Employer of Record in the Bahamas: 8 Providers Compared (2026)

Employing someone in the Bahamas: key facts

Amounts are in Bahamian dollars (B$). Section numbers are from the Employment Act (Ch. 321A), government copy; amendments after 2006 were not checked.

Minimum wage

The national private-sector minimum is B$260 a week, in force since 2023-01-01 (previous rate B$210). The Minister of Labour called it “the existing $260 weekly minimum wage” on 2026-10-15 and said a further rise is likely, with no date or amount set.

The Minimum Wage Act text was not opened; the rate rests on the Minister’s reported statement and the 2022 announcement.

Employer contributions

The only statutory employer cost found is National Insurance (NIB), computed per workweek and paid monthly by the 15th of the following month.

• 2026 annual cap: 27 workweeks x B$810 plus 25 x B$830 = B$42,620 (NIB, checked 2026-10-29).
• No payroll tax, training levy or housing fund was found, and there is no income-tax withholding because there is no personal income tax (PwC, checked 2026-10-29).

Working hours and overtime

• Standard week: 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week; up to 12 hours a day in industrial, construction and essential services (s. 8).
• Section 8 does not apply to managerial staff (s. 8(4)). Rest: 48 hours in every 7 days, 24 consecutive (s. 9).
• Overtime at least 1.5x the regular rate; on a public holiday or day off at least 2x (s. 10) (Employment Act, checked 2026-10-29).

Annual leave and public holidays

• At least 2 weeks of vacation after each 12 months, extended by a day for each public holiday inside it (s. 12).
• Vacation pay: one week’s basic pay after 6 to under 12 months; 2 weeks’ after 1 to under 7 years; 3 weeks’ from 7 years (s. 13).
• Sick leave: one week paid a year after 6 months, not cumulative (s. 11) (Employment Act, checked 2026-10-29).
• 11 public holidays in 2026, per public calendars, including Good Friday, Easter Monday, Whit Monday, Independence Day (10 Jul) and Boxing Day observed on 28 Dec. One calendar gives 7 Aug for Emancipation Day; the Public Holidays Act was not read (timeanddate, checked 2026-10-29).

Notice and severance

The Employment Act text we read has no probation period. Statutory rights grow with service: employer notice starts at 6 months (s. 29), and the Department of Labour says employees with 90 days or less get neither notice nor compensation (Department of Labour, checked 2026-10-29).

• The employee gives 2 weeks’ notice (1 to under 2 years of service) or 4 weeks (2 years or more) (s. 29(2)).
• Redundancy (ss. 26-28) uses the same formula after a year of service.
• Unfair dismissal (Industrial Tribunal): basic award of 3 weeks’ pay per year plus a compensatory award, capped at 18 months’ pay, 24 for managers (ss. 46-48).
• Summary dismissal needs a fundamental breach, proven by the employer after a reasonable investigation (ss. 31-33). Section 29 reads as paying the per-year amount on any termination with notice after 12 months; how the Tribunal applies it was not checked (Employment Act, checked 2026-10-29).

13th salary and bonuses

• No 13th-month or bonus entitlement: “wages” excludes tips, bonuses and gratuities (s. 2). Christmas or performance bonuses are contractual (Employment Act, checked 2026-10-29).

Mandatory benefits

• National Insurance membership for every employee. NIB’s site names sickness, maternity, unemployment and industrial (injury) benefits and a retirement pension (NIB, checked 2026-10-29).
• Maternity leave of at least 12 weeks for employees with 12 months’ service, once in every 3 years. The employer pays at least 33 1/3% of wages up to the NIB ceiling, on top of NIB maternity benefit (ss. 17-18).
• Unpaid family leave of up to one week a year (s. 20). No statutory paternity leave was found.
• No mandatory employer-paid health insurance or pension was found in the Employment Act; the National Health Insurance Act was not read (Employment Act, checked 2026-10-29).

Work permits

• Non-Bahamians who want to work and live in the Bahamas for more than 90 days need a work permit from the Department of Immigration. The employer applies (Department of Immigration, checked 2026-10-29).
• A short-term permit covers up to 90 days, with a B$200 processing fee and the employer’s business licence or incorporation certificate.
• A Labour Certificate and a newspaper advertisement showing no suitable Bahamian are generally required, except for Fee Scale 1 and some Fee Scale 2 roles; fees depend on the Fee Scale.
• Whether an EOR entity can act as the sponsoring employer is not stated in any official source we read.

