Latvian Employee Benefits

Employee Benefits

Happy and satisfied employees make your business thrive and lead to even better profits. However, the specific benefits for employees in Latvia might not all be familiar to you yet. By using our PEO and EOR service we can provide compliant labour contracts for employees in Latvia including local benefits.

When expanding your company’s presence in a new country, you need to ensure compliance both in your employment contracts and benefit guarantees. These involve social security contributions, sick leave, health insurance, and unemployment, to name a few. In Latvia, benefits can be guaranteed by labour law and national legislation, as well as collective agreements with trade unions or workers’ councils.

What Compensation Laws exist in Latvia?

In Latvia, compensation laws are set by the Labor Code and national legislation, but the compensation may vary according to the sector the employees are in, regulations of applicable collective agreements, and the internal regulations of the company.

For example, the 13th month salary payment is not required, but companies may pay the salary as a yearly bonus – employee compensation and a daily allowance is also required for business trips.

There are, however, other benefits/compensation that are guaranteed by national legislation:

• National Minimum Wage: The minimum wage was recently increased from EUR 430 (2020) to EUR 500 (2021). Employees in Latvia must receive at least this amount from their employers (but this can vary according to the position and qualifications).
• Social Insurance Contributions: Employees in Latvia are entitled to social security benefits. Social security contributions are paid monthly to the State Social Insurance Agency (VSAA) through contributions by the employee and the employer (employee contributions are withheld by the employer).
• The contribution percentage varies according to the employee’s pay. Social security contributions include insurance for state pensions, unemployment, accidents and occupational diseases at work, invalidity, maternity leave, sickness, and parental leave.
• Notice Periods: Notice periods in Latvia are mandatory and vary according to the termination type.
• Redundancy, Termination and Severance: Employees are entitled to severance pay after the probation period is passed and is granted expect in employment termination due to misconduct.
• Termination can be of either the employee’s or the employer’s will. The standard notice is one month, but in case of the employer’s will, this depends on the grounds of dismissal.
• Work Hours and Breaks: Average working hours is 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Daily working time is a 6-day week cannot exceed 7 hours. Breaks are between 30-60 minutes in an average workday.
• Sick Leave: All employees in Latvia are entitled to sick leave and compensation, which is paid by both the employer and social security funds.

Social Security in Latvia

Social security contributions in Latvia are generally settled through an employee’s salary (which are withheld from an employee’s salary and paid by employer every month) as well as an employer’s own monthly contributions. An employee must contribute 10.5% of their monthly wages, whilst an employer must pay their own contributions of 23.59% of an employee’s salary.

Foreign employees who do not have a permanent residence in Latvia but remain in the country for more than 183 days in a calendar day and are employed by a non-EU/EEA company, must pay quarterly contributions at a rate of 31.83% (which could be paid by either the employer or the employee).

Social Security Contribution

Employee: 10.5%

Employer: 23.59%

Foreign employees (non-residents): 31.83%

Statutory Employer Costs in Lithuania

The National Minimum Wage: Employee wages must at least be equal to the national minimum wage of EUR 500 per month. This wage is determined upon annually by the Tripartite Cooperation Council and the Government of Latvia.

Social Insurance: Social security contributions are made by both the employer and employee in monthly installments. These contributions guarantee employee’s health insurance, pensions, unemployment insurance, and maternity, paternity, and parental leave.

Solidarity Tax: For employees earning more than EUR 62,800 per year, employers and employees are also obligated to contribute to a solidarity tax, which is split into the same rates as social security contributions – an extra 23.59% from the employer’s side and an extra 10% from employee’s side. However, employers are entitled to reimbursement for their contributions.

Solidarity Tax Contribution

Employee: 10.5%

Employer: 23.59%