Annual Leave and Holidays

Paid Vacation / Annual Leave

Workers are entitled to 16 working days of paid annual leave upon completion of one year of service, plus one working day for every additional year of service. For a worker with five years of service, the period of paid annual leave is 18 working days (one day extra for every two additional years of service).

A worker is granted his first period of leave after one year of service and his next and subsequent periods in the course of each calendar year, in accordance with a leave schedule drawn up by the employer on consent of the worker and to the need for maintaining the normal functioning of his undertaking. A worker may request the employer to take his annual leave in two parts, or defer a period of leave on the employer's consent. However, such deferment cannot exceed two consecutive years.

If the employment contract expires before a worker could avail the right to annual leave, compensation for leave is made in proportion to the length of his/her service. Apart from this provision, any agreement, collective agreement or other agreement, providing compensation in lieu of annual leave or renouncing or waiving the right to paid annual leave is null and void. In case a worker falls sick during the annual leave, the provisions related to sick leave are applicable.

Annual leave may be interrupted and employer recalls worker on leave only where unforeseen circumstances require his presence at his post. The recalled worker is entitled to a payment covering the remainder of his leave excluding the time lost for the trip and the employer has to bear the expenses incurred by the worker as direct consequences of his being recalled and per-diem.

Source: §76-80 of the Labour Proclamation No. 1156/2019

Pay on Public Holidays

Workers are entitled to fully paid festival (public and religious) holidays. These include memorial holidays and religious holidays (Christian and Muslim origin).

Public holidays are usually 13 in number. These days, in 2025, are Ethiopian Christmas day/Genna (January 07), Epiphany/Timket (January 19), Victory of Adwa Day/commemorating the 1896 victory (March 02), Eid al-Fitre /End of Ramadan (March 31, tentative date, depends on sighting of moon), Good Friday/Siklet (April 18), Ethiopian Easter Sunday/Fasika (April 20), May Day/International Labour Day (May 01), Patriot’s Victory Day (May 05), Downfall of the Derg (May 28), , Eid Al Adha/Arefa (June 7, tentative date, depends on sighting of moon), Birthday of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH (Moulid) (September 5, tentative date, depends on sighting of moon), Ethiopian New Year/Enkutatash (September 11), Meskel/Discovery of the True Cross (September 27). The Muslim religious holidays are based on the lunar calendar.

If a public holiday coincides with another public holiday or falls on a rest day designated by law, such worker is entitled to only one public holiday payment . An employee cannot receive double compensation for the overlapping holidays. Employers are also not required to provide additional day-off to compensate for coinciding holidays.

Source: §73-75 of the Labour Proclamation No. 1156/2019 Public Holidays and Rest Day Proclamation 1975 amended in 1996

Weekly Rest Days

Workers are entitled to 24 consecutive hours of rest per week. Labour Law requires that the weekly rest day, in principle, be Sunday for all employees. If, due to the nature of work, it is impossible to provide a weekly rest day on Sunday, another day must be substituted as a weekly rest day. Weekly rest must include the period from 6 a.m. to the next 6 a.m.

Where the nature of the work or the service performed by the employer is such that the weekly rest cannot be a Sunday, another day may be made a weekly rest day as a substitute.

Source: §69 of the Labour Proclamation No. 1156/2019