The Belizean Labor Act states that employment contracts can be terminated by either party with the following notice periods, depending on the duration of service:
There are exceptions to the notice period requirements and employers can provide pay in place of notice instead of observing the notice period.
Foreign nationals who wish to work in Belize are required to obtain a temporary employment permit. Employees must provide proof of employment in Belize and have a voucher issued by the Minister of Labor, which allows them to stay in Belize for the duration specified in the permit.
Foreign nationals may also be admitted on a permanent basis for employment by providing, among other documents, proof of employement in Belize.
Employees are entitled to at least 2 working weeks of paid annual leave after completing 1 year of service with the same employer. Paid annual leave should be taken all at once, but it can be split into two periods with the agreement of both the employer and the employee. The employer and employee may also agree for the employee to take paid annual leave before completing the 1 year of service. The employer must allow the employee to take paid annual leave within 6 months of its accrual. Only in the instance of termination is payment in lieu of annual leave permissible.
When an employee takes annual leave in one period, the employer must pay the wages for the annual leave no later than the day before the leave commences. If the employee takes the leave in two periods, half of the pay will be due the day before each period begins.
The standard workweek is 45 hours (or 9 hours daily). Work done in excess of these hours is considered overtime. The employee is entitled to at least 9 consecutive hours of rest between working days. After 6 consecutive hours of work, an employee is entitled to a 1-hour break that is not counted as working time.
Belizean labor law grants employees a total of 14 weeks of fully paid maternity leave. Maternity leave shall be taken as follows:
Employees are eligible for this leave if they have been employed for at least 150 days with the same employer during the 12 months immediately preceding confinement.
If an employee is entitled to receive maternity benefits from Belize's Social Security Fund, the employee will receive maternity benefits from Social Security, and in addition be entitled to be paid by her employer the difference, if any. The state maternity allowance is equal to 80% of the woman's average weekly insurable earnings in the 39 weeks before maternity leave commences. The minimum weekly benefit is BZD 44 (Belizean dollars) and the maximum weekly benefit is BZD 384. Women must have paid 50 contributions to the Social Security Fund to qualify to receive this benefit.
The minimum wage is currently at BZD 5 (Belize dollars) per hour for all employees.
Salary must be paid at regular intervals, not less than:
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