Hiring seasonal workers in Republika Srpska: contracts, registration, costs

This article explains how a farm, restaurant or tourist business in Republika Srpska can legally hire seasonal workers. Situation on 6 October 2026.

In short

• The Law on Work Engagement in Seasonal and Other Temporary Jobs was adopted in December 2025 but never entered into force: it was sent back for revision and failed at a second vote in the National Assembly on 18 March 2026. Seasonal staff are therefore hired under the Labour Law.
• The main form is a fixed-term employment contract (Art. 39): up to 24 months in total, in writing, signed before work starts. Repeated fixed-term contracts with gaps shorter than 30 days are counted together, and a contract concluded contrary to the law is treated as open-ended.
• A contract for temporary and occasional work (Art. 204) may last at most 90 working days in a calendar year and only with certain persons (see below).
• The worker must be registered in the Unified System for registration, control and collection of contributions, and the employer hands over a copy of the registration (Art. 16).
• In seasonal jobs working time can be redistributed up to 60 hours a week, as long as the average over the calendar year does not exceed 40 hours a week (Art. 69).

Who it applies to

Employers (companies, entrepreneurs, farms) that hire fixed-term staff for harvests, fruit and vegetable picking, hospitality or rural tourism. Hiring foreign nationals is governed by separate rules on employment of foreigners; check with the Employment Institute.

What to do

1. Choose the form of engagement.
   • Fixed-term employment contract: for seasonal work with a known end. It is in writing, signed before the first working day, and states the reason and duration, pay, job, working schedule and annual leave (Art. 34, 35). Without a contract, employment is treated as open-ended from the first day (Art. 34). Employment also becomes open-ended if the worker keeps working at least five working days after the contract expires (Art. 39(5)).
   • Contract for temporary and occasional work: only for work that by nature lasts up to 90 working days a year and is not work for which an employment contract is concluded, and only with an unemployed person, a part-time worker (up to full time), a member of a youth or student cooperative, or an old-age pensioner. Must be in writing.
   • Supplementary work contract (Art. 207): a full-time employee may work for another employer up to half of full working time, if the hours do not overlap.
2. Register the worker in the Unified System and give them a copy. Failing to register is an offence under the Labour Law; check the current text for the amount of the fine.
3. By the end of the month for the previous month, submit the contribution return (Law on Contributions, Art. 23). Check the payment deadline and method for contributions and tax with the Tax Administration of Republika Srpska, Poreska uprava.
4. Under Art. 16 the employer must also give the worker an identification document, inform them of labour and safety rules within 15 days of starting work, and take out collective insurance for workplace accidents.

Deadlines and amounts

• Contribution rates (Law on Contributions, Art. 22): pension and disability 18.5%, health 10.2%, unemployment 0.6%, child protection 1.7%, total 31%. Income tax on wages is 8%.
• For employment, the contribution base cannot be lower than the minimum gross wage (Art. 10a). Decision on the minimum wage in Republika Srpska for 2026 (Sl. glasnik RS 115/2025): base minimum wage 1,000 KM net, or 1,476.23 KM gross. Amounts are higher for jobs requiring a higher level of education: three-year secondary school 1,050 KM net (1,558.19 KM gross), four-year secondary school 1,100 KM net (1,672.13 KM gross), više obrazovanje (post-secondary higher education) 1,350 KM net (2,081.97 KM gross), visoko obrazovanje (university education) 1,450 KM net (2,245.90 KM gross).
• The tax and contribution laws already contain daily amounts for seasonal workers (9 KM tax and 16 KM contributions per day), but they depend on the seasonal law that did not enter into force. Do not rely on them without confirmation from the Tax Administration. For a contract under Art. 204, also confirm the calculation of contributions and tax with the Tax Administration.
• The Labour Law was last amended by Sl. glasnik RS 59/2026; check the consolidated text before applying it.

Where to go

• Poreska uprava Republike Srpske: worker registration, contributions and tax.
• JU Zavod za zapošljavanje Republike Srpske (Employment Institute of Republika Srpska), regional office for your town: unemployed persons you can hire, and rules for foreign nationals.

Laws and sources

• Zakon o radu (Službeni glasnik RS no. 1/2016, original in vladars.rs PDF). Consolidated text: Sl. glasnik RS nos. 1/2016, 66/2018, 91/2021 - Constitutional Court decision, 119/2021, 112/2023, 39/2024, 28/2026 - Constitutional Court decision and 59/2026, Arts. 16, 34, 35, 39, 69, 204, 207. The linked file is the original 2016 text.
• Zakon o doprinosima (Sl. glasnik RS nos. 114/2017 ... 114/2025)
• Zakon o porezu na dohodak (Sl. glasnik RS nos. 60/2015 ... 114/2025)