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In December 2025, a series of legislative acts were adopted introducing several amendments and clarifications to the Labor Code and Social Insurance regulations of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
This Alert summarizes the most significant amendments that will affect employment practices and social insurance obligations. For a comprehensive understanding of all changes, we recommend reviewing the full text of the relevant legislative acts, as well as the current version of the Labor Code.
December 2025 – December 2026 Holidays in Uzbekistan
Presidential Decree #UP-257 presented additional non-working days for the holidays and the transfer of weekends for 2026.
Changes for December 2025:
- December 31, 2025 (Wednesday) is designated as an additional non-working day for all employees.
Holiday Calendar for 2026:
- January 1, 2026 (Thursday): Public holiday (non-working day).
- January 2, 2026 (Friday): Additional non-working day for all.
- January 3, 2026 (Saturday): Additional non-working day for a 6-day work week; day off for a 5-day work week.
- March 8, 2026 (Sunday): Coincides with a weekend; therefore, March 9 (Monday) will be an additional day off. March 7 will be a shortened working day for a 6-day work week.
- March 19, 2026 (Thursday): Shortened working day before the holiday.
- March 20, 2026 (Friday): Tentative date for Ruza Hayit (Eid al-Fitr); public holiday (non-working day).
- March 21, 2026 (Saturday): Navruz; public holiday (non-working day). For a 5-day work week, March 23 (Monday) will also be a day off.
- May 9, 2026 (Saturday): Public holiday (non-working day). For a 5-day work week, May 11 (Monday) will be an additional day off. May 8 (Friday) will be a shortened working day.
- May 27, 2026 (Thursday): Tentative date for Kurban Hayit (Eid al-Adha); public holiday (non-working day). May 26 will be a shortened working day.
- May 28-29, 2026: Additional non-working days for all. May 30 will be an additional day off for a 6-day work week; day off for a 5-day work week.
- August 31, 2026 (Monday): Additional non-working day before Independence Day.
- September 1, 2026 (Tuesday): Independence Day; public holiday (non-working day).
- September 30, 2026: Shortened working day before Teacher's Day.
- October 1, 2026 (Thursday): Teacher's Day; public holiday (non-working day).
- December 8, 2026 (Tuesday): Constitution Day; public holiday (non-working day). December 7 will be a shortened working day.
- The day off for the 5-day work week on December 12 (Saturday) will be transferred to December 31, 2026, which will also be an additional non-working day for a 6-day work week.
Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. 1101 dd 09.12.2025
The President signed Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan No.1101 "On State Social Insurance“, which came into effect starting from 1 January 2026.
The Law transfers the payment of certain benefits to State Fund for Social Insurance of the National Agency for Social Protection under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan (hereinafter referred to State Fund for Social Insurance).
The implementation of state social insurance for citizens is carried out on a mandatory basis (for employment contracts and civil law contracts) or on a voluntary basis.
This includes, but is not limited to, self-employed individuals, individual entrepreneurs, Uzbek citizens working abroad, as well as foreign citizens and stateless persons who reside permanently in the Republic of Uzbekistan and engage in income-generating activities within the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
In the event of insured incidents, the following benefits are provided to insured individuals and/or their family members under state social insurance:
- Sick leave pay
- Maternity pay
- Severance pay
Resolution of The Cabinet of Ministers of The Republic of Uzbekistan No. 796 dd 17.12.2025
The Cabinet of Ministers resolves that payments for state social insurance in the form of maternity pay and sick leave pay will be assigned without application from citizens, through the information module "Social Insurance" of the "Unified Social Protection Registry" information system. Payments for state social insurance to insured individuals will be made by the State Fund for Social Insurance.
Starting from January 1, 2026, registration for all types of leave provided to employees by all employers, including individual entrepreneurs, as well as for civil law contracts should be processed in the labor portal my.mehnat.
According to this regulation, the following payments will be made to insured individuals under state social insurance:
- Maternity pay - from January 1, 2026.
- Sick leave pay - from July 1, 2026.
The amount of the corresponding payment for state social insurance will be calculated based on the average monthly salary. This calculation will consider the portion of the average monthly salary that does not exceed 10 times the minimum wage, effective on the date of payment assignment (current minimum wage is UZS 1,271,000, approx. USD 100).
Collective agreements, as well as collective contracts and internal documents, may provide additional payments to individuals beyond those established in this regulation.
For calculating the amount of sick leave payment, the following work experience coefficient will be applied proportionally:
- For insurance experience of 6 to 96 months - 60 percent;
- For insurance experience of 97 months or more - 80 percent.
(Previously, the rates were: 100% of the average monthly salary for a total work experience of 8 years or more; 80% of the average monthly salary for total work experience of 5 to 8 years; 60% of the average monthly salary for a total work experience of less than 5 years)
As a general rule, sick leave will be paid for the entire period specified in the disability certificate but not exceeding 182 calendar days within one calendar year. The portion of sick leave pay for the first 5 days of the disability period in the corresponding calendar year will be paid by the employer, and starting from the 6’s day, the payment will be made by the State Fund for Social Insurance.
For calculating the amount of maternity pay, the following work experience coefficient will be applied proportionally:
- For insurance experience of 10 to 24 months - 75 percent;
- For insurance experience of 25 to 60 months - 85 percent;
- For insurance experience of 61 months or more - 100 percent.
(Previously, the rates were: 75% of the average monthly salary if employed for less than 12 months; 100% of the average monthly salary if employed for more than 12 months)
When assigning payments for state social insurance to individuals, the following periods will be considered as insurance experience:
- For the period before January 1, 2019 - provided that social security contributions were paid to the Pension Fund;
- For the period from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2019 - upon payment of the unified social payment;
- For the period from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2025 - upon payment of the social tax;
- From January 1, 2026 - upon payment of insurance contributions* to the Fund.
*The insurance contribution is formed from a portion of the personal income tax for citizens covered by mandatory social insurance. For citizens covered by voluntary social insurance, the contribution is derived from a payment, the minimum amount of which is determined by legislative acts
Overtime Payment and Duration Limits
According to the amendments in Article 262 of the Labor Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, effective November 11, 2025, the payment and duration regulations for overtime work are as follows:
- For the first two hours of overtime, employees must be compensated at a rate of no less than 1.5 times their regular hourly wage.
- For any additional hours beyond the first two, the compensation must be at least double the regular hourly wage.
- If the overtime work is performed under harmful or unfavorable conditions, employees must be paid at least double for each hour worked.
Collective agreements, local regulations, and individual labor contracts may stipulate higher rates of overtime pay.
The duration of overtime work must not exceed four hours for an employee over two consecutive days.
For work performed under unfavorable conditions, the maximum overtime duration is limited to two hours per day.
How EY Can Help?
We would be pleased to provide our support in the following areas:
- Delivering advisory services on the applicability of the new legislative requirements to your organization;
- Reviewing and updating your company’s HR policies to reflect the recent legislative changes;
- Assist with on-going HR admin compliance.
We trust that this information will be useful to you. Our team remains at your disposal to discuss these developments in greater detail and to address any questions you may have.
