Internship agreements in Lithuania: mandatory terms, remote work, safety

Which agreement is required depends on who the intern is. For a student whose placement is part of the study programme, a tripartite practical training agreement (praktinio mokymo sutartis) is signed with the higher education institution. A person who wants to do a placement on their own initiative signs a voluntary practice agreement (savanoriškos praktikos sutartis) under the Law on Employment and the form approved by the Minister. If the intern is paid, this is usually an employment relationship and an employment contract is signed; where the person is hired to acquire a qualification through apprenticeship training, it is an apprenticeship employment contract. The statutes discussed here do not expressly prohibit doing a placement remotely, but the occupational safety duties stay the same. No contract clause will shield the manager from liability; what protects the company is proper occupational safety documentation.

If you are considering not an internship but a services contract instead of an employment contract, see can a services contract replace an employment contract in Lithuania.

A student placement under the study programme: a tripartite agreement

For a student placement provided for in the study programme, the company where the student does the placement, the student and the higher education institution sign a practical training agreement. The model form is approved by the Minister, and the higher education institution is responsible for organising student placements (Article 53(16) of the Law on Higher Education and Research of the Republic of Lithuania (MSĮ)). From 1 January 2029 the Minister’s title and the drafting of this part change; the rule stays the same (MSĮ Article 53(16), as in force from 1 January 2029).

In practice, this means the form is usually provided by the university or college. The company reviews it and adds what matters to it: where and how the placement will take place, who supervises it, and what information is confidential.

A student also has the right to do voluntary practice or a traineeship that is not part of the study programme (MSĮ Article 62(1)(15)). If it is voluntary practice, the voluntary practice rules apply (UĮ Article 10).

Voluntary practice: what the law makes mandatory

Individuals have the right to sign voluntary practice agreements with companies (Article 10(1) of the Law on Employment of the Republic of Lithuania (UĮ)). The main limits:

• persons under 18 may sign the agreement if their legal representative does not object (UĮ Article 10(2)); before signing, such a person must give the company the consent of a parent or other legal representative (point 5 of the Procedure for Voluntary Practice (Savanoriškos praktikos atlikimo tvarkos aprašas), Procedure point 5);
• voluntary practice is unpaid (UĮ Article 10(9));
• the term of the agreement, or the total term of one person’s agreements, may not exceed 2 months per calendar year (UĮ Article 10(7));
• a person may have only one voluntary practice agreement at a time, and an agreement with the same company may be signed no more than once (UĮ Article 10(5));
• a person may sign such an agreement no more than 3 times, and the total term may not exceed 6 months (UĮ Article 10(8));
• the number of agreements in a company may not exceed 10 per cent of all its employees, and if the company has fewer than 10 employees, only one agreement may be in force (UĮ Article 10(6)).

The company notifies the territorial office of the State Social Insurance Fund Board (Valstybinio socialinio draudimo fondo valdyba) of the start of the placement at least one working day before it begins, and of its end within 3 working days after it ends (UĮ Article 10(3)). The notice of the end is also given where the agreement is terminated early (Procedure point 7).

The agreement is made by filling in the form approved by the Minister (Procedure point 3). The company appoints a placement supervisor from among its qualified employees. With the supervisor, the intern prepares a placement plan (programme), and after the placement ends the supervisor gives a written evaluation within 5 working days (Procedure point 4).

The form records the nature of the activity, the start and end of the placement, the supervisor, other terms, and the name and address of the place where the placement is carried out (annex to the Procedure, agreement form, points 1 and 2.1).

The parties’ obligations are already printed in the form. The company undertakes (agreement form, points 2.1, 2.3, 2.4 and 2.6):

• to provide the conditions and the means needed to carry out the placement;
• to organise the necessary occupational safety and health and fire safety instructions;
• to ensure conditions that meet safety, health and hygiene standards and, where needed, to provide work tools, work clothing and footwear and other safety equipment, unless the parties agree otherwise in the agreement;
• to introduce the intern to the work rules and to say which information is a commercial or other secret.

The intern undertakes to keep commercial and other secrets, to take care of property, to compensate material damage caused and to follow the safety rules (agreement form, points 3.3 to 3.5).

The form has space for additional obligations of the parties. That is where the terms of a remote placement belong, especially who provides the intern with which equipment.

Can a placement be remote

The statutes discussed here do not expressly prohibit doing a placement remotely. In our view, this is possible for voluntary practice, and for a student placement where the study programme and the practical training agreement allow it. For short-cycle study programmes, the law currently allots 30 or 40 credits to student practice in a real workplace, as defined in the Law on Vocational Training (MSĮ Article 53(17)), so a remote format for such a placement needs to be assessed separately. From 1 January 2029 this part is reworded: in short-cycle and college first- and second-cycle programmes, at least one third of the programme is allotted to students’ practical training, and the reference to a real workplace is dropped (MSĮ Article 53(17), as in force from 1 January 2029). However, the voluntary practice form requires the name and address of the place where the placement is carried out (annex to the Procedure, agreement form). So if the placement will be remote, write down where it will actually take place and how the intern will communicate with the supervisor.

