Wages And Hours In Panamanian Labor Law

According to Panamanian law, all employees must have an employment contract with some mandatory content which cannot be replaced by a job offer. Salary and working hours, must be agreed in this employment contract. The salary could be paid by month, fortnight, week, day or hour, but the practice is to negotiate a monthly salary, which must be at least equal to the minimum wage established by law.

Employers should take into consideration employees receive 12 months of salary, plus an additional XIII month as a mandatory bonus. It is therefore important, that job offers clarify this, in the case of companies who usually offer annual salaries.

When the employee has a variable salary, by commissions, basic salary must be at least the minimum salary. Overtime, commissions, allowances, bonuses or similar must be in addition to basic salary.