立陶宛 雇佣指南

The employment contract must not have terms and conditions that are less favorable to the employee than those provided by the Labor Code, laws, other regulatory acts and the collective agreement.

Employment contracts can be concluded for an indefinite period of time or for a fixed period of time if the work is of a temporary nature. Fixed-term contracts are not permitted for work that is of a permanent nature, unless expressly allowed by the law or collective agreement.

The employment contract (and other documents on health and safety at work, notices etc.) has to be in Lithuanian, and if the employee does not understand LIthuanian, in another language that he/she understands.

The employer is responsible for notifying the territorial office of the Lithuanian State Social Insurance Fund Board at least one business day before the employment commencement date.

Prior to the start of employment, the employer has to provide the employee with information on terms of the probation period, termination clauses on the employment contract, overtime pay, work schedule, training and social security contributions.

Regardless of the number of employees, employers have an obligation to:

• manage the potential risks of violence and harassment
• have a policy in place to prevent violence and harassment
• establish procedures for reporting on violence and harrassment
• organise trainings to employees on the risks of violence and harassment, including prevention measures and to raise their awareness of their rights relating to this

It is mandatory for employers with more than 50 employees to have a Violence and Harassment Prevention Policy.

If the nature of the employee’s work is mobile (or outdoors) and involves travelling, compensation will be at the maximum 30% higher htan the employee’s basic wage rate.

Where labor laws mandate educational, vocational qualifications or health conditions, the employer has a right to request documentation from the potential candidate confirming qualifications or health status.

Employers are not permitted to perform criminal background checks, except for specific cases where the law allows for it.

The maximum probation period is three months but an employer and its employee may agree on a shorter period. During probation, the employer has the right to terminate the employment relationship without paying severance by giving three days’ notice. However, in such a case, the employer should be able to substantiate that the employee was not suitable for the work.

For fixed-term contracts of less than 6 months, the probation period must be proportionate to the duration of the contract, which is not more than half the duration of the fixed-term contract.

The average working time, including overtime, is 48 hours per week. The maximum working time, including overtime and additional work, is 12 hours per day and 60 hours per week. The maximum overtime is hours per week (or 12 hours per week if the employee agrees). The maximum annual overtime is 180 hours.

The Labor Law establishes the standard working week as being five days with two rest days. The six-day working week with one rest day is allowed for businesses where the standard five-day working week is not possible due to the nature of its operations. A weekly uninterrupted rest period must not be shorter than 35 hours.

Employees must be granted a break of 30 minutes to two hours to rest and to eat after half of the working day. This means they should not work more than four working hours consecutively without a break.

Employees must provide written consent for overtime work. Remuneration is required to be at least 1.5 times the hourly pay.

Work schedules are to be posted on an information board no later than two weeks before their effective date. The working time actually performed by employees must be recorded in a time sheet template. For employees with flexible working hours, rules for recording working time are to be established by the employer.

Employment contracts should be stored for at least 50 years and payroll records for 10 years following termination.

The 13th month salary is not mandatory in Lithuania but most companies pay it as a yearly bonus.

Apart from employment termination by mutual agreement between the parties, the most common ways to terminate employment upon employer’s initiative when there is no fault of the employee are:

• dismissal due to objective reasons (ordinary dismissal) (‘darbo sutarties nutraukimas darbdavio iniciatyva be darbuotojo kaltės’)
• dismissal upon the employer’s will (‘darbo sutarties nutraukimas darbdavio valia’).

The aforementioned types of dismissals differ in terms of the reasons for dismissal, the notice period and the level of protection the employees may have against the dismissal.

Termination of employment contract must be in writing, with the legal basis for termination outlined. An employment contract can be terminated without notice if:

• the employee has been sentenced for committing a crime
• when a parent, guardian, healthcare provider or the school of enrollment of an employee under the age of 16 demands the termination
• when an employee is not able to perform the work according to a healthcare institution and is not agreeable to the transfer to another position within the same organization
• when the employment contract is in conflict with the law

The employer must inform the State Social Insurance Fund Board (SODRA) about the termination of employment no later than one day after the termination of the employment contract.

The following categories of employees are protected from termination:

• pregnant employees
• employees who are appointed for military service
• employees on maternity, paternity or parental leave
• employees raising a child under 3 years old

A fixed-term employment contract ends when the agreed term expires. The following rules on notice period and severance payment apply:

Notice period: If the employment lasted for more than a year, a notice period of five business days applies. If the employment lasted longer than three years, a notice period of 10 business days applies.

Severance payment: One average monthly salary should be paid if employment relations lasted for more than two years.

An employer can terminate an employment contract without any fault on the employee’s part only after notifying the employee in writing and confirming the termination with the signature of the employee. Such notification must be presented one month before the dismissal (or two weeks’ notice if the employment relationship is less than a year). These notice periods are doubled for employees who have less than five years left until the statutory age of old-age pension. They are tripled for employees who are raising a child (including adopted children) under the age of 14 or are raising a disabled child under the age of 18.

During the notice period, the employer must grant the employee paid time off from work to look for a new job.

The notice period for a fixed-term contract, if the employment lasted for more than a year, is five business days. If the employment lasted longer than three years, the notice period is 10 business days.

