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St Kitts and Nevis EOR & PEO

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Hire in St Kitts and Nevis

Expanding your team to St Kitts and Nevis is a smart move for businesses that are looking to grow. This beautiful Caribbean country has a very skilled and educated workforce, with a literacy rate of almost 98%. The local economy thrives on tourism, agriculture, and financial services, giving your business access to an excellent pool of talent.

St Kitts and Nevis is known for having a business-friendly environment. The government has implemented certain reforms to attract foreign investment and make business operations much simpler. This means you can expect a smoother setup process and a supportive atmosphere to expand your business.

Understanding the local labor market can be challenging, but partnering with a local Employer of Record (EOR) can help make it easier. An EOR helps you comply with all of the local laws and regulations, taking care of the administrative and legal aspects of employment. This way, you can concentrate on what you do best – running and growing your business – while the EOR manages all of the details of hiring and employment.

Facts & Stats

EOR Platform

Hire in St Kitts and Nevis, and pay employees through our platform or app.

EOR Cost

Our St Kitts and Nevis EOR solution is the most affordable on the market.

Time-to-hire

Fast St Kitts and Nevis onboarding, hire in as little as 24 hours.

Contracts

We draft compliant St Kitts and Nevis labor contracts.

Local benefits

We manage all St Kitts and Nevis mandatory benefits.

180+ Countries

It doesn’t stop with St Kitts and Nevis — we hire employees globally.

hire employees in St Kitts and Nevis

What Is a St Kitts and Nevis EOR?

A St Kitts and Nevis Employer of Record is a third-party company that takes on the legal responsibilities of employing workers in St Kitts and Nevis on behalf of your business. This means the EOR handles everything related to employment, including payroll, taxes, benefits, and full compliance with local labor laws. The EOR becomes the official employer for your employees, while you maintain control over their daily tasks and work assignments. This arrangement simplifies the process of hiring and managing employees in a new country, ensuring everything is done properly and completely legally.

The terms “Employer of Record” and “Professional Employer Organization” are often used interchangeably. Both refer to services that manage HR tasks for other businesses with a goal to streamline HR processes, ensuring compliance in managing your workforce.

Save Money And Time with A St Kitts and Nevis EOR

What Are the Benefits of a St Kitts and Nevis EOR?

Using a St Kitts and Nevis Employer of Record provides some great benefits for your business:

  1. Legal Compliance – An EOR ensures your business follows all of the local labor laws and regulations. They manage employment contracts, payroll, taxes, and benefits, which reduces the risk of legal issues. This means you don’t have to worry about the hassle of understanding complex local laws, the EOR takes care of it for you.
  2. Simplified Hiring – An EOR streamlines the hiring process, allowing you to quickly bring on new employees without having to set up a local entity. You find the talent, and the EOR handles the paperwork and the legalities. This makes expanding your team much faster and more efficient.
  3. Payroll Management – The EOR takes care of all aspects of payroll, ensuring employees are paid correctly and on time. They manage salary calculations, tax withholdings, and compliance with local payroll laws. This saves you time and also ensures compliance.
  4. Benefits Administration – An EOR manages employee benefits, including health insurance and retirement plans. They ensure your employees receive the benefits they are entitled to, helping you attract and retain top talent. This takes the administrative burden off your shoulders so you can focus on more important things.
  5. Risk Reduction – By managing legal compliance and administrative tasks, an EOR reduces your business’s risk factors. They handle employment disputes, termination procedures, and any legal issues that may come up, protecting your business from potential liabilities.
  6. Focus on Your Core Business – With an EOR handling HR and compliance issues, you can focus on growing your business. This allows you to spend more time on planning, customer service, and other important activities, rather than getting bogged down in tedious administrative tasks.
Horizons is Best IN Class

Why Choose Horizons?

