulators and employees.

What Counts As Overtime In South Sudan?

For adult employees, overtime generally means any hours worked beyond 8 hours per day or 48 hours per week under the agreed schedule. Work performed on the employee’s weekly rest day or on a public holiday is also treated as overtime, even if the 48-hour weekly limit is not exceeded. You should obtain prior consent for overtime where possible and avoid patterns of compulsory excessive hours.

In practice, many employers define a standard weekly schedule of 40–48 hours and treat any additional hours as overtime for pay purposes. You should specify in the employment contract what constitutes normal hours and how overtime is authorised and recorded. Clear internal approval procedures help prevent unplanned overtime and disputes over entitlement.

Maximum Overtime In South Sudan

South Sudanese labour practice typically limits overtime to a maximum of 4 hours per day and 12 hours per week, meaning total working time should not exceed 12 hours in any one day or 60 hours in any one week. Over a longer reference period, you should ensure that average weekly hours, including overtime, do not exceed 56 hours over any 3-month period. These limits are designed to protect health and safety and should not be exceeded through informal arrangements.

Where exceptional business needs arise, you may temporarily approach the 12-hour weekly overtime ceiling, but this should be time-bound and documented. If you anticipate sustained high demand, you should consider hiring additional staff rather than relying on continuous overtime. If no explicit statutory cap applies to a particular category of worker, you should still treat 12 hours of overtime per week as a prudent upper limit for risk management.

Overtime Payout Rates In South Sudan

In South Sudan, a common standard is to pay weekday overtime at 150% of the employee’s normal hourly rate, that is 1.5x for hours beyond the normal daily or weekly limit. Work performed on the weekly rest day or on a Saturday is often paid at 150%–175%, with 1.5x used as a minimum benchmark in many company policies. You should state the exact multipliers in your contracts or staff handbook to avoid ambiguity.

Public holiday work is typically compensated at 200% of the normal hourly rate, that is 2.0x, or at 100% of the normal rate plus a paid day off in lieu. If your internal policy offers higher rates, such as 2.5x for public holidays or 2.0x for Sunday work, you must apply those consistently. Where no statutory premium is expressly set, you should still adopt at least 1.5x for overtime and 2.0x for public holidays to align with regional norms and reduce legal and employee-relations risk.

Rest Periods And Breaks In South Sudan

In South Sudan, employees commonly work up to 8 hours per day and 48 hours per week, and rest periods are intended to ensure these hours do not compromise health and safety. Daily meal breaks, daily rest between shifts, and weekly rest days must be built into your scheduling practices. You should design rosters so that employees receive these breaks without reducing their basic pay entitlements.

• Meal Break: Employees who work more than 5 consecutive hours should receive at least a 60-minute unpaid meal break, which may be split into shorter segments by agreement. You should schedule this break roughly in the middle of the work period to minimise fatigue.
• Daily Rest: Employees should have a minimum of 11 consecutive hours of rest between the end of one workday and the start of the next. Where shift work reduces this rest exceptionally, you should provide compensatory rest as soon as possible.
• Weekly Rest: Employees are generally entitled to at least 24 consecutive hours of rest each week, commonly taken on Sunday in South Sudan. If business needs require Sunday work, you should grant a substitute rest day within the same week.
• Minors: Workers under 18 should have shorter daily limits and more frequent rest breaks than adults, and they should not be scheduled for night work. You should obtain and retain proof of age to demonstrate compliance with these protections.
• Employer Duty: You are responsible for organising work so that statutory breaks and rest periods are actually taken, not just written into policy. Timekeeping systems and supervisor training are essential to ensure employees are not pressured to skip breaks.

Night Shifts And Weekend Regulations In South Sudan

Night and weekend work are legal in South Sudan but they come with additional responsibilities for employers and heightened protections for certain categories of workers. You should treat such work as requiring specific risk assessments, clear consent where appropriate, and suitable compensation. Proper planning and documentation are essential to show that you have considered health, safety, and family-life impacts.

Night work in South Sudan is generally understood as work performed between 22:00 and 06:00, although individual contracts or policies may define a slightly different window. This definition applies across most roles, including security, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing, unless a sector-specific rule states otherwise. You should specify in writing when the night period begins and ends for your workforce.

• Premium Pay: There is no explicit statutory night work premium in South Sudan, but many employers pay at least 125% of the normal hourly rate, that is 1.25x, for hours worked between 22:00 and 06:00. Some employers adopt higher rates such as 150%, or 1.5x, for night shifts that fall on weekends or public holidays.
• Health Monitoring: Regular night workers should receive periodic health assessments focused on fatigue, sleep disorders, and cardiovascular risks. You should also review accident and incident data for night shifts to identify any need for additional controls.
• Workplace Restrictions: Minors under 18 should not be employed in night work except in narrowly defined training situations with strict supervision. Pregnant workers should be exempted from night shifts on request and offered transfer to daytime duties or adjusted schedules where reasonably practicable.

Weekend work, particularly on Sunday, is common in sectors such as retail, hospitality, and security, but it should not deprive employees of their weekly 24-hour rest. Where employees work on Sunday or their agreed weekly rest day, you should provide a substitute rest day and pay a premium of at least 150%, or 1.5x, of the normal hourly rate. For work on public holidays that fall on weekends, many employers in South Sudan pay 200%, or 2.0x, of the normal rate or grant an additional paid day off.