Severance depends on the length of continuous service of the employee:

• under 12 months: one monthly average wage
• 12–36 months: two monthly average wages
• 36–60 months: three monthly average wages
• 60–120 months: four monthly average wages
• 120–240 months: five monthly average wages
• over 240 months: six monthly average wages

Upon ordinary dismissal, the dismissed employee is entitled to a severance pay of two average monthly salaries. If the employment relationship lasted less than a year, the dismissed employee must be paid half of his or her average monthly salary. Additionally, the dismissed employee may receive a severance pay from the State Social Insurance Fund Board (SODRA), with the amount depending on his or her seniority.

In the case of termination of the employment contract upon the employer’s will, the dismissed employee must be paid a severance pay of at least six times the average monthly salary.

Fixed-term contracts are permitted for work concluded within a defined period of time or for a specific task to be completed. There is no limit on the maximum number of successive renewals or extension of fixed-term contracts. However, the maximum total duration of consecutive fixed-term contracts concluded with the same employee carrying out the same job function cannot exceed two years. Fixed-term contracts separated by two months or less are considered consecutive.

The maximum total duration of consecutive fixed-term contracts concluded with the same employee carrying out a different job function cannot exceed five years

Fixed-term contracts for jobs of a permanent nature may not account for more than 20% of employment contracts entered into by the employer. A fixed-term contract is deemed to be for an indefinite term if employment continues beyond the contract end date or beyond the specific task being completed.

The employer must inform employees working under fixed-term contracts about vacancies and ensure they have the same opportunities for permanent employment.

Salary payments should be made no less than twice a month, unless there is mutual agreement between employee and employer to pay monthly.

Itemized payslips must be provided to employees on a monthly basis, specifying gross and net salary, the amount and purpose of any deductions and overtime if applicable.

Employees have a right to 20 days’ paid annual leave after they have performed six continuous months of service with an employer. Annual leave may be taken in parts but one part of the annual leave must be at least 14 calendar days.

For some categories of employees, paid annual leave is 25 calendar days. This includes employees under 18 years of age, employees who are single parents of a child under 14 (or a disabled child under 16), disabled persons and other persons provided for by law.

The following categories of employees are entitled to choose the time of annual leave after six months of uninterrupted work with the employer:

• persons under 18 years of age
• pregnant women and employees raising a child under 14 years of age or a disabled child under 18 years of age alone

Annual leave can be carried forward to the next year of employment with the consent of the employee. This is allowed when the annual leave could not be utilized in the same year due to certain circumstances (e.g. taking part in official or public duties, assisting in relief operations, special-purpose leave entitlements, etc.)

Sick pay is available to employees who have been covered by social insurance for at least three months during the last 12 months or at least six months during the last 24 months. The employer must pay between 80 and 100% of the employee’s average salary during the first two calendar days of sickness absence. During the third to the seventh day of absence, the state pays the employee 40% of his or her salary from the social insurance fund. From the eighth day of sickness absence, the state pays the employee 80% of his or her salary.

Unpaid leave is granted for:

• a disabled person – up to 30 calendar days per year
• an employee who alone takes care of a disabled person – up to 30 calendar days per year (or as agreed between the parties)
• an employee taking care of a sick family member – for a period recommended by a health institution
• wedding – at least three calendar days
• an employee who gets married – at least three calendar days
• funeral of a family member – at least three but not more than five calendar days
• family emergency in case of illness or accident

Maternity Leave

Employees receive 70 days’ maternity leave before birth and 56 days’ leave after. The latter goes up to 70 days if the birth is complicated. Maternity leave is paid by the government if the minimum period of social insurance coverage has been satisfied. As a general rule, this is 12 months of insurance coverage during the last 24 months. The compensation is 100% of the previous salary, subject to a statutory cap.

Paternity Leave

Paternity leave is 30 calendar days at any time until the child reaches the age of 1 year. Paternity pay is 100% of the salary for the duration of leave, subject to a statutory cap. Paternity leave is compensated by the government if the minimum period of social insurance coverage has been satisfied. As a general rule, this is 12 months of insurance coverage during the last 24 months.

Caregiver Leave

Each parent and caregiver (including grandparents or relatives who are helping to raise the child) is equally entitled to take child care leave until the child is three years old. Only one parent or caregiver can take it at a time but it can be taken in turns consecutively. The employee intending to use this leave must provide the employer with a written notice at least 14 days in advance.

Adoption Leave

Employees who have adopted newborn babies or who have been appointed as their guardians are to be granted leave for the period from the day of adoption or establishment of guardianship before the baby is 70 days old.

Nursing Leave

A breastfeeding woman must be given at least a 30 minute break at least every three hours to breastfeed. This is in addition to the regular break to rest and to eat. The breastfeeding breaks can be taken with the break to rest and eat or at the end of the working day (effectively shortening the working day).

Parental Leave

Paid leave is granted for:

• employees raising a child under 12 years old – 1 additional day off every 3 months
• employees raising 2 children under 12 years old (where one or both children has a disability) – 2 additional paid days off every month

Unpaid leave is granted for:

• employees raising a child under 14 years old: up to 14 calendar days per year
• employees raising a disabled child under 18 years old: up to 30 calendar days year
• during maternity leave and parental leave until the child reaches three years of age as well as the father at their request: aggregate duration of 3 months in total between both parents

Employees are entitled three days’ educational leave (per examination) to prepare for entrance examinations to colleges and higher educational institutions.

Employees who are elected as representatives of a trade union are granted a leave of absence of up to six working days. The compensation of wages is to be stipulated in a collective agreement. Employees may also be granted a leave of absence to participate in state or public duties. The compensation cannot be less than the average wage of the organization they are representing.

There are 13 public holidays per year in Lithuania.