Labour Code contract in Albania: contents, probation, fixed terms and hours

A labour code contract in Albania is governed by the Kodi i Punës, Law No. 7961 of 12 July 1995, as amended. Two amendments shape most of what employers deal with today: Law No. 136/2015, which rewrote large parts of the Code, and Law No. 91/2024, which changed annual leave from four calendar weeks to 22 working days from August 2024.

The Code sets minimum standards. A contract can give the employee more, such as longer leave or a higher overtime premium, but it cannot give less, and Article 11(4) prevents an employee from waiving rights the Code grants. A clause that tries to trade away statutory leave for a higher salary, for example, simply does not bind the employee.

Where a relationship is unclear, the label chosen by the parties is not decisive. Under Article 12 a court decides the true nature of the relationship from the facts of how the work is done and paid. That matters when a contract is called a services agreement but looks, in practice, like employment; our article on freelancer or employee status covers that line.

Article numbers here follow the consolidated version kept on qbz.gov.al, the official gazette site.

Contracts are normally drawn up in Albanian. If your managers need an English text, prepare a parallel version and state which language prevails in case of doubt, so the two cannot be played off against each other later.

Article 21 demands a written contract and spells out its minimum contents. Leaving items out is a breach in its own right, and it is one of the first things an inspector checks.

• Who the two parties are, and where the work will be done.
• What the job involves and the date it begins.
• For a fixed-term contract, the date it ends.
• The paid leave entitlement and the notice each side must give.
• Every component of pay and the day it falls due.
• The normal number of hours per week.
• Which collective agreement, if any, governs the job.
• How long probation lasts, and how discipline is handled.

Timing matters as much as content. Where work has already started without signatures, Article 21(4) allows the employer a seven-day window to put that right. And if the employee will work abroad for more than a month, Article 21(5) requires additional written terms before departure. Short business trips do not trigger it, but a three-month secondment to a client site abroad does.

The disciplinary procedure deserves more than a single line. Article 153 only permits summary dismissal for justified cause, which covers grave misconduct or minor offences repeated despite a written warning; the contract, or a policy it refers to, should therefore say who issues warnings and how they are filed. Without that, the employer will struggle to rely on a pattern of minor breaches.

Article 202 lets the labour inspectorate, ISHPSHSH, fine contract breaches of this kind at up to ALL 1,500,000 in 2026.

Under Article 142, the first three months of employment count as probation unless the contract says otherwise. That is the maximum; the parties can shorten probation or remove it altogether, but only in writing.

During probation, five days’ notice from either party is enough to end the contract. Once probation ends, the full notice scale of Article 143 applies, starting at two weeks for service up to six months and rising to three months after five years, and any dismissal by the employer needs the Article 144 procedure. See the notice and severance guide for how each step runs.

Probation does not reset. If the employee already held the same job with the same employer under an earlier contract, no new probation period applies. That rule is worth remembering when converting a fixed-term contract to an indefinite one, or when re-hiring someone who left a few months earlier.

Use the period actively. Agree a few written goals in week one and check them in week eight, which leaves room to act inside the probation window if things are not working.

An Albanian employment contract is indefinite unless there is an objective reason to fix its length. Article 140 allows a fixed term only where the reason relates to the temporary nature of the work, for example a seasonal peak or a project with a fixed end date.

Getting this wrong does not void the contract, but it makes the employer liable to a fine. The larger risk comes at the end. If the employee keeps working after the fixed term expires and neither side objects, the contract becomes indefinite under Article 149(2), and ending it from then on means notice, the Article 144 procedure and possibly seniority pay.

Fixed-term staff have the same rights as indefinite colleagues in comparable jobs (Article 149/2). Paying a lower rate, or excluding them from benefits, simply because their contract has an end date is not allowed. If you expect a role to be permanent, start with an indefinite contract and use probation to test the fit. Where a fixed term is genuinely justified, diarise the end date and decide a month beforehand whether to renew, convert or let it lapse, because silence on the day after expiry is itself a decision under Article 149(2).

The normal working week in Albania is no more than 40 hours (Article 83), and the normal day no more than 8 (Article 78). The contract states the normal weekly hours, and anything beyond them is overtime.

