US vs Albania dismissal law: at-will habits meet the Albanian Labour Code

The two systems start from opposite defaults. Across most of the United States the default lets an employer, or an employee, walk away from the job on any day, with no warning, so long as the motive itself breaks no law. In Albania, a contract of indefinite duration is the norm, and the employer must justify ending it.

US at-will employment has well-known limits. Federal and state law forbid dismissals that are discriminatory or retaliatory, a written contract or collective agreement can require cause, and some states recognise further exceptions. But those are carve-outs from a general freedom. A US manager does not normally have to show a reason unless someone challenges the decision as unlawful.

Albania reverses the burden. Article 144 of the Code puts on the employer the burden of proving the reasons it gives. Article 146 then lists dismissals that count as lacking reasonable cause, and any reason that does not match the categories in Article 144(3) falls into that list automatically.

There is one window in which Albanian employment looks a little like at will: probation. It can last at most 3 months, and during it either party can end the contract on 5 days’ notice. After that, the full rules apply.

Article 144(3) gives an employer three possible grounds. The person may lack the capability for the job, their conduct may justify it, or the business may have operational reasons. Restructuring, a closed product line or a lost client can fall under operational needs; repeated poor performance under capability; breaches of rules under conduct.

Some reasons are ruled out regardless of how they are dressed up. Article 146(1) treats a dismissal as lacking reasonable cause when it is a response to the employee raising claims under the contract, performing legal duties, exercising constitutional rights or joining a union, or when it is discriminatory.

Immediate dismissal, without notice, is a separate and narrower track. Article 153 reserves it for justified cause, meaning either one serious act of misconduct or lesser misconduct that continues after the employee has been warned in writing. A US habit of walking someone out the same day for a loss of confidence has no equivalent unless the conduct meets that test.

Timing can also block a dismissal. Article 147 protects anyone who is on leave, or off sick on paid incapacity, for up to a year; they cannot be dismissed during that time. If notice has already started, sickness, pregnancy or leave granted by the employer pauses it.

Albania sets out a short, fixed procedure, and the dates matter as much as the content. For an ordinary dismissal the employer must:

• Invite the employee in writing, making sure the letter reaches them 72 hours or more ahead of the meeting
• At the meeting, explain the reasons for the proposed dismissal and listen to the employee’s response
• Put the decision and its reasons in writing, issued between the second day and the seventh day after the meeting

Skipping any of this earns the employee compensation equal to two months’ wages. That sum is added to whatever else a court awards, so a dismissal for a perfectly sound reason can still cost two months’ wages if the meeting never happened.

Contrast that with a US termination meeting, which often is the dismissal: the decision is made beforehand, delivered in person, and effective that day. In Albania the meeting comes before the decision, and the decision has to follow within a window of days. A US manager who announces the outcome at the start of the meeting has undermined the point of holding it.

Remote teams need extra care here. Whatever the format of the meeting, the invitation still has to reach the employee in writing with the full 72 hours to spare, and the decision must be in writing too, so agree in the contract how written notices are delivered to someone working from home in Shkodër or Korçë. Keep the paper trail: the invitation with its delivery date, notes of what was said, and the written decision naming a specific ground. If the case reaches court, those three documents are the employer’s evidence.

A US at-will employee can be let go with no notice and, unless a contract or a state rule says otherwise, no severance. An Albanian employee with an indefinite contract is entitled to notice under Article 143, scaled to service. Someone who has worked for you 6 months or less gets 2 weeks; from there to 2 years, a month; between 2 and 5 years, 2 months; and anyone past 5 years, 3 months. The same scale binds an employee who resigns, which surprises US managers used to two weeks as a courtesy.

Notice periods end on the last day of a week or a month. While serving notice the employer gave, the employee may spend 20 or more paid hours each week job hunting, so plan the handover for half a working week, not a full one. Ending the contract with no notice at all is treated as an immediate termination, with the risks that brings.

Then there is seniority pay (shpërblim për vjetërsi) under Article 145. It applies when the decision to end the job is the employer’s and service has reached 3 years: the final payslip must include 15 days’ pay or more per completed year. It is lost only if the employee is dismissed summarily for justified cause. For a Tirana engineer on ALL 200,000 a month with four full years’ service, the floor is 60 days’ pay, on top of two months’ notice.

The detail on both is in our guide to severance in Albania.

In the US, a former employee who believes a dismissal was unlawful usually needs a specific legal hook, such as discrimination or retaliation, and the route often runs through an agency before court. In Albania, the claim is simpler to bring: the employee argues that the dismissal lacked reasonable cause, and the employer must prove that it did not.

Should the court side with the employee, Article 146(3) lets it award as much as twelve months’ wages, and the notice period is paid in addition. Article 155(3) uses the same ceiling when a summary dismissal turns out to be unjustified. Seniority pay, where due, is added rather than offset, and a procedural failure adds its two months on top.

A claim must be filed within 180 days. The clock starts when notice expires or, where there was no notice because the dismissal was summary, on the day the job ended. If an abusive motive only comes to light later, they have 30 days from discovering it. The consolidated Code is published on qbz.gov.al.

Put numbers on it and the gap between a clean exit and a careless one is wide. Take that same engineer on ALL 200,000 a month with four full years behind them, let go because their product line is closing. Done properly, the employer pays two months’ notice (ALL 400,000), at least 60 days’ seniority pay and any untaken leave. Done badly, with no meeting and a reason a court rejects, the bill can add two months’ pay for the procedure (another ALL 400,000) and up to twelve months’ pay in compensation, as much as ALL 2,400,000. The worst case is several times the clean one, for the same decision.

A US company used to settling disputes with a release in exchange for a payment should note Article 11(4): employee rights under the Code cannot be waived. A negotiated exit is still possible, but a clause that purports to give up statutory entitlements will not do the work a US release does.

Larger cuts bring their own rules. Within 90 days, Article 148 treats job cuts as collective once they reach 10 people at an employer with no more than 100 staff, 15 where headcount is 101 to 200, and 20 above that. The employer must notify the unions or staff and the ministry in writing and consult for at least 30 days.

Most dismissal disputes start with a decision taken the US way and documented afterwards. These practices, normal in many American companies, need to change for an Albanian team:

• Offer letters that state employment is at will: the Albanian contract must state the notice period instead
• Probation stretched to six months or longer: the legal maximum is 3 months
• Same-day exits for performance: capability dismissals need the meeting, the decision window and notice
• Silent performance files: write down concerns and warnings as they arise, because the employer must prove its reasons
• Layoffs announced on a call: each person still needs the Article 144 steps, and larger rounds need collective consultation

A good contract makes the end easier. Clear job descriptions, a written probation clause and stated notice terms are the raw material for a fair dismissal later; our article on Labour Code contracts lists what has to be in it. US firms planning their first hires should also read the US company hiring guide.

The money side of the same comparison, payroll taxes against Albanian contributions, sits in our cost comparison for US employers.

When Employer of Record Albania holds the contract, the formal steps sit with us as the employer. Once you conclude a role has to go, send us the grounds and the evidence behind them; we then issue the invitation, hold the hearing, prepare the reasoned letter and close the payroll, including notice pay, accrued leave and any seniority pay.

What does not change is the law. An exit through an EOR carries the same reasons test, the same timings and the same exposure to awards as one run by an Albanian company, so the quality of the reasons you supply still decides the outcome. Bring us concerns early rather than on the day you want someone gone.

Exit costs are statutory sums paid through payroll, so they never form part of our own fee, which starts at €599 for each employee a month. Who does what in an ongoing EOR arrangement is the subject of our plain-English EOR explainer, and to compare providers, use the EOR checklist for Albania.