Cayman Islands

• New Year’s Day
• New Year’s Day Holiday
• National Heroes Day
• Ash Wednesday
• Good Friday
• Easter Monday
• Discovery Day
• King’s Birthday
• Constitution Day
• Remembrance Day
• Christmas Day
• Boxing Day

Working Hours

Employees can work up to 9 hours a day, or a maximum of 45 hours a week.

Minimum Wage

CI$ 6.00 per hour.

Employee Tax

There is no personal income tax in the Cayman Islands.

Health Insurance

Health insurance is mandatory, and employers must make contributions to a health insurance plan on behalf of their employees. The employers are however entitled to charge the premiums to the employees and deduct the same from their salary. Employers may opt to deduct and recover up to 50% of the premiums paid for the employees.

Upon termination of employment contracts, employers must ensure that health insurance is maintained for three (3) months following the termination of employment.

Pension

It is mandatory for employers to have a pension plan for their employees which may either be a company plan or an approved multi-employer plan.  Both employer and employee each contribute 5% of the employee’s pensionable earnings (the maximum annual pensionable earning is CI$ 87,000).

Bonuses

There are no statutory bonus schemes in the Cayman Islands.

Employment contracts in the Cayman Islands must be written. They should include:

• Job title and responsibilities
• Working hours
• Salary
• Contract length (if fixed-term)
• Leave entitlement (including sick leave and holiday)
• Notice period

Both indefinite and fixed-term contracts are permitted in the Cayman Islands.

Annual Leave

Minimum of two weeks' paid holiday, rising to three weeks after four years' service and four weeks after ten years.

Sick Leave

10 days' paid sick leave per year. A medical certificate must be provided after three days of absence.

Parental Leave

Maternity leave: Maternity leave entitlement is available for female employees who have worked for at least a year for the employer. If a female employee has not completed a year of service with the employer, her maternity leave shall be calculated on a pro-rata basis for the time she has worked.

An employee who is entitled to maternity leave will receive payment as follows:

• Full Basic Wage: For the first 20 working days of maternity leave, the employee will receive her full basic wage.
• Half Basic Wage: For the next 20 working days of maternity leave following the first 20 days, the employee will receive half of her basic wage.
• Unpaid: The Labour Act does not have provisions for payment for the remainder of the maternity leave period (after the first 40 days). The remainder period is thus unpaid.

Paternity leave: Only public sector workers are entitled to paternity leave.

Adoption leave: Female employees adopting children under 3 years of age are entitled to adoption leave of nine (9) calendar weeks. The employer is obligated to pay full wages to the employee for fifteen (15) working days. The remainder of the leave period is unpaid.

Adoption leave may be granted once in thirty-six (36) calendar month period.

Termination Process

Employers in the Cayman Islands can terminate a contract provided they give notice in line with legal requirements.

Other grounds for termination include:

• Redundancy
• Serious misconduct
• End of a fixed-term contract.

Employees can also end a contract by giving at least 30 days' notice.

Severance Pay

Employees are entitled to one week's severance pay per year of service, up to 12 weeks.

Global Master Insurance Coverage with Mauve’s Employer of Record Solution
Under a Mauve Group Employer of Record (EOR) solution, clients and their international workers benefit from access to Mauve’s Global Master Insurance Programme—a market-leading, unified corporate insurance framework that supports global compliance across all Mauve entities.

This international insurance coverage ensures legal and regulatory alignment through a combination of a central master policy and country-specific local policies, where required by law. This allows companies to remain fully compliant when expanding their workforce globally or employing staff overseas.

The Global Master Insurance Programme includes the following coverage:

• Employer’s Liability and Public Liability – £10,000,000 combined limit
• Professional Indemnity – £5,000,000 limit
• Worker’s Compensation – Varies depending on the employee’s location

Whether you're expanding internationally or managing global teams, Mauve’s EOR services and insurance support streamline your operations and reduce risk. For tailored advice on mandatory insurance requirements in specific countries, contact Mauve’s international HR consulting team today.