South Sudan, officially known as the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya. South Sudan has got a land area covering 644,329 square kilometers. The country’s economy is heavily dependent on agriculture.
*Please note that the official currency is the currency of remuneration when employed through WorkMotion in South Sudan.
Capital : Juba | Currency : Sudanese Pound (SDG, SSP, £) | Languages spoken : English |
Population : 11.38 million (2021 est.) | Minimum wage 2023 : There is no national minimum wage in South Sudan. | Cost of Living index : $ |
Payroll Frequency : Monthly/Biweekly | VAT - standard rate : 18% | GDP - real growth rate : -6% (2021 est.) |
The holidays mentioned below are valid for the year 2023.
The approximate time for sharing the contract with an employee in South Sudan is 14 business days assuming no special requests or changes to our standard employment contract. Any such requests or changes would need to undergo internal and external review, directly leading to a time delay.
NOTE: This number is subject to change and is only an estimation of the Contract Sharing Time. The estimated Contract Sharing Time begins from the moment that WorkMotion has received all required information from both the client and the employee.
The normal working hours for an employee should not exceed eight hours per day and 40 hours per week. An employer may require an employee to perform more than eight normal working hours for one or more days per week, provided that the normal working hours of employees not engaged in shift work should:
Where an employee works beyond the maximum normal working hours, the extra working hours should be considered overtime. An employer may agree with an employee to work more than three hours of overtime in a day or 10 hours of overtime in a week.
Overtime is paid at the rate of at least:
An employer may require an employee to serve a probationary period, provided that such probationary period does not exceed three months.
An employment contract may be terminated by either party under the following notice guidelines:
| Length of Service Period | Notice Required |
| After continuous service by the employee for less than 6 months | 1 week |
| After continuous service by the employee for 6 months or more, but less than 1 year | 2 weeks |
| After continuous service by the employee for 1 year or more | 1 month |
An employee is entitled to annual leave with full pay as follows:
An employee is entitled to 12 days of sick leave on full pay per year of continuous service. An employer may require an employee to provide a medical certificate from a government hospital or clinic or private clinic, verifying the incapacity arising from illness or injury and the anticipated duration.
There is no statutory provision for parental leave in South Sudan.
A female employee is entitled, on each occasion she is pregnant, to 90 days maternity leave with full pay and 45 days for breastfeeding while working for half day.
An employee who has a miscarriage or a stillborn child, is entitled to leave for six weeks after the miscarriage or stillbirth.
An employee is entitled, on each occasion that his wife is pregnant, to two weeks of paternity leave on full pay, to be taken:
The employer should grant leave of absence with full pay to an employee who is a member of a union to attend training, workshop, seminar or function sponsored by the union internal or external bodies. The union should furnish the employer with a list of their officials in appropriate time.
An employee who is employed to work more than four days a week, and has completed at least three months of continuous service for the employer, is entitled up to three days compassionate leave on full pay each year.
Untaken compassionate leave entitlements does not accumulate from year to year.
An employee is entitled to request a period of unpaid leave for any reason, including for the purposes of:
South Sudan’s social insurance system covers benefits such as:
The contribution payable by the employer is 17% of the monthly wage whilst the employee contributes 8%.
| Benefit | Employer Contribution | Employee Contribution |
| Old Age, Disability, and Death Insurance | 15% | 8% |
| Work Accidents Insurance | 2% | – |
| Total | 17% | 8% |
NOTE: The employer is liable to pay an additional amount of 4% of the contributions if they do not subscribe all or part of their employees in the social security system, or if the payment of subscriptions was based on unreal wages.
There is no universal health insurance in South Sudan or any statutory contribution to private health insurance.
The work injuries pension insurance consists of the monthly subscriptions paid by the employer for the account of this insurance, at the rate of 2% of the monthly wages of the insured persons.
Benefits apply to the insured persons, who, as a result of work injury, sustain a permanent disability of 15% or more, or die as a result of the injury. The obligation of the Fund arises after proof of the disability, or after death.
There is no provision in law for unemployment insurance and benefits.
The employer pays 15% towards the old age, disability and death insurance.
The Law provides for both full and early pension. For full pension, a worker must have attained 60 years of age with at least 240 months (20 years) of contributions. Early pension is available to the workers who have attained the age of 50 years with 240 months (20 years) of contributions.
The employer pays 15% towards the old age, disability and death insurance.
Pension laws provide for invalidity benefits in the case of non-occupational accident/injury/disease resulting in permanent invalidity. Invalidity pension is 50% of the insured worker’s average monthly earnings in the last three years before the disability began. The maximum pension is 80% of the average monthly earnings in the last three years before the disability began.
The information contained in this Country Guide is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject matter. The contents of this Country Guide contain general information and may not reflect current legal developments or address your situation. You should not act or refrain from acting on the basis of any content included in this Country Guide without seeking the advice or representation of a licensed attorney. WorkMotion Software GmbH disclaims all liability for actions you take or fail to take based on any content included in this Country Guide.
Information provided in this Country Guide is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including without limitation warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. WorkMotion Software GmbH periodically adds, changes, improves, updates, or removes information without notice, and assumes no liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in the contents of this Country Guide. This Country Guide may contain links to other websites. WorkMotion Software GmbH disclaims all liability for the privacy practices or the content of such websites.