What you'll learn
- Country Introduction
- Tax Breakdown for Employers
- Statutory Leave Laws
- Minimum Wage and Working Hours
- Termination Process
- Additional Information
The United States of America (US or USA) is a country in North America consisting of 50 states, a federal district, 5 major unincorporated territories, 9 minor outlying islands, and 326 Indian reservations with limited sovereignty. The country is bordered by Mexico and Canada, and has the largest GDP in the world. The United States is a melting pot of cultures and ethnicities, and its population has been profoundly shaped by its centuries of immigration from other countries.
Paid Leave and Statutory Leave
Parental Leave
Employees can receive 12 weeks of unpaid leave for legal parents upon the birth or adoption of their child. There is no paternity leave entitlement federally, but some states have paid leave policies.
Sick Leave
Sick leave is covered by the same act as parental leave, called the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). It only applies to serious illnesses and allows employees to take 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Some states will offer additional Family, Medical, Maternity, and parental leave that works concurrently or in addition to FMLA.
Paid Leave
There are 10 federal holidays in the US, and there is no statutory requirement to grant employees paid time off (some states do). Employees can qualify for military leave or donor leave.
Wage Requirements and Working Hours
The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour and has not been raised since 2009. However, each state has their own minimum wage laws (such as California where it is $15/hr). A standard workweek is 40 hours at 8 hours per day, and overtime work is paid at between 150%-200% of the regular salary.
Termination Process
Process
All states (except Montana) have at-will employment, which means either employees or employers can terminate the employment relationship at any time. Employers can generally terminate employees without any reason, explanation, or warning.
Notice Period
Notice periods of 2 weeks can be included in the employment contract, but there is no statutory requirement.
Severance Pay
Severance pay is not required in the United States, but some employers provide 1-2 months of pay for every year worked at the company.
Additional Information
N/A
★ 6.2% - Social Security
★ 1.45% - Medicare
Simplified Global HR and Payroll.
Let’s work on it together.
We've made the process really simple
with only 3 steps.
Remote candidate
You've sourced a full-time employee or contractor located in a country where your company is not incorporated.
Cost Calculation
Pass us the details of your candidate and we will let you know exactly what it costs to employ your candidate in that country.
Onboarding & Admin
Sit back and relax as we onboard your new team member and take care of all the local compliances and admin work.
It can be prohibitively expensive to establish an entity in every country you want to hire talent in, so Remofirst will hire and pay your employee on your behalf while you manage their daily duties. Remofirst will handle formal HR procedures and employment contracts that adhere to local laws, so that you can simply approve invoices via our platform. When you work with an Employer of Record (EOR) you can compliantly hire the best employees around the world.
Unlike full-time employees, contractors work on projects with multiple companies at a given time and are technically self-employed. Full-time employees are solely focused on their employer and usually receive benefits (such as health insurance, equity or stock options, and time off) as an additional form of compensation. While it can be cheaper to work with international contractors instead of paying benefits to a full-time employee, you run the risk of misclassification. It's recommended to work with an EOR for contractor onboarding and payments, so you can know that your international contractors are paid compliantly and on time.
