On 30 April 2026, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni assented to the Employment (Amendment) Act, 2025 (the “Amendment Act”), formally amending the Employment Act, Cap. 226 (the “Principal Act”). The Amendment Act operationalises Article 40 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, which guarantees every person fair and satisfactory work conditions, to all categories of workers — most significantly, to those who have historically been left in the margins of Uganda’s labour protection framework. The reforms have been long in the making.
A 2018 Uganda Law Reform Commission study highlighted that, while the Principal Act did not expressly exclude domestic workers, their low bargaining power and the informality of their arrangements meant that the general provisions of the Act offered little practical protection. The Amendment Act addresses those gaps directly.
