Global HR Compliance in North Macedonia

If your company is hiring in North Macedonia, or planning to, it’s essential to understand the legal and operational framework that governs employment. This Hiring and Firing Workforce in North Macedonia guide outlines the country’s employment law, termination rules, benefits, and employer obligations, helping international businesses hire compliantly and minimise risk.

Companies choose to hire in North Macedonia for a variety of reasons:

Expanding into the Western Balkans market with local sales and support teams
Accessing skilled professionals across finance, engineering, and shared services
Delivering short-term project work or cross-border EU assignments
Supporting clients through nearshore contract fulfilment
Converting long-term contractors to employees under local law
Onboarding remote talent without needing to establish a local entity

What unites these cases is the need to engage and pay local or foreign workers in North Macedonia legally, efficiently, and with full compliance.

Hiring and Firing Workforce in North Macedonia Guide

Employment Agreements

Permanent contracts must include:

Employee and employer details and addresses
Start date and job title with task description
Workplace location or head office by default
Full-time or part-time status
Working hours and salary breakdown
Details of allowances, leave, and benefits
Annual leave entitlement and reference to applicable employer policies
Health and safety risks, where relevant

Fixed-term contracts can last up to 5 years. They convert to indefinite if the employee continues beyond expiry, or in cases of repeated renewal. Conversion may also apply when:

The role has existed for 2+ years
The position is funded and not temporary
Retirement has left the post vacant

Collective Agreements

There are three tiers of collective bargaining: national, sectoral, and company level. Private and public sector employers must apply the relevant general collective agreements. Branch or department-level agreements are binding only for member employers. Company-level agreements may add further obligations.

Probation Period

Maximum: 4 months (reduced from 6)
Seasonal roles: up to 3 working days
Termination by either party during probation requires 3 working days’ notice

Working Hours and Overtime

Full-time: Maximum 40 hours/week across 5 days
Overtime: Max 8 hours/week, 190 hours/year (with exceptions for critical services)
Employers must track and report overtime hours
Overtime bonuses and an additional annual bonus may apply after 150 hours worked

Annual Leave

Statutory minimum: 20 working days per year
Extendable to 26 by agreement
At least 2 uninterrupted weeks must be taken annually
Paid holiday is calculated using the average salary from the past 12 months

Additional paid leave includes:

Marriage: 3 days
Childbirth or adoption: 2 days
Bereavement (spouse or child): 5 days

Sick Leave

No statutory cap on sick days
Employer pays sick leave for absences up to 30 days
State health insurance pays beyond 30 days

Parental Leave

Maternity: 9 months paid (15 months for multiples), with 28–45 days before childbirth as mandatory leave. Compensation is state-funded and based on average pay over the past 12 months.

Paternity/Parental: If not used by the mother, the father or adoptive parent may use it.

Termination and Notice

Employers in North Macedonia may terminate an employment contract for valid reasons, which typically fall into one of three categories: employee conduct or performance issues, breach of workplace duties or policies, or operational and business-related needs.

The statutory notice period is one month in most cases. In the event of mass redundancies, defined as more than 150 employees or over 5% of the workforce, the notice period increases to two months. For seasonal workers, the required notice period is seven working days.

Employers must justify terminations in writing, clearly stating the grounds and rationale. Specific protections apply to pregnant employees, individuals on maternity or parental leave, and trade union representatives, who may only be dismissed with union approval or a court decision. Employees on authorised sick or parental leave are similarly protected.

Trade union representatives (dismissal requires trade union or court approval)
Employees on authorised sick or parental leave

It is unlawful to terminate an employee based on union activity, the use of legitimate leave entitlements (including sick leave or military service), or for initiating a legal complaint or pursuing employment-related claims against the employer.

Severance Pay

In cases of economic dismissal, employees are entitled to severance pay based on their tenure. The amounts range from one net monthly salary for up to five years of service, scaling up to six net salaries for those with over 25 years. The payment must be calculated using the employee’s average net salary from the past six months, and cannot be lower than 50% of the national average salary.

10–15 years: 3 net salaries
15–20 years: 4 net salaries
20–25 years: 5 net salaries
Over 25 years: 6 net salaries

The base is the employee’s average net salary in the last 6 months. It must be at least 50% of the national average salary.

Mandatory and Optional Benefits

Employers in North Macedonia are required to provide statutory entitlements such as paid annual leave, public holidays, sick leave, and health coverage, along with maternity, paternity, and parental leave.

Optional and commonly offered benefits include employer-covered meals (capped at 20% of the average net salary), transport reimbursement, private or supplemental health insurance, and discretionary annual bonuses.

In North Macedonia, a 13th-month salary is not legally mandated, but it’s widely practiced: many employers offer a 13th-month bonus, especially to employees who’ve worked 150+ overtime hours and had fewer than 21 days of absence in a year.

Permanent Establishment and Misclassification Risk

Companies engaging talent in North Macedonia without a local legal entity must take care to avoid triggering Permanent Establishment (PE) risk or worker misclassification. PE risk arises when your commercial activity in the country, such as repeated contract negotiation, sales activity, or revenue generation, is seen as creating a taxable presence. This can result in unexpected corporate tax liability, retroactive penalties, and reputational risk.

Similarly, hiring individuals as contractors when the local labour conditions indicate a de facto employment relationship (e.g. fixed working hours, direct reporting lines, lack of substitution rights) can be classified as disguised employment. This can lead to claims for back taxes, unpaid social contributions, benefits, and fines.

North Macedonia’s labour authorities and tax institutions increasingly monitor these areas. To mitigate this risk, companies operating without a local entity often choose an Employer of Record (EOR) talent engagement model, where a third-party provider like Acumen International becomes the legal employer on your behalf, handling compliance, tax, and employment responsibilities.

Global Payroll Calculator to Assess Real Employment Costs in North Macedonia

Hiring in North Macedonia means factoring in employer social contributions, bonuses, state-funded leave costs, and severance reserves. Acumen’s Global Payroll Calculator offers detailed, role-specific forecasts for total employment costs in North Macedonia.

It models:

Cost-to-employer estimates across salary, taxes, and benefits
Gross-to-net and net-to-gross calculations
End-of-service obligations and termination scenarios
Optional benefit planning
Real-time FX and multi-country comparison tools

Request access to plan your hires and compare Macedonia to 190+ other jurisdictions.

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Simplify Your Global Workforce Management with Acumen International

Acumen International enables compliant hiring in North Macedonia without the burden or cost of setting up your own entity. Whether you’re engaging one remote engineer or a full sales team, we manage payroll, benefits, taxes, contracts, and immigration, backed by local experts and global oversight.

We support:

Local or foreign talent
Blue- and white-collar roles
Long-term employment or short-term mobility
Contractor conversion and onboarding
24/7 compliance and operations coverage

For tailored guidance on expanding into North Macedonia, contact Acumen International today.

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