How to hire remote employees in

Belize

Sure, there’s lots of great remote talent in Belize. But how do you go about hiring them? That’s the question we’ll answer for you by the end of this page. You’ll learn about legal obligations, risks, and the easiest path to hiring great talent in Belize.

Book demo

Employment requirements

Country snapshot

CURRENCY

Belize Dollar (BZD)

EMPLOYER TAXES

7.31%

PAYROLL FREQUENCY

Monthly

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

English

Why hire independent contractors in Belize

Hiring contractors is normally the easier, faster, more flexible choice—but don’t just take it from us. Below are the specific benefits and drawbacks to hiring contractors in Belize.

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

HHiring contractors in Belize means you’re generally not on the hook for things like health insurance and paid time off. This makes hiring flexible for you, and it gives your talent more options.

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.

What to know before you hire in Belize

It doesn’t matter where your HQ is, we can tell you one thing: Belize has different labor laws than your home country (well, unless your home country is Belize, of course). If you don’t do things right, you’ll be putting your company at the risk of fines—and risk losing the talent you brought onboard.

If you want to successfully hire in Belize, you have two options:

Hire talent as contractors

Laws about hiring contractors are significantly more simple in Belize. Onboarding talent takes days, not weeks or months. Both you, the company, and your talent have more flexibility. And in many cases, since you’re remote, the talent you’re hiring is better classified as a contractor, anyway. Of course, it’s not possible in every case, but it’s what we built Thera for.

Hire talent as employees

This is the long route. You can either establish a physical presence with an entity and register as an employer, or you can use an Employer-of-Record (EOR) solution. Odds are, you’ll find using an EOR to be the easier route. Still, using an EOR in Belize is expensive—it can often be $500 per month per employee—and sometimes prone to lengthy onboarding times.

Hire contractors in a couple clicks with Thera

How can I pay people in Belize

If you’re hiring contractors in Belize, you can pay them with Thera in a single click. You won’t need to worry about complicated wire transfers, fees, or currency conversions. We’ll take care of it all. Just make a click and your contractor will get paid in their currency of choice. This is a valuable bonus for talent in countries where the local currency is particularly weak—most people appreciate the ability to receive their payment in stronger currencies.

If you want to hire employees in Belize

If you’ve read up until this point, you’ll know that it’s easier, cheaper, and more flexible to hire contractors in Belize 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 Belize

Taxes in Belize

Employer tax

Social Security

Leave

Paid Time Off (PTO)

PTO is calculated by the:

Employees are entitled to 2 working weeks of paid leave per year.

Public Holidays

There are 13 public holidays.

Sick Days

The duration of sick leave entitlement provided to workers is dependent on how long they have been employed by their employer:

An employee is entitled to sick leave after working for an employee for 60 days.
Within a 12-month period, the employee is entitled to 16 days of paid sick leave.
In order to receive payment, the employee should present a medical certificate to the employer.
After the 16th day, social security pays for sickness.
Sickness benefits are paid for up to 234 days; 80% of average weekly insurable earnings for the first 156 days, and 60% of average weekly insurable earnings for the remaining 78 days.

Maternity Leave

Female employees are entitled to 14 weeks of paid maternity leave. Up to 7 weeks of leave can be taken before the birth of the child. A minimum of two weeks prenatal and 7 weeks postnatal leave is mandatory.

Employees receive 80% of their average weekly earnings. The minimum benefit 44.00 BZD a week and the maximum benefit is 384.00 BZD a week.

Paternity Leave

Paternity leave is not required by law.

Parental Leave

Paternity leave is not required by law.

Other Leave

None.

Marriage Leave

None.

Bereavement Leave

None.

Termination

Termination Process

Unless an employer can provide sufficient cause for dismissal without notice (due to misconduct, disobedience, lack of skill, neglect of duties, or absence without permission), written notice is required.

Notice Period

The notice period in Belize is:

The notice period is determined by length of employment:

Over 2 weeks to 6 months – 1 week notice
Over 6 months to 2 years – 2 weeks’ notice
Over 2 years to 5 years – 4 weeks’ notice
Over 5 years – 8 weeks’ notice

Severance Pay

Employed for 5-10 years – 1 week’s wage for each year of completed service.

Over 10 years of employment – 2 week’s wage for each year completed.

Probation Period

Probation period is 2 weeks.

Employee requirements in Belize

Working Hours

A standard workweek is 45 hours.

Overtime

Overtime is any work exceeding:

8 hours per day in accordance with the Shops Act
9 hours per day in accordance with the Labour Act
6 days per week
45 hours per week

All overtime work should be paid at 150% of the normal rate.

Run your global workforce on autopilot with Thera

Book a demo to get started.

Get started