Horizons stands out as a St Kitts and Nevis EOR through:

  1. A strong regional presence in North America, meaning senior management are on the ground to deal with any issues.
  2. Client-focused infrastructure. Horizons won’t oversell you on products and services you don’t need. Horizons offers the easiest platform to compliantly hire and pay people worldwide.
  3. Cost-effective solutions. At $499 per employee, per month, no EOR in St Kitts and Nevis is more affordable. The cost is 100% transparent (onboarding, offboarding, deposit, no extra charges).
  4. A customer-first culture. Horizons is an efficient bootstrapped company. It is not an externally-funded company burning investor cash to aggressively acquire new clients. Horizons is the only EOR that grows with its customer, reflecting the level of care and personal attention provided to each customer. Horizons will carefully advise on the best setup in each country: the type of contract needed, how to structure your benefits, and how to offboard a person while minimizing the risk of conflicts and extra cost
  5. A long-term partnership. Horizons is the only EOR platform with a recruitment arm — a direct response to client demand. If any employee is leaving, or if our clients want to explore a new country, Horizons can recruit new candidates directly for the client.  Horizons is:
    • The only EOR doing this in-house — no subcontracting
    • The only EOR doing this without a retainer — clients are only charged upon success
    • The only EOR charging just a 2% fee per month
Step-by-step St Kitts and Nevis EOR

How Does a St Kitts and Nevis EOR Work?

A St Kitts and Nevis Employer of Record simplifies the employment process for your business. Here’s how it works:

  1. Hire Your Employees: A St Kitts and Nevis Employer of Record makes the hiring process smooth and easy. You choose the employees you want, and the EOR takes care of all the legal details. The EOR becomes the official employer on paper, but your employees work directly for you. This setup gives you the ability to expand your team quickly and easily without the hassle of establishing a local business entity.
  2. Manage Employment Contracts and Onboarding: The EOR handles all aspects of employment contracts, ensuring they are legally sound and that they fully comply with local regulations. They draft, review, and finalize contracts, taking the legal burden off your shoulders. The EOR also manages the onboarding process and ensures that new hires have all of the necessary paperwork and understand their roles within the company.
  3. Process Payroll and Handle Employment Taxes: The EOR takes charge of payroll processing, making sure your employees get paid correctly and on time. They handle the salary calculations, tax withholdings, and any other deductions that are required by law. By managing these tasks, the EOR ensures compliance with local tax laws, so you don’t have to worry about getting it right. This includes taking care of social security contributions and other mandatory payments that are required in St Kitts and Nevis.
  4. Administer Benefits: The EOR manages employee benefits, like health insurance and retirement plans. They take care of the enrollment process, manage contributions, and make sure that your employees receive their benefits. This makes it easier for you to offer attractive benefits packages that help you keep your top talent happy. The EOR also handles any benefit-related issues, and provides support to your team.
  5. Take Care of Exit Procedures: When an employee leaves, the EOR handles the entire exit process. This includes all necessary paperwork and ensures compliance with local laws regarding termination and severance. The EOR processes the final paychecks, manages the notice periods, and handles the severance pay if it’s needed. They also ensure that all company property is returned and that any post-employment obligations are clearly outlined to the employee.
stay compliant with St Kitts and Nevis labor laws

Labor Laws

One of the principal reasons for engaging an EOR in St Kitts and Nevis is to ensure full compliance with St Kitts and Nevis’ employment laws. Here we explain in detail how a St Kitts and Nevis EOR ensures:

  1. Compliance with St Kitts and Nevis employment contract requirements
  2. Compliance with working hours, national holiday provisions, and St Kitts and Nevis social security requirements.

Employment contract types

In St Kitts and Nevis, there are two main types of employment contracts: permanent and fixed-term. Permanent contracts are for ongoing work without a set end date and provide a great deal of job security and benefits like health insurance and retirement plans. Fixed-term contracts are for specific periods or short-term projects and clearly outline the duration of employment. These contracts might not offer the same benefits as permanent ones. Both types of contracts must comply with local labor laws and ensure that job duties, salary, and working conditions are clearly defined for the employees.

Project-based

Probationary period

No probationary period.

Termination

At completion of the project.

