Located in the southeastern part of Europe, Bulgaria is bordered by Romania, Serbia, Turkey and Greece, with the Black Sea on its eastern border. The capital and largest city is Sofia, with other major cities of Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas. Its population is a primarily Slavonic-speaking, Orthodox Christian country, and also the birthplace of the Cyrillic alphabet.
Although facing a high corruption problem, Bulgaria is part of the European Union and NATO. The country is also facing a precipitous drop in its fertility rate, with a current population of about 7 million, down from 9 million people in 1988.
Bulgaria has one of Europe’s richest biodiversities in terms of animal, bird and plant species, with several kinds of wild boar, jackals, partridges and fungal species. Bulgarian culture and cuisine have been influenced, over the centuries, by Turkish and Greek cultures, with yogurt, lukanka, banitsa, shopska salad, lyutenitsa and kozunak counted among the best-known local foods.
Employment contracts concluded for an indefinite period are considered permanent employment. Such agreements cannot be transformed into a contract for a definite period except at the employee's explicit wish, as expressed in writing. All contracts are considered contracts of indefinite duration unless expressly agreed otherwise.
Either party can terminate an indefinite-term contract by providing a notice period or compensation in lieu of notice.
All employment contracts must be made in writing and must contain information regarding the workplace, nature of the job, duration of the agreement, annual leave, notice period, remuneration, termination, training, etc. As of June 1, 2025, employers are required to submit an electronic work record upon concluding an employment contract in the digital Employment Register, under the National Revenue Agency, within 3 days of concluding a contract. Any changes to the employment contract must also be recorded in the register within 3 days. The termination of an employment contract must also be recorded in the register within 7 days.
Bulgarian law considers post-termination non-compete clauses void. The law allows employment contracts to prohibit employees from working for another employer to protect a trade secret and/or to prevent a conflict of interest.
Temporary employment contracts can be concluded for the performance of temporary or seasonal work. Employers can also hire temporary employees through temporary hiring agencies to complete a particular task or replace absent employees. The total number of temporary employees at a user undertaking may not exceed 30% of the employees employed by the user.
Employers must conclude a written agreement with the temporary employment agency to engage its services. The temporary employment agency is responsible for paying salaries. The user employer is responsible for providing a safe work environment and determining additional overtime or night work payments.
Both the temporary work agency and the company using the worker’s services are jointly responsible for all obligations related to the employees that arise during, because of, or in connection with the work assigned.
According to the Labor Code of Bulgaria, employment contracts can include a probationary period of up to 6 months. If the duration of the employment contract is less than 1 year, the probationary period cannot exceed 1 month. An employee can undergo probation only once with the same employer for the same job at the same enterprise. During the trial period, the parties shall have all rights and duties they would have had under a final employment contract.
The standard workweek is 40 hours or 8 hours per day. For employees working in risky work environments or employees under 18 years of age, the daily working hours are reduced by 1 hour.
An employer can extend working hours on some working days for business reasons by giving a written order. Employees can then be compensated through a respective reduction of the workday duration on other days. The duration of extended working hours cannot exceed 10 hours a day.
Employees have the statutory right not to respond to communications from their employer outside of working hours, during the daily and weekly rest periods, and during annual or other statutory leave. Exceptions may be agreed upon in the individual employment contract or in a collective labor agreement. This right applies to all employees, not only to those working remotely.
From June 1, 2025, employers are required to maintain a single electronic work record for each employee that contains data and circumstances related to the employee's work activity, including working hours. This record must be uploaded to a digital employment register maintained by the National Revenue Agency.
Employees become entitled to a paid annual leave of at least 20 days once they complete 8 months of service. Annual leave is extended by at least 5 days for employees working in harmful or hazardous conditions and for those who work an unstructured workday. Employees under 18 years of age are entitled to 26 days of paid annual leave.
Employees must pay employees a remuneration equal to the average daily gross remuneration during annual leave. It is prohibited to pay cash in lieu of annual leave, except in cases of termination.
The paid annual leave can be used in parts or at once. Employees must obtain written permission from their employers. Annual leave must be used until the end of the relevant calendar year, but it can be postponed by a year if work circumstances require it.
Employees are entitled to sick leave authorized by health authorities in case of temporary disability resulting from a general disease, an occupational disease, occupational injury, etc. Employers must pay 70% of the daily remuneration for the first 2 days. After that, employees who have worked for at least 6 months are eligible to cash benefits equal to 80% of their remuneration paid by the National Social Insurance Institute. The benefit for temporary disability due to an occupational accident or disease is 90% of the daily remuneration. This benefit is paid for a maximum of 18 months.
The Labor Code of Bulgaria provides a maternity leave of 410 days for each child, 45 days of which are to be taken before delivery. The employee can use the remaining 410 days based on a written request submitted to the employer. If a child is stillborn or dies while in full-time infant state support or adoption, the mother has the right to leave for 42 days from birth. With the mother's consent, after the child has reached the age of 6 months, the father may use the remaining leave until 410 days instead of her.
Effective July 1, 2025, employees are not entitled to compensation from the National Social Security Institute if they have secondary employment and perform work for which they are subject to general illness and maternity insurance during maternity leave. Employers must notify their employees on maternity leave that any work activity under a second contract must be reported.
Effective January 1, 2026, mothers who return to work before exhausting maternity leave will now receive 75% of the benefit amount received during their leave for the duration of unused leave.
When they are married to the mother or living in the same household, fathers are entitled to a 15-day childbirth leave starting from the child's delivery date. Employees must inform their employers in writing when availing themselves of this leave. With the mother's consent, after the child attains 6 months of age, the father may use the remaining days of the 410-day maternity leave instead of the mother. When the father is unknown, the leave can be used by one of the mother's parents.
From March 2023, fathers can also avail of a 2-month paid leave until the child turns 8, if they have not utilized the 15-day paternity leave. This leave can be used all at once or in parts. This leave is paid at the rate of minimum wage by the National Social Security Institute. They must inform their employers at least 10 days in advance. Effective July 1, 2025, employees are not entitled to compensation from the National Social Security Institute if they have secondary employment and perform work for which they are subject to general illness and maternity insurance during their paternity leave. Employers must notify their employees on paternity leave that any work activity under a second contract must be reported.
The minimum notice period for dismissal is 30 days in the case of indefinite term employment contracts (the notice period cannot exceed 3 months). For fixed-term contracts, the notice period is 3 months but not more than the remainder of the contract term. The notice period must be confirmed in writing. Employment contracts can be terminated without notice in case of misconduct, falsification of identity/qualification, medical reasons, etc.
If a contract is terminated before the expiry of the notice period or without a notice period, the initiating party will be responsible for paying the other party for the remaining notice period.
Severance benefits are paid according to the reason for termination:
Dismissal due to the company's closure, redundancy, reduced workload, or work stoppage for more than 15 days – compensation for the period the employee was out of work, but not more than 1 month
Dismissal due to illness – compensation for 2 months, provided the employee has worked for at least 5 years
Termination due to retirement – 2 months' compensation or 6 months' compensation if the employee has worked for 10 years with the same employer
Employees dismissed due to disciplinary issues are not entitled to severance pay.
