Leave policy in Bulgaria

Leave policy in Bulgaria covers the paid time off your employees earn each year, including annual leave, public holidays, sick leave, and parental leave. 

The baseline for these leave entitlements in Bulgaria is set out in two laws. The Labor Code (Кодекс на труда) handles leave itself, while the Social Insurance Code (Кодекс за социално осигуряване) prescribes employment benefits. Some of that pay comes from you. The rest comes from the National Social Security Institute (NSSI). 

Getting the baseline and split right is what keeps you compliant once you start hiring in Bulgaria.

Below is how leave laws in Bulgaria actually work, section by section, plus how the Payoneer Workforce Management platform can help.

Vacation & annual leave in Bulgaria

You owe your employees at least 20 working days of paid annual leave. However, you can choose to grant them after eight months of continuous service.

Unused days roll into the next calendar year, but they expire six months after that year ends. 

Further, public holidays sit outside this count entirely, so they are never counted as paid time off in Bulgaria. For a regional comparison, see our guide to leave policy in Hungary.

Public holidays

Bulgaria has 15 public holidays a year, all set out in the Labor Code. 

Typically, when a holiday other than Easter lands on a weekend, the next working day becomes a day off instead. Further, if you have someone work on a public holiday in Bulgaria, you must pay them for overtime.

Here’s the list of public holidays in Bulgaria:

• New Year’s Day
• Liberation Day of Bulgaria
• Easter Holidays 
• Labor Day
• St. George’s Day, Day of Courage and the Bulgarian Army
• Day of Bulgarian Education and Culture and of Slavic Literature
• Non-working day in honor of the Day of Bulgarian Education and Culture and of Slavic Literature
• Day of the Unification of Bulgaria
• Non-working day in honor of the Day of the Unification of Bulgaria
• Independence Day
• Christmas Holidays

Sick leave

Paid sick leave in Bulgaria runs up to 180 days, provided a doctor signs it off with a medical certificate. The bill is split between you and the NSSI:

• The employer pays the first two days, and the NSSI takes over from day 3.

Sick pay never drops below the minimum daily wage, which tracks the monthly minimum of BGN 1,077. Moreover, a Special Medical Commission (ТЕЛК, TELK) confirms the incapacity continues for sick days over 180 days. 

Maternity leave in Bulgaria

Your female employees get 410 working days per child, with 45 of those days taken before the expected delivery date.

The NSSI pays the benefit at 90% of the mother’s average daily gross salary, as long as she has at least 12 months of social security contributions behind her. 

Paternity leave

Fathers earn 15 days of paid paternity leave in Bulgaria. The clock starts the day the mother and child are discharged from the medical institution. To qualify, the father has to be married to the mother or living in the same household.

The NSSI pays the same, 90% of his average daily gross salary.

Other types of statutory leave in Bulgaria

Bulgarian law adds a few more forms of leave on top.

Childcare leave

Once maternity leave runs out, a parent can stay on childcare leave until the child turns two, provided the child is not placed in a childcare facility. A monthly cash benefit applies, set each year under the State Social Security Budget Act. With the mother’s agreement, the father or even a working grandparent can take this leave instead.

Unpaid parental leave

Each parent also gets six months of unpaid leave to raise a child to age eight. Up to five of those months can pass from one parent to the other. This is separate from the paid childcare leave above.

Marriage leave

You must grant two days of paid leave for marriage and related events. Getting married brings two paid days off. The death of a close family member brings another two, as paid compassionate leave. 

Compassionate leave

Employees must be given paid leave for up to two days to mourn the death of a close family member. 

To see how these compare across the region, take a look at our guide to leave policy in Poland.

Explore Payoneer Workforce Management in Bulgaria

Leave rules shift from country to country. Hire in Bulgaria, and you are suddenly tracking annual leave, parental entitlements, and a currency that just switched to the euro. Getting leave laws in Bulgaria right takes local know-how.

Payoneer Workforce Management supports the onboarding, payroll, taxes, leave tracking, and benefits. 

Globally, the Employer of Record model is the usual way to engage talent abroad. However, EOR is not separately regulated there, so engagements may run under the temporary work agency (агенция за временна работа) framework instead. 

For contractors, our contractor management system can offer support with agreements and payments.

For an estimate of employment costs, you can use our employee cost calculator.

Book a demo today.

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