Employment Act 1955 · Updated to 1 Aug 2023 · Part XII · Rest Days, Hours of Work, Holidays and Other Conditions of Service
59. Rest day
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Every employee gets a rest day of one whole day each week, set by the employer. For shift workers, any continuous period of at least thirty hours is a rest day. The employer must prepare a roster of rest days before each month starts. An employer who breaks this section commits an offence.
Summary · Drafted with AI, checked against the official text on 30 Sep 2026.
Every employee shall be allowed in each week a rest day of one whole day as may be determined from time to time by the employer, and where an employee is allowed more than one rest day in a week the last of such rest days shall be the rest day for the purposes of this Part:
employee
“employee” means any person or class of persons— (a) included in any category in the First Schedule to the extent specified therein; or (b) in respect of whom the Minister makes an order under subsection (3) or section 2a;
Provided that this subsection shall not apply during the period in which the employee is on maternity leave as provided under section 37, or on sick leave as provided under section 60f, or during the period of temporary disablement under the Workmen’s
Compensation Act 1952 [Act 273], or under the Employees’ Social
Security Act 1969.
Notwithstanding subsection (1) and interpretation of the expression “day” in subsection 2(1), in the case of an employee engaged in shift work any continuous period of not less than thirty hours shall constitute a rest day.
day
“day” means— (a) a continuous period of twenty-four hours beginning at midnight; or (b) for the purposes of Part XII in respect of an employee engaged in shift work or in work where the normal hours of work extend beyond midnight, a continuous period of twenty-four hours beginning at any point of time;
Notwithstanding subsection (1), the Director General, on a written application by an employer and subject to any conditions he may deem fit to impose, may permit the employer to grant the rest day for each week on any day of the month in which the rest days fall and the day so granted shall be deemed to be the employee’s rest day for the purposes of this section.
Director General
“Director General” means the Director General of Labour appointed under subsection 3(1);
The employer shall prepare a roster before the commencement of the month in which the rest days fall informing the employee of the days appointed to be his rest days therein, and where the same day in each week has been appointed as the rest day for all employees in the place of employment, the employer may, in lieu of preparing a roster, display a notice at a conspicuous place in the place of employment informing the employee of the fixed rest day so appointed.
employer
“employer” means any person who has entered into a contract of service to employ any other person as an employee and includes the agent, manager or factor of such first mentioned person, and the word “employ”, with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, shall be construed accordingly;
Every such roster and every particular recorded therein shall be preserved and shall be made available for inspection for a period not exceeding six years from the last day of the month in respect of which the roster was prepared or cause to be prepared.
Any employer who contravenes any of the provisions of this section commits an offence.
Employment 51