Employment Act 1968 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 4 · Rest Days, Hours of Work and Other Conditions of Service
37. Work on rest day
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Subject to certain other sections, an employee must not be compelled to work on a rest day unless the work, by its nature, must be carried on continuously by a succession of shifts. The pay for working on a rest day depends on the hours worked and on whether the employee or the employer asked for the work.
Summary · Drafted with AI, checked against the official text on 30 Sep 2026.
Subject to section 38(2) or 40(2A), an employee must not be compelled to work on a rest day unless he or she is engaged in work which by reason of its nature requires to be carried on continuously by a succession of shifts.
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;
In the event of any dispute, the Commissioner has power to decide whether or not an employee is engaged in work which by reason of its nature requires to be carried on continuously by a succession of shifts.
An employee who at his or her own request works for an employer on a rest day must be paid for that day —
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;
if the period of work does not exceed half the employee’s normal hours of work, a sum at the basic rate of pay for half a day’s work;
if the period of work is more than half but does not exceed the employee’s normal hours of work, a sum at the basic rate of pay for one day’s work; or
if the period of work exceeds the employee’s normal hours of work for one day —
a sum at the basic rate of pay for one day’s work; and
a sum at the rate of not less than one and a half times the employee’s hourly basic rate of pay for each hour or part thereof that the period of work exceeds the employee’s normal hours of work for one day.
An employee who at the request of his or her employer works on a rest day must be paid for that day —
if the period of work does not exceed half the employee’s normal hours of work, a sum at the basic rate of pay for one day’s work;
if the period of work is more than half but does not exceed the employee’s normal hours of work, a sum at the basic rate of pay for 2 days’ work; or
if the period of work exceeds the employee’s normal hours of work for one day —
a sum at the basic rate of pay for 2 days’ work; and
a sum at the rate of not less than one and a half times the employee’s hourly basic rate of pay for each hour or part thereof that the period of work exceeds the employee’s normal hours of work for one day.
In this section —
“normal hours of work” means the number of hours of work (not exceeding the limits applicable to an employee under section 38 or 40, as the case may be) that is agreed between an employer and an employee to be the usual hours of work per day; or in the absence of any such agreement, is deemed to be 8 hours a day; and
an employee’s “hourly basic rate of pay” is to be calculated in the same manner as for the purpose of calculating payment due to an employee under section 38 for working overtime.
Subsection (3) does not apply to any employee who is employed by the Government or a statutory body in any of the essential services as defined under Part 3 of the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act 1955, but any such employee who at the request of his or her employer works on a rest day or part thereof must be given a day or part of a day off (as the case may be) in substitution for such a rest day or part thereof.