What must a Myanmar employment contract include?

What Myanmar law says

The Employment & Skills Development Law (ESDL) 2013 requires every employer to sign a written Employment Agreement with each employee within 30 days of the employee's start date. A verbal offer or an unsigned letter is not enough — the township labour office can fine the employer and order rectification. One signed copy goes to the employee, one to the employer's records, and the contract must be filed in the form prescribed by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population (MoLES).

Required clauses

• Job title and description — the duties the employee is hired to perform.
• Wages and pay schedule — gross salary, allowances, and the pay date (typically by the 7th of the following month).
• Working hours and rest days — daily/weekly hours and weekly off.
• Leave entitlements — annual, casual, medical, and maternity leave per the Leave & Holidays Act.
• Probation period — duration (max 3 months) and the 2-week notice rule on either side.
• Termination grounds and notice period — both employer and employee notice tied to tenure.
• Severance entitlement — schedule per Notification 84/2015.
• Place of work — the primary location; transfer rights must be expressed.
• Term — fixed-term or indefinite, with renewal limits if fixed.

Notice and severance language to include

Reference the latest MoLES notification in the contract rather than hard-coding numbers, so the document stays valid when the schedule is updated.

What if there's a dispute

• Township labour office first — the employee files a complaint about a missing or non-compliant contract; the office can order the employer to issue a compliant agreement.
• Conciliation Body — if the township office cannot resolve, the matter moves to formal conciliation under the Settlement of Labour Disputes Law.
• Arbitration Council — final binding step. Statute of limitations: typically 6 months from the disputed action.

Edge cases and unenforceable clauses

• Fixed-term contracts — max 2 years per contract; after 2 renewals the contract is deemed permanent. See fixed-term employment allowed in Myanmar.
• Non-compete clauses — enforceable only if reasonable; typical max duration 6 months post-employment.
• Salary-reduction without consent — not enforceable; treated as termination without lawful grounds.
• Unilateral transfer clauses — enforceable only if expressly stated and reasonable.
• Probation rules — see maximum probation period in Myanmar.

Common contract mistakes

• Using a non-Myanmar template that omits the severance schedule.
• Failing to file the agreement within 30 days.
• Setting probation longer than 3 months without a written extension.
• Hard-coding outdated notice/severance numbers instead of referencing the current notification.
• Skipping leave encashment language — see exit clearance process in Myanmar.