Holidays

• 1st January – New Year’s Day
• 2nd April – Good Friday
• 5th April – Easter Monday
• 1st May – Labour Day
• 4th May – Declaration of Independence Day
• 23rd June – Midsummer’s Eve (Ligo)
• 24th June – St. John’s Day
• 18th November – Independence Day
• 25th December – Christmas Day
• 26th December – Boxing Day

Paid Time Off

PTO (Paid Time Off)

• Vacation/Annual Paid Leave

Employees are entitled to paid annual leave. Such leave may not be less than four calendar weeks, without holidays. Persons under 18 years of age are entitled to annual paid leave of one full month.

Employees are entitled to annual leave if they have been employed for at least 6 consecutive months. 

By agreement of an employee and the employer, annual paid leave in the current year may be granted in parts, nevertheless one part of the leave in the current year shall not be less than two uninterrupted calendar weeks.

A woman at her request shall be granted annual paid leave before prenatal and maternity leave or immediately after, irrespective of the time the woman has been employed by the relevant employer.

Employees under the age of 18 and employees who have a child under three years of age are in more favorable position and shall be granted annual paid leave in summer or at a time at his or her choice. If an employee under the age of 18 years continues to acquire education, annual paid leave shall be granted as far as possible to match the holidays at the educational institution.

Annual paid leave shall be transferred or extended in case of temporary incapacity of an employee.

• Rollovers and payout of unused hours

• Use-it-or-lose-it policy 

Part of the leave may be transferred only to the subsequent year.

• PTO payout at the termination

It is prohibited to compensate annual paid leave with money, except in cases when employment legal relationships are terminated and the employee has not utilized his or her annual paid leave.

Maternity Leave, Child Raising Leave, Parental Leave

Maternity Leave

Female employees are entitled to prenatal leave for 56 days prior to the birth and to maternity leave up to 56 days following the birth of a child.

Employees are entitled to supplementary leave of 14 days added to the prenatal leave in the following cases: in case of complications in the pregnancy, childbirth or postnatal period, if two or more children are born, and if the woman has initiated pregnancy-related medical care at a preventive medical institution by the 12th week of pregnancy and has continued for the whole period of pregnancy.

Paternity Leave

Male employees are entitled to up to 10 days of leave, which should be taken within 2 months from the birth of a child.

Parental Leave/Adoption Leave

Parental leave is granted to each of the parents. Every employee has an individual right to parental leave in connection with the birth or adoption of a child for a period up to one and a half years until the child reaches the age of eight years. It can be granted as a single period or in parts.

Sick Leave

Employers are required to pay employee’s sick pay from the second to the 10th day of the illness.

Employees who are sick for an uninterrupted period are entitled to sickness benefits from the 11th day of the illness until they regain work capacity for a maximum of 26 weeks. In particularly serious cases the period of benefit payments may be extended up to 52 weeks.

Jury Duty Leave, and Voting Leave

Not specified by law.

Bereavement Leave

Not specified by law.

Military Leave

Not specified by law.

Please consult your local legal counsel to learn more about Latvia Leave Laws.

To learn more about laws in various countries, check out our Leave Laws page.