Payroll and Benefits Guide Lithuania

Annual Leave (vacation)

The annual leave entitlement in Lithuania is 20 working days of paid annual leave (for a 5-day workweek). One part of annual leave must be at least 10 working days.

Additional annual leave is granted for long-term continuous employment: +3 working days after 10 years with the same employer, and +1 working day for every 5 years thereafter.

PTO carryover

In Lithuania, unused statutory annual leave can be carried over, but it generally must be used within 3 years.

Note:

• Global People allows all unused annual leave to be carried over to another period if employee could not take it (e.g., illness, other valid reasons) or with employee consent.

Public Holidays

There are 16 public holidays in Lithuania. The day before the public holiday, working hours are reduced by one hour (paid, but one hour shorter is indicated in the timesheet). Public holidays that fall on the weekend are usually lost.

Sick Days

In Lithuania, the employer is responsible for paying the first two days of illness at a benefit rate of between 62.06% to 100% at their own discretion and as specified in the employment contract. From the third day of illness, the employee will receive 62.06% of their regular salary figure paid by the National Social Insurance Fund (SODRA).

Sick pay is paid only for the working days.
Should an employee take incapacity for work absence to care for a patient, they will be entitled to a payment of 65.94% paid directly by SODRA.

Maternity Leave

Employees are entitled to 126 days of paid maternity leave, which is compensated by the social security if the employee is eligible. The maternity benefit is the equivalent of 77.58% of the employee’s standard rate of pay.

The minimum maternity benefit per month cannot be less than 242 EUR (calculation based on six basic social insurance benefits valid for the last quarter before the right to maternity benefit commenced). In the case of multiple or complicated births, an additional two weeks of leave is granted.

Paternity Leave

Fathers/parents are entitled to 30 days of paid paternity leave which they must take in the first three months of the child’s birth, and can be split into up to two parts. If he is eligible, the father will receive the same social security benefits as the mother at 77.58% of their regular earnings.

Parental Leave

Each parent will be able to take a two-month non-transferrable period of paid childcare (parental) leave. The remaining part of childcare (parental) leave can be shared among the parents according to the family’s needs. The non-transferable part of childcare leave can be taken either all at once or in parts, however, it cannot be taken by both parents at the same time.

Parental leave starts at the end of maternity leave, continues until the child turns one, and is paid at 77.58% of the employee’s salary. Parental leave can also be extended until the child turns two, at a pay rate of 54.31% for the first year and 31.02% for the second year. The third year is unpaid leave. Parental leave is paid by SODRA. The partner of the birth mother in a same-sex couple is not eligible for parental leave. In the case of adoption, the maximum duration of parental leave is two years.

Mother & Father Childcare Leave

Parents are entitled to the following additional childcare leave:

• Employees raising one child under the age of 12 are entitled to 1 additional day off every 3 months or a reduction of 8 hours working time over three months.
• Employees raising a disabled child under the age of 18 are granted 1 additional day off per month or a reduction of 2 hours per week working time.
• Employees raising two children under the age of 12 are entitled to 1 additional day off per month or a reduction of 2 hours per week working time.
• Employees raising two children under the age of twelve, where one or both are disabled, are entitled to 2 additional days off per month or a reduction of 4 hours per week working time.
• Employees raising three or more children under 12 years of age are entitled to 2 additional days off per month or a reduction of 4 hours per week working time.
• Employees who do not have the right to the above additional days off, but who are raising a child under the age of fourteen, who is studying according to pre-school education, primary education or basic education programs, are entitled to at least half of the employees’ working days off work per year in the first academic year day of the year.

A request for leave must be submitted each time a worker intends to use the above leave. The first time this leave is occurring the employee must also submit the children’s birth certificates. If these days are not used within the allotted time period they are lost.

The above leave is paid based on the average salary.

Other Leave

Bereavement leave – employers must give employees three days of unpaid leave upon the death of a family member.