• Overtime: up to 200 hours a year, and none in any week that already totals 48, averaged over up to four months (Article 90).
• Overtime pay: at least 25% extra, or time off plus 25% taken within two months; 50% extra for overtime on a rest day or public holiday (Article 91).
• Hours between 19:00 and 22:00: a premium of 20% or more (Article 81).
• Hours between 22:00 and 06:00: a premium of 50% or more, with a break required before 8 hours have passed (Articles 80 and 81).
• Work on a public holiday: at least 25% extra and an equal amount of paid time off (Article 87).

Overtime is not allowed for pregnant women or for mothers of children under one. A collective agreement can change the premium rates, but an individual contract can only improve on them.

Article 14 gives part-timers every right a full-timer has, in proportion to the hours they work. Teleworkers are a special case: Article 15 disapplies the Code’s rules on weekly working time and rest, overtime, holiday work and night work for people working remotely under a telework agreement, and requires their conditions to be no less favourable than those of office staff. If you plan to rely on that exception, write the telework arrangement into the contract expressly.

Beyond the Article 21 list, a handful of clauses cause most disputes in Albanian contracts. Drafting them clearly at the start is far cheaper than arguing about them later.

Pay. Monthly salaries are paid at the end of each month (Article 116), through a bank, in lek unless agreed otherwise, and with a payslip (Article 118). Benefits in kind are capped at 20% of monthly pay. Work expenses must be reimbursed and tools provided unless agreed otherwise, and a clause folding expenses into salary is void (Articles 125 and 126). Since January 2026 the minimum gross wage is ALL 50,000 a month; see our article on the Albania minimum wage.

Leave. Every employee earns at least 22 working days a year, not counting public holidays, and a proportionate share in the year they join. Dates are chosen by the employer, who must consult the employee’s preferences and announce them 30 days ahead; days left over can be carried only until 31 March of the year after. Payment instead of leave is only allowed on termination. Days of sickness count as working time for accrual, illness during a holiday postpones the leave, and an unused entitlement can be claimed for up to three years.

Intellectual property. Article 135 hands the employer ownership of inventions arising from the employee’s contractual duties, but for software and other works Article 136 gives the employer use of them only within the purpose of the contract. Write in an express assignment to close that gap. Non-competes must be in writing, last no more than a year and carry compensation of at least 75% of pay; our guide to IP and confidentiality for Albanian staff covers both.

Before any contract is drafted, the wider sequence of steps for a first Albanian hire is set out in our walk-through from role to payslip.

An employer of record does not change the type of contract. It is still an ordinary Albanian employment contract under the Labour Code, signed between the employee and the EOR as employer. Every rule above applies to it in the same way.

Your role is to agree the commercial terms with the EOR and the job terms with your candidate: title, duties, salary, hours, place of work, probation and any non-compete or IP terms you want. The EOR turns those into a contract that meets Article 21, signs it, declares the hire to the tax authority and runs payroll. With Employer of Record Albania, the fee for that is from €599 per employee per month.

Give the EOR the details early. A job description written for an internal posting rarely matches what Article 21 needs, and questions about hours, place of work or a non-compete are easier to settle before the offer than after the candidate has resigned from their current job.

Before you sign with any provider, ask to see a sample contract and read it against the list in this article. Our EOR checklist for Albania suggests the questions to put alongside it, and the onboarding timeline shows where the contract sits between offer and first payslip.

Q01Must an Albanian employment contract be in writing?+

A.Yes. Article 21 of the Labour Code requires a written contract with minimum contents. If it is not signed when work starts, the employer must sign it within seven days.

Q02How long can probation last under the Albanian Labour Code?+

A.Three months is the statutory maximum. A written agreement can cut it or remove it, and while it runs a five-day notice from employer or employee ends the job.

Q03When can an Albanian employer use a fixed-term contract?+

A.When the work itself is temporary and there is an objective reason to say so. Let the employee stay on past the expiry date without objection and Article 149(2) converts the contract into an open-ended one.

Q04How many overtime hours are allowed in Albania?+

A.Up to 200 a year, with no overtime once weekly hours reach 48 (averaged over up to four months). The minimum premium is 25% per overtime hour, rising to 50% when the hours are worked on a weekly rest day or a public holiday.

Q05Can an employee give up rights in the contract in exchange for higher pay?+

A.No. Article 11(4) of the Labour Code prevents employees from waiving their statutory rights, so such clauses do not bind them.