Salary Payment Deadlines in Uzbekistan and Late Payment Liability

How often salary must be paid

Specific paydays are set in the collective agreement or a local act, or, failing those, in the employment contract. Salary may not be paid less than once every half month. The monthly salary is paid in two parts — an advance and the balance — with a gap of, as a rule, no more than sixteen days.

The Cabinet of Ministers may designate categories of employees paid once a month. For everyone else, paying once a month is a violation even if the employee "doesn't mind": pay terms in the contract cannot be worse than those established by law.

• fix two paydays in the internal labour rules, the pay regulation or the employment contract;
• keep the gap between the advance and the balance within 16 days — for example, the 15th and the last day of the month, or the 25th and the 10th;
• the Code does not fix the size of the advance — the local act or contract does.

If payday falls on a day off or holiday

If payday coincides with a day off or public holiday, salary is paid on the eve of those days. This matters especially in months with long holidays — before Navruz, the Eids and the New Year break, payment should move to the last working day before them.

What is not allowed

At the employee's request, the employer must inform them of the accruals and deductions made in calculating their salary — in effect, an obligation to provide a payslip on request.

• making the timing and amount of pay dependent on other payments and their order — for example, "salaries after suppliers are paid";
• paying with promissory notes, IOUs or coupons;
• paying in kind, except in cases set by the Cabinet of Ministers;
• paying in a currency other than the national currency, unless the law provides an exception;
• paying through a bank or post office without the employee's written consent — the bank's fees are then paid by the employer.

Final settlement and vacation pay

On termination of the employment contract, all amounts due to the employee are paid on the day of termination. If the employee did not work that day, the money must be paid no later than three days after they request settlement. If the amount is disputed, the employer must pay the undisputed amount within the same period. The settlement includes unpaid salary, compensation for all unused leave and other payments provided by law or the contract.

Vacation pay is paid within the terms set by the collective agreement, local acts or employment contract, but no later than the last working day before the leave begins.

Financial liability for late payment

If the employer misses the deadline for salary, vacation pay, final settlement or other payments, it must pay them with interest (monetary compensation) for each day of delay — from the day after the due date up to and including the day of actual payment. The compensation is ten percent of the Central Bank refinancing rate in effect at the time. A collective agreement, local act or employment contract may set a higher amount.

The obligation to pay compensation arises regardless of the employer's fault in the delay. Customers' non-payment or a frozen account does not excuse it.

• base — the amount not paid on time;
• rate — 10% of the Central Bank refinancing rate in effect during the delay (unless the contract sets more);
• period — from the day after the due date to the day of actual payment inclusive;
• compensation is paid together with the delayed amount.

How to reduce the risk of delays in practice

Most delays are caused not by lack of money but by organisational failures: the payroll sheet was not approved in time, the bank did not process the payment before a holiday, a new employee did not get a card. So plan the payment date with a buffer and adopt an internal procedure.

• approve a schedule: timesheet closing date, calculation date, date payments are sent to the bank;
• check the holiday calendar in advance and move the payment to the previous working day;
• obtain each employee's written consent to card payments on hiring;
• if funds are short, pay salaries first — their timing cannot depend on other payments;
• if a delay still happens, accrue the Article 333 compensation straight away together with the payment, without waiting for the employee's claim.

Administrative liability

Violation of labour law, including salary payment deadlines, results in a fine on the official under Article 49 of the Code of Administrative Responsibility — from five to ten times the base calculation value (BCV). A repeat violation within a year of the penalty — from ten to fifteen BCV. The fine is imposed on the official (director, chief accountant), not the company, and does not release the employer from paying compensation to the employee.