Severance

Not applicable

Fixed-term

Probationary period

Not applicable

Termination notice period

2 weeks

Severance

Not applicable

Indefinite

Probationary period

Typically up to 3 months

Termination notice period

30 days

Severance

2 week's salary per year of service

Working hours in St Kitts and Nevis

Standard working hours in St Kitts and Nevis are usually 40 hours per week, usually spread over five days. Most businesses operate from Monday to Friday, with each workday lasting eight hours. Employees are entitled to a one-hour lunch break, and employers must guarantee that no one works more than 48 hours per week, including overtime. Overtime work is compensated at a higher rate which is usually 1.5 times the regular hourly wage. Also, employees must have at least one full day off each week.

Overtime must be compensated in the following way:

For a regular workday:

150% of the standard hourly rate

For a rest day:

200% of the standard hourly rate

For a statutory holiday:

200% of the standard hourly rate

St Kitts and Nevis has a range of national public holidays that are celebrated annually. In 2024 these holidays are:

DateHoliday name
1 Jan, 2024New Year’s Day
2 Jan, 2024Carnival
29 Mar, 2024Good Friday
1 Apr, 2024Easter Monday
6 May, 2024Labour Day
20 May, 2024Whit Monday
5 Aug, 2024Emancipation Day
6 Aug, 2024Culturama
16 Sep., 2024National Heroes Day
19 Sep., 2024Independence Day
25 Dec, 2024Christmas Day
26 Dec, 2024Boxing Day

 

On these holidays, employees are typically given the day off with pay. If employees are required to work on a public holiday, they must be paid at a higher rate, which is often double their regular pay.

Paid time off

Employees in St Kitts and Nevis are entitled to paid time off, which includes vacation leave, public holidays, and other forms of leave, like maternity leave. Full-time employees usually earn a minimum of 14 days of paid vacation per year after completing one year of service. PTO policies should be clearly outlined in the employment contract, and should detail how leave is accrued and the process for requesting time off. Employers may offer additional PTO as part of their benefits package.

Under 1 year of employment

no leave entitlement

1-10 years of employment

14 days of paid leave annually

10-20 years of employment

14 days of paid leave annually

20+ years of employment

14 days of paid leave annually

Sick leave in St Kitts and Nevis

Sick leave in St Kitts and Nevis allows employees to take time off when they are ill without losing pay. Full-time employees are generally entitled to at least 14 days of paid sick leave per year. To qualify for paid sick leave, employees will often need to provide a medical certificate from their doctor if they are absent for more than two days. 

Less than 6 months of sick leave:

(percentage of regular wages owed to the employee)

Under 1 year of employment

no leave entitlement

1-10 years of employment

14 days of paid leave annually

10-20 years of employment

14 days of paid leave annually

20+ years of employment

14 days of paid leave annually

Over 6 months of sick leave

Under 1 year of employment

Unpaid (unless specified in the employment contract or under special circumstances)

1-3 years of employment

Unpaid (unless specified in the employment contract or under special circumstances)

3+ years of employment

Unpaid (unless specified in the employment contract or under special circumstances)

In order for employees to receive the full wages due to them, workers must present a valid medical certificate from a certified doctor to their employer.

Maternity leave in St Kitts and Nevis

In St. Kitts and Nevis, maternity and paternity benefits are provided to employees through a combination of employer policies and the Social Security system.

Female employees are entitled to 13 weeks (3 months) of maternity leave. Can typically be split between the pre- and post-birth period. Most policies suggest starting the leave around 6 weeks before the expected delivery date and using the remaining weeks after the birth.

Paternity leave in St. Kitts and Nevis is not guaranteed by law. However, employers may offer paternity leave as part of their individual company policies or collective agreements. When offered, paternity leave is often short, ranging from 1 to 5 days, depending on the employer’s policy.

Annual leave in St Kitts and Nevis

Annual leave gives employees in St Kitts and Nevis time off to relax, unwind, and spend time with family and friends. Full-time employees are entitled to a minimum of 14 days of paid annual leave each year after completing one year of service. Employers can choose to offer more, but 14 days is the legal minimum.