For occupational safety purposes an intern is often treated as an employee. Under the Law on Safety and Health at Work, a person carrying out unpaid activity under Article 9 of the Law on Employment is also considered an employee (Article 2(9) of the Law on Safety and Health at Work of the Republic of Lithuania (DSSĮ)). That article lists both a placement under a voluntary practice agreement and a traineeship under a traineeship agreement (Article 9 of the Law on Employment, UĮ Article 9).

Several duties follow from this:

• safe and healthy working conditions must be ensured for every employee, whatever the workplace (DSSĮ Article 3(1));
• the employer may not require a person to start work if they have not been instructed and (or) trained to do it safely (DSSĮ Article 27(1));
• those working remotely must have the same occupational safety and health conditions as others, and the work equipment and workplace must meet the requirements (DSSĮ Article 38¹(1) and (2)).

The DSSĮ has no such express rule for a student placement under the study programme. It only states in general that students of higher education institutions must be trained in occupational safety and health requirements for the qualifications and professions they are acquiring (DSSĮ Article 8(2)). We recommend applying the same safety instructions and briefings to all interns as to employees. If the company already has a remote work policy, it is worth applying its safety part to interns as well.

What actually protects the company and the manager

A client asked us what clause to put in the agreement so that the manager is not liable if something happens to the intern. We answered: none. The duties to ensure safe conditions are set by law, so an agreement cannot remove them.

The company and the manager are protected by other things:

• occupational safety documentation that also applies to interns;
• safety briefings before the placement starts, with a record that they took place;
• a clearly agreed place of placement and equipment.

Insurance. Persons doing voluntary practice are insured at the State’s expense with health insurance and with social insurance against accidents at work and occupational diseases (UĮ Article 10(4)). The company must inform the intern that they are insured only while the agreement is in force (annex to the Procedure, agreement form). If you also want to protect the company itself against the cost of paying compensation, it is worth looking at civil liability insurance offered by insurers.

If the intern is paid: an employment contract, e.g. an apprenticeship contract

Voluntary practice is unpaid (UĮ Article 10(9)), so a voluntary practice agreement cannot be used for paid work: if the intern is paid, this is usually an employment relationship and an employment contract is signed. One possible type is the apprenticeship employment contract. It is signed where a person is hired to acquire, in the workplace, a qualification or competences needed for a profession through the apprenticeship form of training (Article 81(1) of the Labour Code of the Republic of Lithuania (DK)). This is an employment contract with all the employee’s guarantees. It is fixed-term, and its maximum term is six months, except a contract signed together with a training agreement that sets a longer training period (DK Article 82(1)).

If there is no training agreement, the employer must prepare a non-formal training programme, and its key terms are included in the apprenticeship employment contract (DK Article 83(1)). The number of such apprenticeship contracts (without a training agreement) in force at the same time may not exceed one tenth of all the employer’s employment contracts in force, and an employer with up to ten employees may sign one such contract (DK Article 83(3)). The employer appoints a training programme supervisor (DK Article 83(6)).

Where an apprenticeship contract is signed together with a training agreement, the apprentice’s pay for time actually worked may not be lower than the minimum monthly wage or the minimum pay per hour approved by the Government (DK Article 84(4)).

A trainee transferred from a foreign group company

If a group company from a non-EU country wants to transfer an employee to Lithuania as a trainee, a temporary residence permit may be issued to them as a trainee employee. This requires documents showing that the person (Article 44²(1), point 3, of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens of the Republic of Lithuania (UTPĮ)):

• has a traineeship agreement confirming that they are transferred within the company for career development or to gain knowledge of business methods or techniques, and covering the traineeship programme, its duration and the conditions of supervising the trainee;
• has a university degree;
• will be paid while transferred;
• for at least the last 3 months before arrival worked, in a non-EU country, for a company whose representative office or branch is the host company, or for a company belonging to the same group.

Such a transfer may not last more than one year, and the permit is issued for no longer than one year (UTPĮ Article 44²(6) and (7)). A traineeship agreement is best concluded with a programme and a clearly named supervisor. It has to show the Migration Department (Migracijos departamentas) what the trainee will learn and how.

How to start

Send us the agreement form provided by the university, or tell us what placement you plan: who the intern is, how long it will last and whether it will be remote. We will draft or review the agreement and advise which safety documents you need.

Phone +370 5 212 1506, email info@linden.lt

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