Before doing business in Kazakhstan, you should familiarize yourself with the many aspects of the labor laws and regulations that apply there. Hiring successfully in Kazakhstan requires familiarity with the nation’s work permit system, employment contracts, taxes, language, recruiting practices, anti-discrimination laws, and labor laws. The process of looking for this information online might be difficult.
This article describes the main points of Kazakhstan’s labor law, which may be useful to customers employment of record services in Kazakhstan. In the table below is a summary of the most important requirements. Further in the text these requirements and some other labor law issues are explained in more detail.
| The probation period | Not more than 3 months |
| The term of the fixed-term employment contract | At least 1 year |
| The notice period in case of stuff cuts | 1 month |
| Severances pay in case of stuff cuts | 1 monthly salary |
| The deadline for salary payment | Until the 10th day of the next month |
| The duration of annual leave | 28 calendar days |
| Payment of overtime and weekend work | One and a half times of regular pay |
| The maximum monthly sick leave payments | 92,300 KZT (206 USD) |
Onboardings and Employment contract
According to the Labor Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (hereinafter referred to as the Code), an employment contract should be concluded in written form and can be signed electronically. To sign an agreement in electronic form, the Electronic Keys issued by the National Certification Center (https://pki.gov.kz) should be used. To sign the contract electronically and exchange the electronic copy of the contract, one of the local electronic document management service can be used, for example Idocx.kz (https://idocs.kz). According to the legislation and generally established practice, when concluding an employment contract, an employee must provide:
- ID card or passport;
- a document on education, qualifications, availability of special knowledge or professional training, when a job require appropriate knowledge, skills and abilities;
- a document confirming employment records (for persons with work experience);
- Individual identification number;
- bank details for receiving wages;
- contact information: phone, e-mail, address of residence.
An employer, when hiring an employee in Kazakhstan, must enter information about the contract into the state unified contract accounting system within 5 working days after concluding an employment contract. The law does not allow to backdate employment contract. An employee may be allowed to work only after concluding an employment contract. It is possible to include a non-competition clause in the contract. It will also not be contrary to the law to include Clause on intellectual property created by the employee during his employment in the contract is also allowed. If there are no such clause in the contract, the employer cannot claim exclusive rights to this intellectual property. The requirement for an employee to maintain confidentiality with respect to the employer’s information is established by the Code, however, the employer may care to explain his requirements in this area in the employment contract in details. A probationary period may be included in the contract. The probationary period cannot exceed 3 months.
Terms of employment contract
An employment contract may be concluded for an indefinite term or for defined term of at least one year. The employment contract can be extended for a period of at least one year. If neither party notified the other party of its termination on the last working day of the contract, the contract is considered extended for the same period for which it was previously concluded.
An employment contract can be extended no more than 2 times. Then, subject to the continuation of the employment relationship, the contract is considered concluded for an indefinite term. This restriction does not apply to employers that are small and medium-sized businesses. Small and medium size businesses include companies with up to 50 employees and assets not exceeding 5.1 billion KZT (approximately 11 million US dollars).
Salary payments
Salaries must be paid up to 10th of the following month. If the salary payment deadline falls on a non-working day, payment must be made in advance.
Salaries must be paid in the currency of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kazakhstani tenge (KZT).
Overtime pay
Payment for overtime work and work on holidays and weekends must be made in the amount of one and a half times of regular pay. By agreement of the parties, overtime work may be compensated by providing additional rest time.
Annual leave
The employer must provide the employee with leave of at least 28 calendar days per year. By agreement of the parties, the vacation may be divided into parts, but one of the parts should not be less than 14 days.
Payment for annual leave is made no later than three working days before its start, and in the case of granting labor leave outside the vacation schedule – no later than three working days from the date of its start.
By agreement between the employer and employee, unused vacation may be transferred to the next year. The transferred leave must be used within the next two years.
Unused vacation days upon dismissal of an employee must be compensated in cash.
Vacation is paid based on the average salary for the last 12 months. When calculating the average salary, all bonuses paid to the employee are taken into account. Employment services customers should be aware that if the employee has received significant bonuses in the last 12 months, such as an annual bonus, the holiday pay will be higher than his/her normal salary.
Offboarding
An employer may dismiss an employee on his own initiative in case of:
- liquidation of the enterprise;
- staff reductions;
- reduction in production volume;
- a number of disciplinary violations directly specified in the Labor Code;
- inconsistency of the employee with the position held;
- absence from work for more than 2 months in a row due to illness;
- repeated failure to perform or improper performance of job duties.
