Remote’s guide to employing in

Sri Lanka
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Make employment in Sri Lanka easy. Let us handle payroll, benefits, taxes, compliance, and even stock options for your team in Sri Lanka, all in one easy-to-use platform.

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  • Capital city

    Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (legislative) Colombo (executive and judicial)

  • Currency

    Sri Lankan rupee (Rs, LKR)

  • Languages

    Sinhala, Tamil, and English

  • Population size

    21,803,000

  • Remote-Owned Local Entity

Services available in this country:
Employer of RecordContractor Management

Facts & Stats

Sri Lanka Map Illustration
  • Capital city

    Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (legislative) Colombo (executive and judicial)

  • Currency

    Sri Lankan rupee (Rs, LKR)

  • Languages

    Sinhala, Tamil, and English

  • Population size

    21,803,000

  • Ease of doing business

    Medium

  • Cost of living index

    31.18 (2021)

  • Payroll frequency

    Monthly

  • VAT - standard rate

    8%

  • GDP - real growth rate

    2.3% (2019)

The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is an island nation just off the coast of India, famous for its rich cultural heritage, unique biodiversity, and a long history of tea production. The natural beauty of Sri Lanka is becoming more of a magnet for tourists and digital nomads as the cost of living is relatively low (especially when you factor in the allure of the pristine beaches in the nation’s south). Sri Lanka has one of Asia’s most literate populations, the education system is strong, and English is widely spoken, so global employers should consider this country’s top talent.

Grow your team in Sri Lanka with Remote

Looking to employ workers in Sri Lanka? Companies hiring in Sri Lanka must either own a legal entity in the country or work with a global employment solutions provider, usually one that provides employer of record services.

Remote can employ your team in Sri Lanka on your behalf through our local legal entity in the country and handle payroll, benefits, taxes, and compliance for your Sri Lanka team. You can also pay contractors now in Sri Lanka with Remote.

Risks of misclassification

Sri Lanka, like many other countries, treats self-employed individuals or contractors and full-time employees differently. Misclassification of contractors in Sri Lanka may lead to fines and penalties for the offending company.

Employing in Sri Lanka

Provisions for employee protections and workers’ rights in Sri Lanka are spelled out across several government statutes, such as:

  • The Shop and Office Employees Act of 1956

  • The Factory Ordinance

  • The Minimum Wage Ordinance, and

  • The Maternity Benefits Ordinance

Employees in Sri Lanka enjoy protection against discrimination based on age, religion, gender expression, and race.

Common questions that could come up during the hiring process include the minimum wage, overtime rates, and guaranteed paid time off. Remote can help you offer a complete, competitive, and compliant benefits package to your employees in Sri Lanka.

Minimum Wage

The monthly minimum wage in Sri Lanka is fixed at 10,000 LKR or roughly $50 per month.

Onboarding Time

We can help you get a new employee started in Spain fast. The minimum onboarding time we need is only 19 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.

