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Croatia
Croatia is a country at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe on the Adriatic Sea. It borders
Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herzegovina and
Montenegro to the southeast, and shares a maritime border with Italy to the west and southwest. Its
capital and largest city, Zagreb.
POPULATION
3,9 million inhabitants
CURRENCY
Euro (EUR)
GDP
$ 106 billion
MINIMUM MONTHLY WAGE:
1050 EUR
TIME ZONE
UTC +1
✓ Employment contract
– With a definite period
– With an indefinite period.
✓ Self-employment contract – offer lesser protection and benefits.
The maximum weekly working time is 40 hours. A worker who works at least six hours a day has the right to a rest
(break) of at least thirty minutes every working day.
Overtime work of an individual worker may not last longer than 180 hours per year, unless agreed in a collective
agreement, in which case it may not last longer than 250 hours per year. Overtime work of minors is prohibited.
In Croatia, the employer pays the sick leave for the first 42 days, from the 43rd day of illness / absence onwards, the
sickness benefit is paid by the Croatian Health Insurance Institute (HZZO).
Sickness benefit is paid in full until recovery or up to eighteen months, whichever comes first. After this period, the fee
is reduced by 50%. However, there is no reduction in compensation for certain serious illnesses.
Sick pay represents 70% of the salary base, and 100% in case of illness as the result of war, care of a sick child under
three years of age, due to transplantation of living tissue and organs, in case of medical isolation and complications
during pregnancy.
The most common employee perks for employees are:
• additional medical insurance
• company cars, a mobile phone
• additional education
A worker is entitled to an annual leave of at least four weeks (20 calendar days) for each calendar year according to labor code. For minors and workers working in positions where it is not possible to protect the worker from harmful influences, the annual leave is at least five weeks.
The duration of the annual leave can also be determined by a collective agreement and can be longer than stated in
labor law.
Public holidays in Croatia:
Date Holiday
1 January – New Year’s Day
6 January – Epiphany
5 April – Easter Sunday
6 April – Easter Monday
1 May – Labour Day
30 May – Statehood Day
4 June – Corpus Christi
22 June – Anti-Fascist Struggle Day
5 August – Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and the Day of Croatian Defenders
15 August – Assumption of Mary
1 November – All Saints’ Day
18 November – Remembrance Day for the Victims of the Homeland War and the Victims of Vukovar and Škabrnja
25 December – Christmas Day
26 December – St. Stephen’s Day
В Хорватии в 2026 году — 14 national public holidays.
Maternity leave can be taken for a period of up to 6 months (70 days of mandatory maternity leave + additional) and is paid in the full amount of the salary compensation base. It starts 28 or 45 days before the day of expected birth. After that, additional 6-30 months After the 70th day after the birth of the child (ie after the expiration of the mandatory maternity leave), the child’s mother can transfer the use of the remaining part of the maternity leave (so-called additional maternity leave) in full or in part to the child’s father.
In the remaining part of parental leave (additional 6-30 months, depends on the number of born children) the salary compensation is 70% of the budget base.
✓ Healthcare insurance: Basic health insurance in Croatia is mandatory for all citizens with a permanent residence in Croatia and foreign nationals with permanent residence status. Health care contributions in Croatia are mandatory for all employers in amount of 16,5% of the gross salary. Self-employed workers are also obligated to pay health insurance.
✓ Pension
✓ Unemployment compensation
✓ Work accident insurance and occupational diseases – covered by mandatory health insurance.
✓ Maternity leave and family benefits.
Since Croatia is part of the EU, most European citizens can live and work in the country without a visa. If your employees are outside of the EU, they’ll need to obtain a work permit through their local Republic of Croatia diplomatic mission. Most Croatia work and residence permits are limited to 12 months.
An application for a residence and work permit may be submitted by:
third-country national (see the part relating to where to apply for the approval of temporary stay); or employer, with the local police department or station according to the place of intended residence or work of the third-country national or the seat of the employer; or temporary employment agency.
A residence and work permit are a combined approval of temporary stay and work in the Republic of Croatia.
An employment contract is terminated:
upon the death of a worker;
upon the expiration of the time for which the fixed-term employment contract was concluded
upon the death of the employer of a natural person or the termination of a trade by force of law or the
deletion of an individual trader from the register in accordance with special regulations;
when the employee reaches the age of 65 and has 15 years of service covered by pension insurance;
upon the delivery of a valid decision on retirement due to work disability;
under an agreement between the employee and the employer;
by giving notice;
by a decision of a competent court.
Types of employment terminations:
Regular termination of employment contract
Extraordinary termination of employment contract
Termination of a fixed-term employment contract
In case of regular cancellation, the notice period is at least:
1) two weeks, if the employee has spent less than one year continuously with the same employer
2) one month, if the employee has spent one year continuously with the same employer
3) one month and two weeks, if the employee has spent two consecutive years with the same employer
4) two months, if the employee has been employed by the same employer for five consecutive years
5) two months and two weeks, if the employee has spent ten consecutive years in employment with the same employer 6) three months, if the employee has been employed by the same employer for twenty consecutive years.
If the employee terminates the employment contract, the notice period may not be longer than one month, if he has a particularly important reason for it.
The severance is determined in the amount of minimal of 1/3 of the average monthly salary earned by the employee in the three months before the termination of the employment contract, for each completed year of work with that employer. Unless otherwise provided by law, collective agreement, rulebook or employment contract, the total amount of severance pay may not exceed six average monthly salaries earned by the employee in the three months before the termination of the employment contract.
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