Iraq
Found someone in Iraq you’d like to hire, but confused about how you’re supposed to make it happen without paying thousands in fees? You’re in the right place. Read on to learn the fastest, easiest, most flexible way to hire remote talent in Iraq.
Country snapshot
CURRENCY
Iraqi Dinar (IQD)
EMPLOYER TAXES
12%
PAYROLL FREQUENCY
Monthly
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
Arabic/Kurdish
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.
Laws about hiring are complicated, and the same is true in Iraq. But there are ways to sidestep the headaches—if your company hasn’t already established a physical presence in Iraq, you have two real options when it comes to hiring. We’ll detail both below.
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 Iraq 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 Iraq.
Employer tax
Social Security
Statutory Contributions
Paid Time Off (PTO)
PTO is calculated by the:
- One year of employment
- Workers are entitled to 21 days of fully paid leave annually
- This amount of leave increases incrementally the longer an employee works at your company
- Employees working in difficult or dangerous conditions, such as work environments with health hazards, are entitled to 30 days of paid vacation each year
- In Iraq, employees has full pay for feast days and official holidays that do not fall on a Saturday
Public Holidays
There are 13 public holidays with paid.
Sick Days
Employees are eligible to claim 30days of fully paid sick leave for every year of service, with a maximum cap of180 days.
After the 30-day mark, social insurance will cover any paid sick leave. Employees must show documented medical evidence to claim paid sick leave.
Maternity Leave
Employees can take 72 days of paid maternity leave if they are working in a company operating in Iraq.
However, the number of days can be increased based on the requirements of the employee.
Paternity Leave
The Labor Law does not grant fathers paternity leave. any parent (male or female) is entitled to unpaid leave for up to three days to tend to a sick child under six years of age.
Parental Leave
In Iraq, any parent (male or female) is entitled to unpaid leave for up to three days to tend to a sick child under six years of age.
Other Leave
In Iraq, if the employee is involved in some hazardous activity like heavy equipment operation, etc., he will be entitled to 30 days of paid leave.
Marriage Leave
Employees can take leaves for marriage. Also, employees can take a leave even if their children are getting married.
These leaves can be extended but would be unpaid.
Bereavement Leave
Employees can take leaves if there is a death in their family but would be unpaid.
Termination Process
Iraq has a very complex system when it comes to the termination of employment. Like any other country, there are several guidelines for termination of employment in Iraq.
Therefore, you need to have a comprehensive knowledge of the system and its implications.
Following are the grounds of termination laid down by the Labor Law of Iraq:
- A mutual agreement between the two parties, i.e., the employer and the employee
- Expiration of a fixed contract.
- Will of the employee
- If the employee is incapacitated for more than six months due to illness.
- In case the employee has some significant deformities becomes more than 75% incapacitated, he will be terminated.
- The downfall of the company
The employee can terminate the employment contract without giving notice, in the following circumstances:
- If the employer breached any of their obligations stipulated in the New Labour Law, or in the employer's rules of procedure, or in the employment contract.
- If the employer has committed a offence or a misdemeanor against the employee or any of their family members (both within and outside of the workplace).
- If there is a grave hazard threatening the employee's safety or health, provided that the employer is fully aware of this hazard and did not try to remove it.
Notice Period
Employers are required to provide at least 30 days advance notice in writing to employees and pay an end-of-service gratuity that ranges from the equivalent of two to 20 weeks of service depending on length of employment.
If the notice is not given, the employee is entitled to compensation amounting to their salary for the notice period.
Severance Pay
A severance payment of two weeks salary for each year of service and one month in case of unjustified termination is required.
The employee can also ask to be reinstated to their position instead of receiving a severance payment.
Probation Period
Probation period can be a month or two, but not more than three.
Working Hours
The standard work week is 40 hours (Iraqi law 37 of 2015).
The maximum working hours are 48 hours per week (Iraqi law 37 of 2015 article 67).
The minimum rest duration per week is 24 hours.
Overtime
Employees must be compensated for overtime with an additional 50% of their regular salary (if the overtime is carried out during the day) or an additional 100% (if the overtime is carried out at night, on a day of rest or if the work is considered to be arduous or harmful).
Overtime is capped atone to four hours per day, depending on the nature of the work.
Additionally, overtime is limited to 40 hours per 90 days and 120 hours per 12 months.
Overtime performed during the day is paid at a rate of50%, while overtime pay is doubled at night.
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