Croatia minimum wage 2027 and foreign worker payroll

From 1 January 2027 the gross minimum wage in Croatia is 1,130.00 euro per month for full time work, under the Government decree published in Narodne novine 124/2026. The floor applies to foreign workers on the same terms as to Croatian workers, and supplements for night, Sunday or overtime work cannot be counted toward it.

What changed against the 2026 guide

The earlier Werklist guide to foreign worker employment contracts and the 2026 minimum wage was written against the 2026 decree. Its guidance on contract contents and on equal pay still holds. The figure does not. The Government adopted the decree on the amount of the minimum wage for 2027 at its session of 29 October 2026, and it was published in Narodne novine 124/2026 on 30 October 2026. Article 1 sets 1,130.00 euro gross per month for 1 January to 31 December 2027, and Article 2 puts the decree into force on 1 January 2027.

The decree rests on Article 6 of the Minimum Wage Act. Under Article 6(3), as amended in NN 152/2024, the minister responsible for labour proposes the amount after consulting the social partners, weighing the minimum wage's share of average gross pay together with inflation and productivity. Since 1 January 2025 the Act has also transposed Directive (EU) 2022/2041 on adequate minimum wages in the European Union, under Article 1a. Neither rule is new for 2027. What is new is the figure that a contract for a 2027 start date now has to clear, and with it the payroll calculation that follows from that contract.

The 2027 floor per worker, by contract type

The Minimum Wage Act defines the minimum wage as the lowest monthly gross pay for full time work (Article 3(1), as amended by NN 120/2021), and Article 3(3) requires it to be agreed, set or stated as a gross amount. A contract that states only a net salary does not meet the Act, whatever the net figure works out to.

The annual figure of 13,560 euro is gross pay alone, before any other cost of the position. For a group of foreign workers arriving across the first quarter, Article 3(7) is the provision payroll uses most: a worker who starts in the middle of a month receives the minimum in proportion to the time actually worked, so a lower first payslip is lawful as long as the proportion is correct. Article 3(8) closes the opposite route. An agreement in which the worker waives the minimum wage is not permitted, and that covers any such clause wherever it was signed.

Where a collective agreement has been extended to a whole sector, its lowest monthly gross pay per job grade counts as the minimum under Article 3(2). In those sectors 1,130.00 euro is the lower limit of the check, not the result of it.

Supplements sit on top of the floor

Article 3(4) excludes from the minimum wage the supplements for overtime, difficult working conditions, night work, Sundays and public holidays. Article 3a sets how they are paid: at least at the rates of an extended collective agreement, and only for hours actually worked in those conditions. Under Article 3a(4) each supplement is calculated on the contracted base pay as an absolute amount, the supplements are summed, and the total is added to base pay.

The failure this produces shows up on the January 2027 payslip. An employer keeps a foreign worker's base pay below 1,130 euro and relies on night and Sunday supplements to lift the total above it. The gross total looks compliant. Under Article 3(4) it is not, because the supplements are left out of the comparison, and a labour inspection finds underpayment under Article 10(1). The company fine runs from 7,960 to 13,270 euro, with a further 920 to 1,320 euro for the responsible person. The correction belongs in the contract rather than the payslip: base pay of at least 1,130.00 euro gross for full time work, with each supplement on its own line.

Accommodation and meals paid by the employer run under separate tax rules, set out in the guide to tax free accommodation and meals for foreign workers.

Inspection and fines in euro

Labour inspectors supervise the Minimum Wage Act under Article 9. Tax supervision officials check the payroll calculation, the filings and the payments, and the two services may run joint inspections. The contract side of this supervision for employers of foreign workers is covered separately in the guide to foreign worker employment contracts and the 2026 minimum wage.

The fines have been set in euro since the amendment in NN 152/2024 entered into force on 1 January 2025. Article 10(1) fines a company 7,960 to 13,270 euro where it does not pay the decree amount or pays the minimum incorrectly. The same paragraph covers a minimum wage not stated in gross, a waiver agreement, and supplements under an extended collective agreement that were not paid. Article 10(2) adds 920 to 1,320 euro for the company's responsible person, and the same range applies to a sole trader or a self employed employer.

Payroll calendar for the first 2027 run

The third row carries the risk. A contract signed in November for a January start that still carries the old base pay falls below the floor on the first working day of 2027, and the contract salary is also the figure the permit file has to match, as the 2026 guide explains. Current openings with Croatian employers are listed on the job board.