Annual leave should be scheduled in advance and must be agreed upon by both the employer and employee. Some companies may allow unused leave to be carried over to the following year, depending on their policies.

Termination & severance in St Kitts and Nevis

Termination of employment in St Kitts and Nevis must follow local labor laws to ensure fairness. Employers must provide notice or payment in lieu of notice, with the notice period depending on the employee’s length of service. For employees with less than one year of service, the notice period is usually one week. For anyone with a longer length of service, the notice period increases. Severance pay is required for all employees that are terminated without cause, generally amounting to one week’s pay for each year of service. 

St Kitts and Nevis' compulsory social security contributions

In St. Kitts and Nevis, contributions are required by both employers and employees. These contributions fund various benefits like sickness, maternity, pensions, and other social insurance programs.

The combined Social Security contribution is 11% of the employee’s gross monthly earnings (5% from the employee + 6% from the employer).

Contributions are subject to an earnings ceiling, meaning contributions are only required up to a certain wage limit. For example, as of recent policies, the ceiling is typically around XCD 6,500 per month. Wages above this cap do not require additional contributions.

St Kitts and Nevis social security for foreigners

Foreign employees are entitled to the same social security benefits as local employees, such as sickness, maternity, pension, and other benefits, as long as they meet the contribution and qualification requirements.

In some cases, foreign workers may be able to transfer Social Security benefits back to their home country, depending on bilateral agreements between St. Kitts and Nevis and their home country.

Individual income tax

St. Kitts and Nevis does not impose individual income tax on its residents or foreign workers. This makes it one of the attractive tax havens in the Caribbean.

Health insurance

In St. Kitts and Nevis, there is no national health insurance system that covers all residents. However, healthcare services are provided through a combination of public healthcare facilities and private health insurance options.

Basic healthcare is provided at government-funded hospitals and clinics at little to no cost for citizens and residents. Foreigners, including expats, may have to pay for services at public facilities, although the costs are generally affordable compared to private healthcare.

While there is no national health insurance system, the social security system provides a sickness benefit for employees who are unable to work due to illness. This compensates employees with a portion of their salary during their recovery period.

hassle-free Kittitians and Nevisians compensation & benefits

Compensation & Benefits

St Kitts and Nevis compensation laws

In St Kitts and Nevis, compensation laws are designed to ensure that employees receive fair pay. The minimum wage is currently set at EC$10.75 per hour. Employers are required to pay wages on a regular basis, typically bi-weekly or sometimes monthly. Overtime work is compensated at a higher rate, usually 1.5 times the regular hourly wage. Also, the laws in St Kitts and Nevis mandates equal pay for equal work, ensuring that there is no discrimination based on gender or any other factors. These laws help keep a fair and equitable working environment for all employees.

13 month salary in St Kitts and Nevis

The 13th month salary is not a common practice in St Kitts and Nevis. There is no statutory requirement for this payment and it isn’t usually customary for businesses to offer it. However, some companies do offer different bonuses in an attempt to attract the best possible candidates.

Social security for Kittitians and Nevisians nationals

In St Kitts and Nevis, both employers and employees are required to make social security contributions. These contributions fund various benefits, including pensions, unemployment insurance, and health care. Both employers and employees contribute 5% each to this program which ensures that employees have financial support in case of retirement, illness, or job loss. 

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Frequently asked questions

An EOR in St Kitts and Nevis ensures compliance with local labor laws by staying updated on all regulations and legal requirements. They handle everything related to employment, from drafting contracts to processing payroll and managing taxes. The EOR makes sure all employment practices meet local standards, reducing the risk of fines and legal issues. By managing these details, the EOR ensures that your business operates smoothly and legally.

Using an EOR for hiring in St Kitts and Nevis has a lot of benefits. It simplifies the hiring process and allows you to quickly bring on local talent without setting up a local entity. The EOR handles all legal and administrative tasks, like payroll, taxes, and benefits, so you can focus on your main business activities. This not only saves you time and resources but also ensures that you remain completely compliant with all of the local laws, making your business expansion a whole lot easier.

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