Employment Contract in Uzbekistan: Mandatory Terms, Form and Registration

Mandatory terms

Article 104 of the Labor Code lists the terms that must be included in every employment contract:

• place of work — the employer (an organisation, a separate division or an individual) and the locality where the employee will work;
• job function — the profession, specialty, qualification or position and the specific type of work assigned;
• start date — the calendar date on which the employee starts work;
• pay terms — the tariff rate or salary, additional payments, allowances and incentive payments;
• for a fixed-term contract — its term and the legal ground for making it fixed-term;
• working time and rest schedule, if it differs from the employer's general schedule;
• guarantees and compensation for work in conditions that deviate from normal ones;
• the nature of the work where relevant — mobile, travelling or in transit.

If a term is missing or unlawful

Omitting a mandatory term does not make the contract void and is not a ground for terminating it: the contract is supplemented by a written addendum that becomes an integral part of it (Article 104). Missing particulars of the parties are fixed the same way (Article 107).

The parties may agree on additional terms — probation, combining positions, non-disclosure of legally protected secrets, an obligation to keep working after employer-funded training, additional insurance. The key limit is that they must not put the employee in a worse position than the law does.

Article 105 names terms that are invalid even if the employee signs them: those that worsen the employee's position compared with the law, are discriminatory, breach the ban on forced labor or require unlawful acts. The invalidity of a single term does not invalidate the whole contract.

Form, copies and particulars

An employment contract is made in writing — on paper or electronically — in at least two copies of equal force (Article 106(1), as amended by Law No. ZRU-1030 of 13.02.2025). An electronic contract is executed in the interagency Unified National Labor System.

Each copy is signed by the employee and by an official authorised to hire; if the employer has a seal, the signature is sealed. One copy goes to the employee, who confirms receipt with a separate signature on the employer's copy.

Particulars (Article 107): date and place of signing and contract number; for the employee — full name, identity document, address and contacts, personal identification number (PINFL) and individual accumulative pension account number; for the employer — name, signatory and the basis of their authority, address, TIN, bank details and contacts. If particulars change, a party must notify the other in writing within three working days.

The Cabinet of Ministers develops model employment contracts, but they are only recommendations: a template is a starting point, and the terms still need to be checked against Article 104.

Registration in the Unified National Labor System

Making and terminating an employment contract, as well as any amendments to it, must be registered in the interagency Unified National Labor System (Article 109). The registration procedure and electronic work records are governed by the Regulation approved by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 971 of 5 December 2019.

The contract takes effect on the day both parties sign it. The employee starts on the date stated in the contract or, if none is stated, on the next working day after it takes effect (Article 108).

Hiring is formalised by an order based on the contract. The employee must be acquainted with the order against signature within three days of actually starting work; the order is the basis for the work-book entry and for entering the data into the Unified National Labor System (Article 127).

Hiring documents and probation

• Documents (Article 124): passport or ID card; a work book or a certified extract from the electronic work book (except for first-time employees; part-timers bring a certificate from their main job); military ID or registration certificate; a diploma or certificate where the job requires special training; PINFL. Asking for documents not provided for by law is prohibited.
• Age: the general threshold is sixteen; students may do light work in their free time from fifteen with the written consent of one parent (Article 118).
• Probation must be expressly stated in the contract, otherwise the employee is deemed hired without it (Article 129). It may not exceed three months, or six months for heads of organisations, their deputies, chief accountants and heads of separate divisions (Article 130).
• Probation cannot be set, among others, for pregnant women, persons under eighteen and employees hired under contracts of up to six months (Article 129).
• During probation either party may terminate the contract by giving the other written notice at least three days in advance (Article 132).

Working without a contract: consequences

Actual admission to work by an authorised person, or with their knowledge, counts as concluding an employment contract from the first day of work, even if hiring was not formalised. This does not release the employer from the paperwork: the contract and order must be completed within three days of the start of work (Article 128).

A breach of labor law by an official is punishable by a fine of five to ten BCV, and a repeat breach within a year by ten to fifteen BCV (Article 49 of the Code of Administrative Liability). Beyond the fine, an unregistered employee creates a risk of additional PIT and social tax on payments that were in fact wages.

The contract term is a separate question: a contract is made for an indefinite period or for a fixed term of up to three years, and if no term is stated it is deemed indefinite (Article 110). When a fixed-term contract is allowed is covered in our article on fixed-term employment contracts.