26 Public holidays

Jan
Friday, January 6, 20231Duruthu Full Moon Poya Day (දුරුතු පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය)
Monday, January 16, 20232Tamil Thai Pongal Day - observed (දෙමළ තෛපොංගල් දිනය)
Feb
Saturday, February 4, 20233Independence Day (නිදහස් සමරු දිනය)
Sunday, February 5, 20234Navam Full Moon Poya Day (නවම් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය)
Saturday, February 18, 20235Mahasivarathri Day (මහා ශිව රාත්‍රී දිනය)
Mar
Monday, March 6, 20236Medin Full Moon Poya Day (මැදින් පුර පසලොස්වක පෝය දිනය)
Apr
Wednesday, April 5, 20237Bak Full Moon Poya Day (බක් පුර ‍පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය)
Friday, April 7, 20238Good Friday (මහ සිකුරාදා දිනය)
Thursday, April 13, 20239Day prior to Sinhala & Tamil New Year Da (සිංහල හා දෙමළ අලුත් අවුරුදු දිනට පෙර දිනය)
Friday, April 14, 202310Sinhala & Tamil New Year Day (සිංහල හා දෙමළ අලුත් අවුරුදු දිනය)
Saturday, April 22, 202311Id-Ul-Fitr (Ramazan Festival Day) (ඊදුල්-ෆීතර් (රාමසාන් දිනය))
May
Monday, May 1, 202312May Day (ලෝක කම්කරු දිනය)
Friday, May 5, 202313Vesak Full Moon Poya Day (වෙසක් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය)
Saturday, May 6, 202314Day following Vesak Full Moon Poya Day (වෙසක් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනයට පසු දිනය)
Jun
Saturday, June 3, 202315Poson Full Moon Poya Day (පොසොන් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය)
Thursday, June 29, 202316Id-Ul-Alha (Hadji Festival Day) (ඊදුල් අල්හා (හජ්ජි උත්සව දිනය))
Jul
Monday, July 3, 202317Adhi-Esala Full Moon Poya Day (අධි ඇසළ පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය)
Aug
Tuesday, August 1, 202318Esala Full Moon Poya Day (ඇසළ පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය)
Wednesday, August 30, 202319Nikini Full Moon Poya Day (නිකිණි පුර ‍පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය)
Sep
Thursday, September 28, 202320Milad-Un-Nabi (Holy Prophet's Birthday) (මිලා-දුන් නබි (නබි නායකතුමාගේ උපන්දිනය))
Friday, September 29, 202321Binara Full Moon Poya Day (බිනර පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය)
Oct
Saturday, October 28, 202322Vap Full Moon Poya Day (වප් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය)
Nov
Sunday, November 12, 202323Deepavali Festival Day (දීපවාලී උත්සව දිනය)
Sunday, November 26, 202324Ill Full Moon Poya Day (ඉල් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය)
Dec
Monday, December 25, 202325Christmas Day (නත්තල් දිනය)
Tuesday, December 26, 202326Unduvap Full Moon Poya Day (උඳුවප් පුර පසළොස්වක පෝය දිනය)

Competitive benefits package in Sri Lanka

At Remote, we’re obsessed with helping you craft the best possible employee experience for your team. We are leading the way in practicing “fair equity,” which means making sure employees everywhere have access to both the required and supplemental benefits they need to thrive (and that will allow you to attract the best local talent).

Our benefits packages in Sri Lanka are tailored to fulfill the local needs of your employees. Typically, our packages contain some or all of the following benefits:

  • Health Insurance

  • Dental Insurance

  • Vision Insurance

  • Mental Health Support

  • Pension or 401(K)

  • Life and Disability Insurance

Taxes in Sri Lanka

Learn how employment taxes and statutory fees affect your payroll and your employees’ paychecks in Sri Lanka.

  • 12%

    Provident Fund

  • 3%

    Employee Trust Fund

Types of Leave

Employees are entitled to 14 days of paid annual leave after they’ve worked an entire year with an employer.

Employment termination

Termination process

Employees can either be dismissed summarily - if just cause if provided - otherwise, termination must be in accordance with the terms stipulated in the employment contract. A decision to let an employee go must be approved by the Labour Commissioner.

Notice period

There is no minimum notice period under Sri Lankan law but it’s common to notify employees at least six months before termination.

Severance pay

Employees are only entitled to severance payment proportional to their tenure working with an employer — if they’re dismissed unfairly.

  • 2.5 months pay per year for years 1 - 5, capped at 12.5 months pay

  • 2 months pay per year for years 6 - 14, capped at 30.5 months pay

  • 1.5 months pay per year for years 15 - 19, capped at 38 months pay

  • 1 month pay per year for years 20 - 24, capped at 40 months pay

  • Half a month’s pay per year for years 25 - 34, capped at 48 months pay

Probation periods

Probation periods range from six months for general staff, to 12 months for technical or supervisory staff.