Employer Record in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Basic information

Capital:Sarajevo

Time zone: GMT+2

Languages: Bosnian, Serbian & Croatian

Currency code: BAM

Human Resources at a Glance 

Contract Terms

Contracts must be in one of the official languages (Bosnian/Croatian/Serbia) and can be bilingual. They must be in writing and signed by both parties.
A contract must include:

• Name and registered office of the employer
• The personal name of the employee, place of residence
• Type and level of education
• Name and description of the work that the employee should perform
• Place of work
• Type of employment (fixed-term or indefinite)
• Start date
• Working hours
• Gross salary

Guidelines Regarding Probation Period/Trial Period

Probation periods are not mandatory. There is no minimum probation period. The maximum probation period is 6 months.

Regulations and Rules Regarding Working Hours

Standard working hours are 8 hours per day, 40 hours per week. The standard work week is from Monday to Friday.

Overtime is paid according to the following rates

Minimum Wage Requirements

The minimum wage is BAM 996.78 per month.

Payroll Cost for Employers

The employer cost is generally estimated at 15.15% of the employee salary
Monthly Costs

• Pension and Disability Insurance – 10%*
• Health Insurance – 5.15%*
• Unemployment – 0.5%
• Fees for Disabled People – 0.5%
• Tax Natural Disaster – 0.5%**
• Water Tax – 0.5%**
• WFM Allowance – BAM 78.93
• WFM Secondary Allowance – BAM 82.12
  *The maximum monthly salary for the calculation of pension and health insurance is RSD 573,470.
  ** calculated on salary multiplied by 0.62

One-off Costs
Mandatory Wet Ink Employment Agreement Handling Fee – $80 USD

Termination

Grounds

Terminations must respect complex rules and the rules of an employee’s employment country. The off-boarding is always handled by the Employer with the primary stakeholders. It may include ad-hoc fees as well as required or recommended steps on specific termination cases.
Terminations in Bosnia and Herzegovina can be complex.
Compliant terminations include:

• Death of the employee
• Agreement between the employer and employee
• After the employee completes 65 years of age and 20 years of insurance record
• Work disability
• Voluntarily by employee
• Voluntarily by employer
• Expiration of contract
• The employee is convicted to serve prison punishment longer than 3 months
• If the employee is imposed a security, corrective, or protection measure in the duration of over 3 months
• The decision of the competent court resulted in the termination of employment

Notice Period

The minimum notice period is 7 days if the employee cancels the contract, and 14 days if the employer cancels the contract. The maximum notice period is 1 month if the employee cancels the contract, and 3 months if the employer cancels the contract. The notice period is based on employer’s discretion and should be included on the employment agreement.

Severance compensation

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, severance pay is eligible in the following situations:

• Employee concluding employment contract that was set for an indefinite period of time
• The employer terminates the employment contract after the employment relationship lasted a minimum of 2 consecutive years
• When a contract is not terminated due to breach of employment obligation or due to non-fulfillment of obligations under an employment contract
  Severance pay cannot be less than 1/3rd of the average monthly salary (salary in the last 3 months) paid to the employee for each year of employment with the employer. The exact severance paid is determined based on the employment agreement.

Payment & leave Compensation & Holidays

SalaryPayment

Monthly

Payslip Payroll

No explicit provision

Annual Leave

Both full-time and part-time employees are entitled to 20 working days of paid time off (PTO) a year. PTO accrues monthly, with 1.6 days per month. Employees are eligible for 6 days of PTO after the first 6 months of employment.

Sick Leave

There is no maximum number of days for sick leave, it lasts as necessary. This leave is paid at different rates and by different payers depending upon length:

• Up to 42 days, a 80% of base salary paid by the employer
• After 42 days, the salary amount depends on specific Canton regulations and is paid by the employer (Reimbursed by the Institute of Health)

Maternity & Parental Leave

Pregnant employees are eligible for a minimum of 42 days, and a maximum of 1 year of maternity leave. 28 days must be taken before the child’s birth. The employee will receive a salary based on the specific region, and the Center for Social Work (Centar za socijalni rad) will be responsible for this pay.
The employee cannot extend leave.
Salaries paid to employees, based on region:

• Federation BiH: 50-80% of the reference wage, depending upon the various cantonal regulations of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Republik of Srpska: 100% of the salary the employee was earning during the last six months before the starting date of the maternity leave.
• District of Brcko: 100% of salary

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, no law covers parental leave. However, employees may be entitled to maternity leave and paternity leave.

Tax and Social Security Information

Personal Income Tax

The individual income tax is 10%. Income tax is calculated using a flat rate. Additional factors may impact overall rates such as the number of dependent family members. The base for income tax is gross salary reduced by the amount of contributions from salaries and personal allowances.

Social security

• Health Insurance
• Pension Insurance
• Unemployment Insurance
• Private Healthcare – Unisure (optional)
• Private Healthcare – Allianz (optional)

Public Holidays 2024

Holidays	Date
New Year’s Day	1.1-1.2
Labour Day	5.1-5.2