Latvia
Min. wage
(x12 payments)
€780 /mo
About the minimum wage
Employer tax
23.59%
Understand employer tax
Annual leave
20 days
Learn about annual leave
Notice period
10 days-1 month (by cause)
Termination and notice info
Updated
Sep 2026
The indefinite-term (open-ended) employment contract is the statutory default in Latvia under the Labour Law. It has no predetermined end date and gives the employee full statutory protections.
Fixed-term contracts may only be used where objectively justified. Maximum total duration, including renewals, is 5 years. If continued past expiry without objection, or if used to circumvent indefinite-employment protections, the relationship converts to indefinite by operation of law.
Standard working week is 40 hours. Overtime requires written agreement, is capped at 8 hours/week, 48 hours/month and 144 hours per 4-month period, and is prohibited for minors, pregnant employees, and mothers within one year of giving birth. Overtime paid at minimum 100% additional (double the normal rate).
Probation is optional and must be agreed in writing before the employee starts; statutory maximum is 3 months. Some secondary sources claim longer for managerial roles - unconfirmed (see REVIEW FLAGS). During probation, either party may terminate with 3 working days' written notice.
Latvian law does not require employers to pay a 13th or 14th month salary. Any such bonus is discretionary.
No broad general statutory restriction on job titles, but certain regulated professions require licenses/certification. Non-EU/EEA/Swiss nationals generally require a work permit and residence permit via OCMA/NVA; EU/EEA/Swiss citizens have free movement.
Employer pays 23.59% of gross salary (20.77% for working pensioners) as its share of VSAOI, funding pension, unemployment, disability, maternity/sickness, and work-accident insurance. Contributions apply up to an income cap (~€105,300/year); income above is subject to 'solidarity tax' instead.
Employee pays 10.50% of gross salary as their VSAOI share (9.25% for working pensioners), withheld alongside progressive personal income tax (roughly 25.5%-33% in 2026).
In addition to statutory leave, employees are entitled to the following statutory benefits:
Latvia operates a single consolidated State Social Insurance Contribution (VSAOI).
Latvia does not have a separate private workers' compensation market; coverage is built into VSAOI.
Statutory severance due when dismissed without personal fault (redundancy, liquidation, medical incapacity, insufficient competence):
Latvia has no statutory requirement for a 13th (or 14th) month salary. Any bonus is discretionary.
P.S. our team speaks multiple languages and we'd love to chat in your preferred language if requested.
Your employee's hours, time off, holidays, bonuses, and commissions are automatically calculated into payroll. RemoFirst will invoice you in either US Dollars (USD), Euros (EUR), British Pounds (GBP), Canadian Dollars (CAD), Australian Dollars (AUD), or Singapore Dollars (SGD) around the 15th of each month to make sure your employees are paid on time. To make it even easier, you can summarize your entire global team's salaries to aggregate them into one payment (instead of many individual payments).
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.
Whenever the employee or employer has a question about, or anything else related to international employment, they can speak with our customer support team to get answers from our team of experts.
