Employment laws in Bulgaria

Employment laws in Bulgaria follow the standard 40-hour workweek, comply with the national minimum wage of BGN 1077 per month, and adhere to rules around paid leave, social security, and termination. 

The framework rests mainly on the Labor Code (Кодекс на труда), backed by the Social Insurance Code and a set of anti-discrimination rules.

This employer’s guide walks through the laws that shape employee rights in Bulgaria, and shows how Payoneer Workforce Management can support.

Key employment laws in Bulgaria

Bulgaria’s rules come from a handful of core statutes:

1. Labor Code (Кодекс на труда): This is the backbone of labor laws in Bulgaria, which covers contracts, working time, leave, pay, and termination. 
2. Social Insurance Code (Кодекс за социално осигуряване): It sets the contributions that fund pensions, sickness, maternity, and unemployment benefits.
3. Protection Against Discrimination Act (Закон за защита от дискриминация): It bars workplace discrimination on grounds such as gender, age, ethnicity, religion, and disability.
4. Health and Safety at Work Act (Закон за здравословни и безопасни условия на труд): It puts the duty for safe working conditions squarely on you, the employer.

Contract employment laws in Bulgaria

In Bulgaria, nobody starts work on a handshake. A written contract must be signed first, and from there, you have to register it with the National Revenue Agency.

Types of contract

Bulgarian law runs to a few contract types:

1. Indefinite-term (безсрочен трудов договор): The default is open-ended.
2. Fixed-term (срочен трудов договор): Built for temporary, seasonal, or project work, and may be capped at a few years based on local laws.

Essential contract terms

Under the Labor Code, every contract has to spell out a short checklist:

• The place of work and the job title
• The start date, plus an end date if the contract is fixed-term
• Basic and additional pay, and when it lands
• Daily or weekly working hours
• How much paid annual leave does the role carry
• Notice periods, which have to be equal for both sides

Minimum wage in Bulgaria

The minimum wage in Bulgaria is BGN 1,077 per month, which comes to BGN 6.49 per hour, and the government resets it once a year. 

You can use the true cost of a hire using the employee cost calculator.

Working hours in Bulgaria

The working week runs to 40 hours, typically eight hours over five days. You can ask for overtime, but within the limit set at: 

• 150 hours a year, 
• 30 a month, 
• 6 a week, and 
• no more than 3 across two back-to-back days. 

Under overtime laws in Bulgaria, those extra hours are paid more.

Mandatory benefits

The labor law compliance in Bulgaria also includes extending the following statutory benefits to your employees: 

Annual leave

A floor of 20 working days a year, which opens up once an employee has been on your payroll in Bulgaria for eight months. 

Sick leave

You must extend up to 180 days of paid sick leave, on the grounds of a valid doctor’s certificate. 

The first two days are covered by the employer, and the rest of the days by the National Social Security Institute (NSSI).

Social security benefits

Bulgaria runs a joint social insurance system (социално осигуряване): you and the employee both pay in. Those contributions bankroll pensions, sickness and maternity pay, unemployment support, and cover for workplace accidents.

Maternity leave

In Bulgaria, you must extend maternity leave to 410 working days per child. The first 45 fall before the due date, and the NSSI pays at 90% of the average daily gross salary once the mother has 12 months of contributions on record. 

Paternity leave

You must grant the father 15 days of paid leave, starting on the day the mother and baby come home from the hospital.  He qualifies if married to the mother or sharing her household, and the NSSI pays at the same 90% rate.

Public holidays

You must extend twelve paid public holidays a year. Moreover, you owe double the normal rate if employees work on such days. 

Further, if such a holiday (Easter aside) falls on a Saturday or Sunday, employees take the following workday off.

Additional leaves

You must also take note of the following employee rights in Bulgaria regarding leave: 

• Childcare leave: Until the child turns two, after maternity leave, as long as the child is not in a daycare place.
• Unpaid parental leave: Six months per parent, usable any time until the child reaches eight.
• Marriage leave: Two paid days for the employee’s own wedding.
• Bereavement leave: Two paid days on the death of a close family member.

Termination

You need a valid legal ground to end any employment contract in Bulgaria. Get it wrong, and an unfair dismissal claim can follow. 

Types of termination scenarios

A contract can end in several ways:

1. The employee resigns
2. You and the employee part by mutual agreement
3. The contract ends during the probationary period
4. You dismiss the employee for cause, such as misconduct, poor performance, or unexcused absence
5. A fixed-term contract reaches its end date

Moreover, approaches differ across the region; our guide to employment laws in Hungary offers a useful contrast.

Probation period

Probation is optional in Bulgaria, though common. It can run up to six months and cannot be extended or repeated for the same role. 

During probation, the notice period is 30 days unless the contract says otherwise. 

Notice period

After probation, notice depends on the contract. 

Indefinite contracts carry a 30-day notice period, which the parties can extend to three months. Fixed-term contracts carry a three-month notice period. The same notice binds both you and the employee.

Severance pay

How much severance you owe depends on why the job ends:

• Closure or redundancy: one month of pay.
• A health-related exit, once the worker has put in five or more years, is two months.
• Retirement: two months if they have under ten years in, six months at ten years or beyond.
• A parting by mutual agreement: four months at the very least.

Navigate employment laws in Bulgaria with trusted support

Staying on the right side of labor law compliance in Bulgaria protects you from penalties and disputes. The rules shift, and the detail matters.

That is where a workforce management partner earns its place. Payoneer Workforce Management supports the compliance side of employment for you. 

It includes drawing up valid contracts, processing payroll and taxes, bringing people on and offboarding, and administering the statutory benefits listed above.

Even if you are hiring contractors instead of employees, our contractor management system helps handle payments and paperwork.

Ready to engage employees compliantly in Bulgaria? 

Book a demo today!

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)