Section 40: How Wages Must Be Paid to You in Uganda
40.Entitlement to wages
(1)Subject to subsection (2), wages shall be paid in legal tender to the employee entitled to payment.
(2)Notwithstanding subsection (1), an employer may, with the prior written agreement of the employee, pay wages by bank cheque, postal order, money order or by direct payment to the employee's bank account.
(3)Notwithstanding anything in this section, the Minister may, after consultation with the Board, by regulations provide for the partial payment of wages in the form of allowances in kind, and in no case shall alcoholic beverages or noxious drugs, in industries or occupations in which payment in the form of such allowances is customary or desirable, be for the personal use of the employee and his or her family, and the value attributed to such allowance shall be fair and reasonable.
(4)An employee shall not be obliged to make use of any shops established by the employer for the use of his or her employees or services operated in connection with the undertaking.
(5)Wages shall not be payable to any employee in respect of any period where he or she has been sentenced and imprisoned by a court of law.
(6)An employee is not entitled to receive wages in respect of any period where he or she is absent from work without authorisation or good cause except that, in the case of an employee who has completed at least three months' continuous service with his or her employer, the following shall not constitute absence without good cause—
(a)absence attributable to the occurrence of exceptional events preventing the employee from reaching his or her place of work or from working;
(b)absence attributable to a summons to attend a court of law or any other public authority having power to compel attendance; or
(c)absence attributable to the death of a member of the employee's family or dependent relative, subject to a maximum of three days' absence on any one occasion and a maximum of six days in any one calendar year.
(7)An employee who has completed at least three months' continuous service and is absent from work on account of one of the situations specified in subsection (6), is entitled to receive wages as though he or she had not been absent from work and had fully performed his or her duties under his or her contract of service throughout the absence, and his or her wages shall not, by reason of his or her absence, be subject to any deduction.
(8)An employer who is not incorporated or resident in Uganda shall be required by a labour officer to pay a bond assessed at the equivalent of one month's wages for each employee employed, or to be employed, by that employer.
(9)A bond paid by any employer shall be held by the Ministry responsible for labour on behalf of that employer in a separate interest bearing account and shall not be used for any purpose other than paying wages and other entitlements to that employer's employees in the event of default by that employer.
Plain English Summary
You have the right to be paid your wages in cash (legal tender). Your employer can pay you by cheque or direct deposit only if you have given written ...
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