Employment Act 1968 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 4 · Rest Days, Hours of Work and Other Conditions of Service
36. Rest day
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Every employee must be allowed one whole day of unpaid rest in each week. The rest day must be Sunday or any other day the employer decides. For shift workers, any continuous period of 30 hours may count as the rest day. An employer who sets rest days must prepare a roster before the month begins.
Summary · Drafted with AI, checked against the official text on 30 Sep 2026.
Every employee must be allowed in each week a rest day without pay of one whole day which must be Sunday or such other day as the employer may determine from time to time.
employee
“employee” means a person who has entered into or works under a contract of service with an employer and includes a workman, and any officer or employee of the Government included in a category, class or description of such officers or employees declared by the President to be employees for the purposes of this Act or any provision thereof, but does not include any of the following:(a)any seafarer;(b)any domestic worker;(c) (d)any person belonging to any other class of persons whom the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, declare not to be employees for the purposes of this Act;
The employer may substitute any continuous period of 30 hours as a rest day for an employee engaged in shift work.
employer
“employer” means any person who employs another person under a contract of service and includes —(a)the Government in respect of such categories, classes or descriptions of officers or employees of the Government as are declared by the President to be employees for the purposes of this Act;(b)any statutory authority;(c)the duly authorised agent or manager of the employer; and(d)the person who owns or is carrying on or for the time being responsible for the management of the profession, business, trade or work in which the employee is engaged;
Where in any week a continuous period of 30 hours commencing at any time before 6 p.m. on a Sunday is substituted as a rest day for an employee engaged in shift work, the rest day is deemed to have been granted within the week even though the period of 30 hours ends after the week.
Where an employee’s rest day is determined by his or her employer, the employer must prepare or cause to be prepared a roster before the commencement of the month in which the rest days fall informing the employee of the days appointed to be his or her rest days in the month.