Armenia

Employee Benefits in Armenia

Employee benefits in Armenia include pension, paid time off, and employment insurance, which includes personal accident, healthcare, and travel insurance. Personal employment insurance is not mandatory in the country; it is optional. Employee perks are not common in the country.

Pension

In 2010, the government in Yerevan passed a law introducing a mandatory funded pension pillar for all those born after 1974. However, when the law took effect in January 2014, critics from the opposition parties challenged it in the Constitutional Court, arguing that people should be able to decide for themselves what happens to their savings.

As of July 1, 2014, mandatory contributions to pension funds were applicable for both Armenian and foreign citizens who were born after January 1, 1974 (inclusive). However, employees were allowed to refuse the payment of social contributions until July 1, 2018, by submitting an appropriate application before December 25, 2014. Yet, the employees working in the public sector and employees who were not employed as of July 1, 2014, may not refuse to pay social payments.

From July 1, 2018, all employees, notaries, and individual entrepreneurs born after January 1, 1974, started to make funded pension contributions mandatory.

The maximum threshold for calculating the pension contribution is AMD 1,125,000 now—15 times the minimum monthly salary of AMD 75,000 (as of January 1, 2023, the minimum monthly salary increased from AMD 68,000 to AMD 75,000).

From January 1, 2023, the pension contribution payment is calculated as follows:

• 5% of the monthly gross salary if it is less than AMD 500,000.
• 10% of the monthly gross salary (but not more than the maximum threshold) minus AMD 25,000 if the monthly gross salary is more than AMD 500,000 (capped at AMD 87,500).

The main objective of the fund is to provide participants with a funded pension by securing the long-term asset growth of the fund. It has three components:

• State pension
• Mandatory funded pension
• Voluntary funded pension

The State Pension System of the Republic of Armenia has two components:

• Social pension
• Employment pension

The social pension is a defined pension rate that is not based on the payments made. It is funded from the State budget, and its main issue is to provide pensioners who have no required eligible years of service with the minimum income.

Employment Pension (the first level of the multi-pillar pension system) is the old-age pension, based on the payments made. However, the amount of this pension type is not conditioned by the payments the person has made during employment years, but by the number of seniority years.

There are two asset managers participating in the system:

• C-Quadrat Ampega Asset Management Armenia, a subsidiary of C-Quadrat Investment in Austria
• Talanx Asset Management in Germany (Amundi-Acba Asset Management)

Participants are free to choose the manager of their pension assets and the management policy of such assets.

Funded pensions may be paid in the following forms:

1)  Annuities

2)  Programmed withdrawals and/or

3)  Lump sum

Paid Time Off

Maternity / Paternity Pay – Maternity Benefit

Benefits are payable only to the biological mother for a maximum of 3 months.

For the working mother (including self-employed) 140 days for regular labor, with 70 days before the expected birth date and 70 days afterward. 155 days for complicated labor, with 70 days before the expected birth date and 85 days afterward. 180 days for multiple child deliveries (twins+), with 70 days before the expected birth date and 110 days afterward. Parents who have adopted a child will be granted leave until he/she is 70 days old. 

Employment Insurance

There is no mandatory personal employment insurance, only optional. However, most employers grant employees medical insurance. Travel and personal insurance are also available on an optional basis. The main coverages are:

Personal Accident

• Bodily Injury
• Medical expenses
• Sudden acute poisoning
• Disability (permanent or temporary)
• Death
• Critical illness insurance

Medical

• Annual medical treatment and consultation
• Pregnancy, birth care
• Cardiology
• Chronic diseases
• Dentistry
• Ophthalmology
• Other services

Travel

• Medical expenses, including transportation
• Legal Advice
• Amateur sport injuries
• Loss or damage of baggage
• Public Liability
• Repatriation

Related Government Websites

• Permanent disability and survivor pensions: Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia
• Medical benefits: Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia

This information about mandatory and supplemental employee benefits in Armenia comes from Asinta’s Central and Eastern European Partner, the GrECo Group.

Nothing on this country page is intended to be legal, financial, or tax advice, and readers are advised to consult with their appropriate advisors regarding any legal, financial, or tax implications this information may address.