Dismissal of an employee due to a decrease in production volume only possible, if the workshop or area where the employee worked was closed.
The following categories of employees cannot be dismissed due to a reduction in staff or production volume, the:
- pregnant women;
- women with children under three years of age;
- single mothers raising a child under the age of fourteen (or a disabled child under eighteen);
- other persons raising these categories of children without a mother.
When dismissing an employee due to failure to fulfill duties, disciplinary violations, or inadequacy for the position held, the employer must document the violations with the involvement of witnesses, otherwise he will not be able to justify his actions in court.
In case of dismissal due to staff reduction and liquidation of the enterprise, the employer must notify the employee of the reduction at least one month before dismissal, and after dismissal, pay severance pay in the amount of one average monthly salary. In case of dismissal due to a drop in production volumes, the notice is given at least 15 days in advance, and severance pay in the amount of 2 average monthly salaries is paid.
By agreement of the parties, the notice period may be reduced in exchange for payment of compensation to the employee agreed upon by the parties.
Please note that when calculating the average monthly salary, all payments are taken into account, including all bonuses accrued to the employee over the last 12 months.
If an employee is dismissed, all payments due to him must be made no later than 3 working days from the date of dismissal.
Sick leave
The employer is obliged to pay the employee sick leave at his own expense. Sick leave is paid according to the average daily earnings, but the amount of sick leave cannot exceed 25 Monthly Calculation Indicator. The monthly calculation indicator is the value established by the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan annually for the calculation of benefits, taxes and other values provided for by law. For 2024, the figure was 3,692 KZT. Accordingly, the maximum monthly sick leave payment in 2024 was 92,300 KZT (206 USD).
If an employee misses work for more than 2 months in a row due to illness, the employer has the right to fire him.
Maternity leave
During pregnancy and the birth of a child, female employees are entitled to maternity leave for a total of 120 days (140 days for complex childbirth and the birth of more than one child). Holidays are paid for at the expense of the state. If requested, the employer is also obliged to provide the relevant employee unpaid leave to care for a child upon reaching the age of 3 years.
Occupational Safety and Health
According to the labor code, the employer is obliged to provide employees with safe working conditions. Measures to ensure occupational safety, depending on the nature of work, include in particular:
- Conducting training for employees and managers on occupational safety rules;
- Providing testing of knowledge of occupational safety rules;
- Familiarization of employees with labor safety rules;
- Providing employees with occupational safety instructions;
- Providing employees with protective equipment;
- Conducting regular medical examinations.
The Atlas Implementation company provides services for ensuring occupational safety and health measures as part of its Employment of record services in Kazakhstan .
EOR Solutions in Kazakhstan
The Atlas Employment EOR solution for Kazakhstan will support the rapid growth and success of your business. Without requiring an entity setup, we will make sure that your remote team’s salary and benefits are processed smoothly. In addition to ensuring ultimate compliance with Kazakhstani employment rules and taxes, Atlas Employment offers a wide range of services for establishing your Kazakhstani team, including talent search, recruiting, payroll calculation, obtaining a work permit and visa, taxes, and employment contracts.
The Atlas Implementation company provides services for ensuring occupational safety and health measures as part of its Employment of record services in Kazakhstan.
According to the labor code, the employer is obliged to provide employees with safe working conditions. Measures to ensure occupational safety, depending on the nature of work, include in particular:
- Conducting training for employees and managers on occupational safety rules;
- Providing testing of knowledge of occupational safety rules;
- Familiarization of employees with labor safety rules;
- Providing employees with occupational safety instructions;
- Providing employees with protective equipment;
- Conducting regular medical examinations.
The Atlas Implementation company provides services for ensuring occupational safety and health measures as part of its Employment of record services in Kazakhstan .
EOR Solutions in Kazakhstan
The Atlas Employment EOR solution for Kazakhstan will support the rapid growth and success of your business. Without requiring an entity setup, we will make sure that your remote team’s salary and benefits are processed smoothly. In addition to ensuring ultimate compliance with Kazakhstani employment rules and taxes, Atlas Employment offers a wide range of services for establishing your Kazakhstani team, including talent search, recruiting, payroll calculation, obtaining a work permit and visa, taxes, and employment contracts.
If you have any questions, please contact us by Tel./ WhatsApp: +7 707 727 7874, Tel. +44 204 577 3290 or email alexo@employment-atlas.com
