Estonia

• New Year's Day
• Independence Day
• Good Friday
• Easter Sunday
• Spring Day
• Whit Sunday
• Victory Day
• St John's Day
• Independence Restoration Day
• Christmas Eve
• Christmas Day
• Boxing Day

Working Hours

The standard work week is 8 hours a day over five days. Employees cannot work more than 12 hours a day.

Minimum Wage

EUR 886 per month.

Employee Tax

Tax rate	20%
Unemployment insurance	1.6%
Compulsory pension*	2%

*If the employee was born after 31st December 1982.

Bonuses

There are no statutory bonus schemes in Estonia.

Employment contracts in Estonia must contain the following mandatory information:

• Employer and employee ID information
• Job title and responsibilities
• Workplace
• Working hours
• Salary and leave entitlement
• Work start date and contract length
• Termination terms
• Collective agreement information (if applicable)

Fixed-term contracts are permitted up to a maximum of five years.

Annual Leave

Most employees are entitled to 28 days' paid holiday per year.

Sick Leave

No sick pay is due for the first three days of absence. The employer must pay 70% of the employee’s wage for days 4-8. From the ninth day, the employee can claim payment from the health insurance fund. This can be claimed for up to 182 consecutive days for most illnesses.

Parental Leave

• Maternity leave: at least 140 days' fully paid leave.
• Paternity leave: 10 days' fully paid leave.

Termination Process

Termination of employment in Estonia is heavily regulated. Legal grounds for termination include:

• Mutual consent
• Contract expiry
• Employee or employer initiative
• Third party initiative

Termination must be registered in the employment contract, and include the reason, date, and compensation information. Employers must also register the termination with the labour inspector.

Severance Pay

Employees are entitled to one month’s average wage based on the last six months’ wages. An additional month’s wage is due after 5 years of service, rising to 2 months after 10 years.

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 system that connects all Mauve entities to two trusted providers. As part of our comprehensive global Employer of Record services, this insurance programme supports companies employing staff overseas by ensuring they meet local legal requirements while protecting their workforce.

The insurance provides compliant coverage across international locations through a combination of the master policy and jurisdiction-specific local policies, where required by law. This guarantees alignment with local employment regulations—critical for maintaining global compliance within any international EOR payroll setup.

Policies include:

• Employer’s Liability and Public Liability – £10,000,000 combined limit
• Professional Indemnity – £5,000,000 limit
• Worker’s Compensation – Limit varies depending on the employee’s country of work

This solution is ideal for companies seeking to streamline global employee management while maintaining full regulatory coverage for every EOR employee in their international workforce. For tailored advice on EOR insurance coverage and global compliance services in your country of interest, contact Mauve’s expert compliance team.