Currency and payroll

Wages must be paid in Bahamian currency (the section text was not read). The Employment Act does not fix a pay frequency: s. 63 requires payment on working days, by cash, cheque or bank deposit (Employment Act, checked 2026-10-29). The dollar is fixed at 1:1 parity with the US dollar (Central Bank, checked 2026-10-29).

Is Employer of Record legal in the Bahamas?

Grey area. No Bahamian statute, licence or registry regulates employers of record, and we found no government or law-firm text on EOR. The EOR model works as an ordinary Bahamian employer (local entity, business licence, NIB registration) contracted to the foreign client; nothing in the statutes we read bars or approves it. Absence of a rule is not proof that none exists. See the Employer of Record glossary entry.

The rules that matter (Employment Act, checked 2026-10-29, unless stated):

• Employment Act ss. 2-3. The Act applies to employment “in The Bahamas”. “Employer” means any person or company that employs someone under a contract of employment “or uses the services of a commission agent or contract worker”, and two affiliated employers are “associated”.
• Business Licence Act, 2023, s. 9. No one may carry on a business in or from within the Bahamas without a licence (Inland Revenue).

Risks the client carries:

• Possible employer status. No Bahamian text addresses a client that directs an EOR hire. The broad definition in s. 2, which covers anyone who uses the services of a contract worker, leaves room for a claim against the client, but we found no case law. Treat it as untested, not as established liability.
• Termination cost. Notice, 2 weeks’ pay per year (managers 1 month) and Tribunal compensation up to 18 months’ pay (24 for managers) (ss. 29, 46-48). Any cost an EOR passes through by contract lands on the client.
• Unpaid NIB. Contributions are a debt of the employer alone and cannot be recovered from the employee later; the client’s protection is contractual, not statutory.

See also co-employment.

Who actually employs your hire in the Bahamas

We read the vendor pages of the 8 providers that list EOR in the Bahamas. The company registry (Registrar General’s Department) has no open name search we could use, so no vendor was searched there. Nobody is marked “own entity”: that needs the vendor’s statement about its own Bahamian company, its own document or a registry record, and we found none.

All checked 2026-10-29. Prices marked global are site-wide list prices, not Bahamian ones; none of the 8 shows a price on a Bahamas page. Deel, Remote, Oyster, Papaya Global, Rippling, RemoFirst, Native Teams, RemotePass, Rise, Kleos, Remozo, Boundless, Safeguard Global, Atlas and Justworks are not in the table: we could not confirm that they offer EOR in the Bahamas.

Seven of the 8 say nothing about who employs your hire, and the eighth says a local partner does. That matters because exposure runs through the employer on the contract: the employer holds the business licence and answers for unpaid NIB. Before signing, ask: “Which Bahamian company signs my employee’s contract, what is its business licence number, and can you show its NIB payment records?”

How to choose an EOR in the Bahamas

Want to know the employer’s name? Rivermate says a partner delivers the service; the other seven name nobody. Ask any provider for the company name and licence, and check it yourself.

Need a work permit for a foreign hire? The permit is employer-driven and needs a Labour Certificate in most roles. No official source says an EOR entity can sponsor it, and Skuad’s page ties permits to local partners. Ask in writing who would apply and who signs the contract.

Price against completeness? No provider shows a Bahamas price; global list prices run from $349 to $599, and Pebl publishes none. Compare price after you know who employs.

What it costs to employ someone in the Bahamas through an EOR

The employer is the EOR itself, with an ordinary indefinite-term office or IT employee, non-managerial, paid 52 weeks a year. Gross pay is B$50,000 and B$100,000 a year, which is also USD 50,000 and 100,000 at the fixed 1:1 parity (Central Bank, checked 2026-10-29). The only statutory employer cost is NIB at 6.65% of the weekly wage up to the ceiling; both salaries are above the ceiling every week, so each case pays 6.65% of the 2026 annual cap of B$42,620.

Why the higher salary costs a lower share. Contributions stop at the ceiling, so doubling the pay adds nothing to the statutory cost.

