Hiring Local Staff
In Tajikistan, labour legislation remains to be generally pro-employee. The Labour Code is the main legal act which regulates labour issues.
Labour contracts. Under employment contract an employee is obligated to provide works on one or several of her/his professions, specialties or positions of certain qualification and the Employer is obligated to remunerate for such works and ensure the minimum employment conditions prescribed by the law. An employment contract must have the following mandatory clauses:
- place of work;
- employee function (duty);
- starting day of work;
- period of employment contract;
- amount of remuneration;
- duration and working regime; and
- duration of holiday.
Fixed term vs open-ended contracts
An employment contract may last for an indefinite or a fixed period of time, though the
employer must provide justification if the contract term is fixed (e.g. a fixed term contract is justified for seasonal jobs).
It is the general requirement of the law that an employer should offer an open-ended contract unless it can legitimately justify that the conclusion of such contract was not possible (due to, e.g. nature of work or otherwise). Foreign originations tend to offer fixed-term contracts even though their projects last longer. Such practice may be risky. When they extend fixed term contracts on the same terms this, in Tajik law, transforms the contracts into unlimited contracts.
The main difference between annually renewed and open-ended (or unlimited) contracts is that in the first case severance does not have to be paid since the contracts will expire naturally. There may be specific cases where such difference may be important, e.g., pregnancy or employee having a child under three.
Probation
A contract may contain a provision on probation period, which must not exceed three (3) months. During the probationary period either party may terminate relations providing written notice to that effect. Probation period cannot be put into the contract if an employee was hired as a result of the contest. The Labor Code provides that probation period cannot be put into the contract if an employee was hired as a result of the contest. Our interpretation of this is that the ‘contest’ (1) must be specifically mentioned in the law as a ground for hiring and (2) the procedure for such contest should be in the law
Foreign and international organizations almost invariably hire through a competitive process by advertising a job position. However, it is not utterly clear if such process should qualify as a contest and thus disallow for the probation clause to be included in the employment contract.
Our interpretation of this is that until sch time that the law does not specify a contest as a ground for hiring and the procedure for such contest (as is, e.g. for civil servants) probation clause could still be in the contracts with originations which advertise and select for positions prior hiring.
Work hours. Working hours shall not exceed 40 hours per week. Employees working in hazardous conditions are entitled to a reduced week of 35 hours. Overtime and extra working hours must not exceed 4 (four) hours during two days in a row (and two hours for those working in hazardous conditions). For any employee the total amount of extra working hours during one year must not exceed 120 hours. For employee working in shifts, the length of each shift may not exceed 12 hours.
Salary. Salaries are agreed upon in labour contracts subject to the minimum monthly rate
currently being TJS 400. Depending on geographic location and conditions of work, allowances and premiums may apply. Overtime and night shifts shall be compensated at multiple salary rates. Salaries must be paid at least once a fortnight (i.e. semi-monthly) and be paid in TJS.
Annual leave. Employees are entitled to a minimum of 24 calendar days of annual paid leave. Extended leave shall be granted to employees in harmful and difficult working conditions.
Termination. Termination of the contract by an employee is subject to two weeks’ notice. Termination of the contract by an employer must be reasoned and is allowed in cases provided for by the Labour Code of Tajikistan and subject to two months’ notice to an employee. In certain cases, termination of the contract is prohibited (e.g. pregnancy, children under age of 3).
Trade unions. Employee shall be entitled to form their representative union and an employer shall have duty to assist achieving that goal. Where employee representative union has been established, it shall have the right to participate in the discussion of the issues of social and economic development of the company, provide opinion on the decisions which may have a bearing on the employee interests, participate in the preparation of the labour by-laws of the company and have other rights as may be provided in the collective agreement or the bylaws of the company.