There’s no minimum wage mandated under Icelandic law; employers and employees can enter into collective bargaining to determine wage rates as they see fit.

For customers of Remote, all employee payments will be made in equal monthly installments on or before the last working day of each calendar month, payable in arrears.

We can help you get a new employee started in Iceland fast. The minimum onboarding time we need is only 25 working days.

Our team ensures your employees are onboarded and paid as quickly as possible while keeping your business compliant with all local employment legislation. The minimum onboarding time begins after the employee submits all required information onto the Remote platform. The onboarding timeline is also dependent upon registration with local authorities.

For all non-nationals of the country of employment, the Right to Work assessment (if applicable) will add three extra days to the total time to onboard. There may be extra time required if we need to follow-up on the right to work assessment.

Please note, payroll cut-off dates can impact the actual first day of employment. Remote has a payroll cut-off date of the 10th of the month unless otherwise specified.

Employees accumulate paid time off, depending on their tenure in the same line of work.

The minimum PTO entitlement is 24 weekdays annually, compensated at a rate of 10.17% of your normal wages. With five years of experience working in the same industry, you’re entitled to 25 weekdays off, paid at 10.64% of your normal wages.

After five years of employment with an employer, you’re entitled to 27 weekdays, paid at an 11.59% rate. This increases to 30 weekdays, compensated at a 13.04% rate after 10 years of employment with the same employer.

Employees can take the 16 public holidays off and are entitled to 1.375% of the normal monthly wages per hour if they’re expected to work on a public holiday.

Icelandic employees are entitled to paid sick leave proportional to their tenure with an employer.

During the first year of employment, an employee is entitled to two days of sick leave per month, which increases to two months of paid sick leave annually after the first year.

After an employee’s fifth year, they’re entitled to four months of sick leave, capped at six months off after the 10th year.

Pregnant employees are entitled to six months of maternity leave, starting up to a month before delivery is due, and compensated at a rate of 80% of the employee’s normal wages.

Fathers are entitled to six months of paternity leave, paid at a rate equivalent to 80% of the normal wages. One month of parental leave is transferable between partners and both parents’ leave entitlements can be exercised until the newborn turns 18 months of age.

In addition, parents can take up to 13 consecutive weeks of leave to care for children up to the age of eight.

• Hospitalization leave: parents are entitled to 12 days of leave if any of their children are hospitalized.
• Adoption leave: Adoptive parents can exercise the same parental leave entitlements as natural birth parents, with each partner taking up to six months of paid leave off work.