The default and most common form of employment in Uzbekistan is the indefinite-term (permanent) contract, which has no fixed end date and continues until terminated by either party on statutory grounds, by mutual agreement, or by employee resignation. It must be concluded in writing and registered with the state Unified National Labour System.
Fixed-term contracts may be used for project-based, seasonal, or temporary work, or where an indefinite contract is impractical given the nature of the work (e.g., covering an absent employee, or work of inherently limited duration). Under the 2023 Labour Code, fixed-term contracts may run for up to 5 years; repeated renewal of successive fixed-term contracts for what is in fact a permanent role risks reclassification as an indefinite contract.
The standard working week is 40 hours, typically structured as 8 hours/day over 5 days or up to 7 hours/day over 6 days. Reduced hours apply to minors, hazardous occupations, and other protected categories. The working day is shortened by one hour on the day before a public holiday. Overtime is capped at 120 hours per year and must be paid at no less than double the standard rate (or offset with equivalent time off).
Employers may set a probationary period of up to 3 months for most employees, extendable to 6 months for senior/key positions (heads of organizations and their deputies, chief accountants, heads of structural divisions). Probation terms must be stated in the written employment contract; certain protected categories (e.g., minors, pregnant women) may not be subject to probation. Either party may terminate during probation with 3 days' written notice.
Uzbekistan's Labour Code does not require a 13th or 14th month salary. Any year-end, holiday, or performance bonuses are discretionary and governed by the employment contract, internal company policy, or a collective bargaining agreement.
Uzbekistan does not broadly restrict job titles in the private sector, but employers are encouraged to align position titles with the national Unified Qualification Directory/State Classifier of occupations, particularly where the title affects pension eligibility, hazard classification, licensing, or public-sector employment. Job titles and duties must be accurately reflected in the written employment contract and in filings to the Unified National Labour System.
Employers pay a Unified Social Payment (USP) of 12% of gross payroll for standard commercial entities (25% for budget/state-funded organizations, with reduced rates of roughly 1%–4.7% for certain incentivized categories, such as employers of persons with disabilities or specific sectors through 2027–2028). This is an employer cost on top of gross salary, funding pensions, sickness and maternity benefits, and other social insurance programs. Employers must also carry mandatory OSGOR workplace liability insurance (a modest additional premium based on payroll and industry risk class).
Employees are subject to a flat 12% Personal Income Tax (PIT), withheld and remitted monthly by the employer; there is no separate additional employee-paid social insurance contribution. Of the 12% PIT withheld, 0.1 percentage points is allocated to the employee's Individual Accumulative Pension Account (a sub-allocation within the flat PIT rate, not an extra deduction).
In addition to statutory leave, employees are entitled to the following statutory benefits:
Uzbekistan funds social insurance through the Unified Social Payment (USP), an employer-paid payroll tax covering pensions, sickness, maternity, and other social benefits.
Employees pay a flat 12% Personal Income Tax (PIT) on gross salary; 0.1 percentage points of this PIT is earmarked to the employee's Individual Accumulative Pension Account rather than being an additional deduction.
Employers in Uzbekistan must carry OSGOR (Compulsory Employer's Civil Liability Insurance), mandatory since 2009 for all legal entities and individual entrepreneurs with employees, to be obtained within 30 days of registration or hiring the first worker.
Statutory severance in Uzbekistan depends on the grounds for termination:
Severance is paid alongside final wages on the employee's last working day.
A 13th (or 14th) month salary is not a statutory requirement under Uzbekistan's Labour Code. Where offered, year-end or holiday bonuses are discretionary and set by individual employment contracts, internal company policy, or collective bargaining agreements rather than by law.
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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.