Not included: employer maternity pay (at least 33 1/3% of wages up to the NIB ceiling during maternity leave, contingent), notice and severance (contingent), and overtime. Paid vacation and sick leave sit inside the salary. Business licence tax is a company-level tax on turnover, not a per-employee cost. No small-employer relief is applied.

The EOR’s own fee comes on top, quoted per month. None of the 8 providers shows a Bahamas price. Global list prices run from $349 (Rivermate) to $599 (G-P); Pebl publishes none, and Skuad’s page estimates “$200 to $1000 or even more” per employee per month, a general estimate, not a tariff.

Hidden costs, where published: setup fee, deposit, minimum term and termination fee are not published by any vendor for the Bahamas. Treat a blank as unpublished, not zero.

When you don’t need an EOR

• A genuinely independent contractor. If the person sets their own hours and tools and can serve other clients, a contract is closer to the real relationship. See how to pay contractors in the Bahamas, our hiring guide and contractor misclassification. A Bahamas-resident self-employed person needs a business licence under the Business Licence Act, 2023 and NIB registration as self-employed, at 10.3% of insurable income (8.8% before 2024-07-01). There is no income tax on the individual; licence tax is exempt in the first year and at prior-year turnover of B$100,000 or less. A non-Bahamian needs a work permit to work, self-employed included, for more than 90 days (NIB, Business Licence Act, checked 2026-10-29). Whether turnover from services exported to a foreign client counts for licence tax was not confirmed.
• Your own Bahamian entity. The route to weigh for a permanent team: a local company or IBC pays no corporate income tax, but business licence tax applies. We found no official setup figures, so we give none.

What changed in 2026

• 2026-07-01: The NIB weekly insurable wage ceiling rose from B$810 to B$830 (monthly B$3,510 to B$3,597); rates are unchanged at 6.65% employer and 4.65% employee. It applies to workweeks starting on or after 2026-07-06 and affects only wages above B$810 a week (NIB, checked 2026-10-29). For a B$50,000 salary this lifts the annual employer cost from B$2,800.98 at the 2025 cap to B$2,870.14 at a full-year B$830 ceiling, about 2.5%.
• 2026-10-15: The Labour Minister said a further minimum-wage rise above B$260 a week is likely “in the near future” and that the National Tripartite Council is exploring a wage-setting council. Nothing is decided, and no date or amount is set (Tribune, checked 2026-10-29).
• 2026-06-17: The Labour Minister said drafting of a new Employment Act and Industrial Relations Act is nearing completion. Not yet tabled; the current Act still applies (ZNS, checked 2026-10-29).
• 2025-12-09 (assent): The Data Protection Act, 2025 replaces the 2003 Act on a date the Minister appoints; we found no commencement notice. Data controllers get one year after commencement to review third-party and cross-border arrangements (s. 56) (Act text, checked 2026-10-29).

Numbers vendors haven’t updated

• Minimum wage per hour. Remote’s country explorer and Borderless AI’s guide show $5.25 an hour. The current B$260 a week over a 40-hour week is B$6.50; B$5.25 matches the former B$210 a week over 40 hours (our arithmetic). Multiplier’s page gives the weekly rate correctly at $260 (remote.com, hireborderless.com, usemultiplier.com, checked 2026-10-29).
• Public holidays. Multiplier’s page lists 10; public calendars give 11 for 2026 (usemultiplier.com, timeanddate, checked 2026-10-29).
• Vintage. Skuad’s Bahamas page is labelled “Updated for 2025” (skuad.io, checked 2026-10-29).
• Not confirmed by us. Work-permit costs differ between vendor pages (Multiplier $500 to $10,000 a year, Playroll B$350 to B$12,500 a year), and we did not open an official fee table, so we give none (usemultiplier.com, playroll.com, checked 2026-10-29).

How we built this page

Facts were collected and checked on 2026-10-29 against the Employment Act (government copy), NIB pages, the Business Licence Act, 2023, the Department of Immigration and the Central Bank; the minimum wage and public holidays rest on press reports and public calendars, as marked. Employers were checked against vendor pages only: the Bahamian company registry could not be searched by name, so a vendor’s entity may exist without us seeing it. Vendors are ordered with partner and then undisclosed models, by published price; no vendor pays for placement.