Azerbaijan
A beautiful, storied country in the Caucasus region, Azerbaijan’s a great place to hire remote talent. And at Thera, we should know: We’ve hired there before! In the next few minutes, you’ll learn how you can legally hire in Azerbaijan without wading into months of legal paperwork and thousands in fees.
Country snapshot
CURRENCY
Azerbaijani Manat (AZN)
EMPLOYER TAXES
22%
PAYROLL FREQUENCY
Monthly
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
Azerbaijani
It’s the fastest way to hire globally
Hiring employees takes months, at the minimum. When you hire with Thera's locally-generated contracts, it’s a matter of days or weeks. This means you can hire the best talent, fast, without losing them to a hellish procession of paperwork.
It’s a lot cheaper
It costs just $0 to sign up for Thera, then $25 per month to hire your contractors with Thera. If you hired employees manually (or did contracting on your own), you’d likely be on the hook for thousands of dollars each month. Setting up an entity alone can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
It’s more flexible for you & your team
Can be less risky than hiring employees
Hiring employees is a bigger commitment, and can open you up to increased liabilities and regulations. When you hire contractors overseas, your biggest risk is misclassification—but laws surrounding contractor classification are often significantly more straightforward.
Some people want to be employees
The contractor life isn’t for everyone—some people want the security that being an employee often appears to provide. Though it’s rare, this does happen, and it’s one disadvantage of manage an all-contractor team.
You might not have as much control over your talent
Most countries’ contractor-employer relationship laws stipulate that the employer can’t set fixed working hours, among other things. These laws give contractors more freedom over how and when they do their work than an employee would have. In reality, however, most contractors are willing & able to work on the company’s schedule—it’s a matter of setting expectations beforehand.
When you hire remotely in another country, you normally get put in a sticky situation: You’re not physically established in that country, so it’s not as easy as sending over a contract and getting things signed. At least, if you hire employees, that’s the case—below, we’ll cover the details about hiring employees or hiring contractors remotely in Azerbaijan.
Hire talent as contractors
Hire talent as employees
If you’ve read up until this point, you’ll know that it’s easier, cheaper, and more flexible to hire contractors in Azerbaijan than employees. Still, there are valid reasons why you might want to hire employees instead. The content below is for you—we’ll cover employer taxes and obligations in Azerbaijan.
Employer tax
Social Security
Unemployment
Accident Insurance
Paid Time Off (PTO)
PTO is calculated by:
- The minimum annual leave entitlement is 21 days for employees over the age of 18.
In addition, depending on the number of years of employment, an employee is entitled to additional leave:
- 5-10 years – additional 2 days of leave
- 10-15 years- additional 4 days of leave
- 15 or more years- 6 additional days of leave
Annual leave can be broken down to multiple leave periods, however, one of the leave periods must be 2 weeks in length.
Public Holidays
There are 14 public holidays in Azerbaijan.
Sick Days
The duration of sick leave entitlement provided to workers is dependent on how long they have been employed by their employer:
- For the first 14 days of illness, it is the responsibility of the employer to pay sick leave compensation.
- After 14 days, sick leave is paid by the State Social Protection Fund.
- In order to receive this benefit, employees must be able to provide a medical certificate and can be extended by 3-6 day increments.
Maternity Leave
Women are entitled to a total of 126 days of maternity leave and can begin 70 days before the expected due date.
If the mother endured a difficult birth or the birth of more than one child, maternity leave can be extended for an additional 14 days.
Maternity leave is paid by the State Social Protection Fund.
Compensation is 100% of the average monthly salary of the past 12 months.
Paternity Leave
Fathers can take 14 days of unpaid paternity leave following the birth of a child.
Parental Leave
In Azerbaijan, there are various stipulations for various parental rights:
- A pregnant woman or woman with a child under the age of 3 years old cannot be terminated.
- A pregnant woman or woman with a child under the age of 18 months old is entitled to a reduced work week. The maximum number of hours permitted is 36.
- A pregnant woman or woman with a child under the age of 3 years old cannot be asked to work night shifts.
- A woman with 2 children under the age of 16 is entitled to 2 additional days of paid leave; a woman with 3 or more children under the age of 16 is entitled to 5 days of additional paid leave.
- A woman or single father with children under the age of 16 are entitled to 14 days of unpaid leave per year.
Other Leave
Study leave- employees studying in addition to work are provided study leave in order to participate in training sessions in the relevant academic season, to take state exams, prepare a diploma project, etc. During the period of paid educational leave, an employee shall be paid an average salary.
Marriage Leave
None.
Bereavement Leave
None.
Termination Process
In general, termination of an employment contract in Azerbaijan is strict and must be carried out with the utmost care. Labor laws for termination are in favor of the employee and any misstep can have major consequences for the employer.
For employees who are terminated based on redundancy, 3 month’s severance pay is required.
Notice Period
The notice period in Azerbaijan is:
When terminating an employment agreement due to downsizing, 2 months’ notice is required. During this 2 month period, the employee is able to take one day of paid time off per week for the purpose of finding new employment.
- Less than 1 year of employment– 2 weeks’ notice
- 1-5 years of employment- 4 weeks’ notice
- 5-10 years of employment- 6 weeks’ notice
- 10+ years of employment- 9 weeks’ notice.
If the employee initiates the termination of the employment agreement, one months’ written notice is required.
Severance Pay
The Severance Pay in Azerbaijan depends on:
Severance pay varies depending on the length the employee has been employed:
- Less than 1 year – 1 month’s salary
- 1-5 years- 1.4 times the monthly salary
- 5-10 years- 1.7 times the monthly salary
- 10+ years – 2 times the monthly salary
Termination pay– in addition to severance pay, an additional 2 months’ salary must be given if:
- Change in terms of employment was changed
- The employee is called for military service
- The employee can no longer perform their duties due to a permanent disability
In the event that the employee’s employment is terminated due to death, 3 month’s allowance is given to their family members.
Probation Period
The probation period can last up to 3 months. During this time, either the employee or employer can cancel the employment agreement so long as 3 days’ notice is given.
Working Hours
A full workweek in Azerbaijan is 40 hours for employees over the age of 18.
Overtime
Overtime is paid at the rate of 200% of the normal salary.
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