Employment

Types of employment contracts

open-ended
fixed-term
temporary
apprenticeship
project employment contract
job-sharing employment contract
employment contract for work for several employers
seasonal

Fixed-term employment contracts may be concluded for a certain period, but no longer than 2 years for the same type of work and 5 years for the different types of work. Up to 20 % of all employment contracts can be fixed-term employment contracts if those are concluded for a permanent nature of work.

A temporary employment contract may be concluded for a certain period of time during which the temporary employee undertakes to carry out employment activities.

Seasonal employment contracts are concluded for the performance of seasonal works. Seasonal works include works which, due to natural and climatic conditions, are performed not throughout the year but in certain periods (seasons) not longer than eight months (within a period of consecutive twelve months) and which are on the list of seasonal works.

An apprenticeship employment contract may be concluded when an employee is employed for the purpose of acquiring qualifications or competencies necessary for the position by the form of an apprenticeship training program.

The project work contract is a fixed-term employment contract, by which the employee undertakes to carry out his work duty for the purpose of a specific project’s result and work on fixed working hours at his workplace or outside of it.

Job-sharing employment contract – 2 employees can agree with the employer on sharing 1 job position.

Employment contract with several employers – it allows concluding an employment contract with 2 or more employers when the duties carried out by the employee are the same.

Documents required for employment

The employer is obliged to request that the person being hired would produce a document confirming his/her identity.
Where labor laws relate the hiring to certain educational attainment or vocational training or health condition, the employer is obliged to request that the person being hired would produce documents confirming the educational attainment or vocational training or health condition as the case may be; where a minor from fourteen to sixteen years of age is being hired, the birth certificate, written consent of one of the parents or another statutory representative of the child and written permission by a doctor in charge of the child’s health must be submitted; if the hiring takes place during the school year, written consent of the child’s school must be presented. The employer has the right to request other statutory documents as well.

Content of an employment contract

The terms and conditions of the employment contract are agreed upon by the parties and define the rights and obligations of the parties. Each employment contract must state the following mandatory conditions of the contract:

place of work of the employee (enterprise, organization, structural division, etc.);
work functions, i. e. a work requiring a certain profession, specialization, qualifications or a certain position);
terms of payment for the work (wage system, size of pay, payment procedures, etc.).

The parties may also agree on other conditions of the employment contract provided that this is not prohibited by the labor laws or regulations or the collective agreement.

An employment contract is deemed to be concluded after the parties agree on the terms and conditions of the contract. The employment contract must be concluded in writing in duplicate, using a model form of contract. The employment contract is signed by the employer, or a person authorized by him, and the employee. The employer retains a copy of the employment contract and hands the other copy to the employee. The employment contract must be registered in the employment contracts register on the date of its conclusion. Such registration is not mandatory in cases where an employer is a natural person who hires a maximum three employees. Prior to starting work, the employer must hand a copy of the employment contract and an employee’s ID document (‘employment certificate’) to the employee. The issue or replacement of the employment certificate is recorded in the employment certificates register.

The labor laws and regulations, as well as collective agreements, may establish that persons are appointed to certain positions on competition or elections basis or upon passing of qualifications examinations. At the conclusion of the employment contract, the parties may agree on a trial period.

Termination/expiry of employment contract

The employment contract may be terminated immediately, if the serious violation of labor discipline is committed or if the employee commits the same violation of his job duties for the second time within the last 12 months.
The dismissal of an employee is allowed for serious reasons; when employee’s functions of work become an excess due to changes of organization of work or because of other reasons related to the activity of the employer. In case of urgent termination, the employer notifies about the termination 3 working days in advance and pays compensation not lower than the size of 6 average monthly salaries.
In other cases, when the contract is terminated by the initiative of an employer without any fault of the part of the employee, an employee shall be notified 1 month in advance and 2 weeks in advance if the employment relations last less than 1 year. The notification periods are doubled or tripled for socially vulnerable groups.
When an employee is being dismissed by the initiative of an employer without any fault on the part of the employee, also by the initiative of the employee because of important reasons, an employer should pay severance pay in the amount equal to 2 average salaries, whereas if the employment relations continue less than 1 year – a severance pay would be equal to half of 1 average salary.

Working time

Working time may not exceed 48 hours per week. An employee may agree in writing to work up to 12 hours of overtime per week, but no more than 180 hours of overtime per year.
The remuneration for overtime can be by way of monetary salary or by providing additional holidays.
The duration of the annual holidays is 20 working days.]

Legal basis

Labor Code of the Republic of Lithuania

More information – The State Labor Inspectorate of the Republic of Lithuania.