Important legislative changes for employers in connection with the state of emergency in Bulgaria

All the changes entered into force on 13 March.

Until the state of emergency is lifted, no attachments will be imposed on the bank accounts of individuals and medical institutions, on wages, other types of remuneration for work, or pensions, with certain exceptions. This change is in force until the state of emergency is lifted.

Employers may suspend the work of an entire enterprise, of its units or of individual employees for all or part of the period up until the state of emergency is lifted. If a company’s operations are suspended by order of the state authorities, the employer must not allow employees to come to work.

Employers may transfer their staff to home-based or remote work, and may also grant employees up to half of their paid leave. In both cases, such measures may be taken without the employee’s consent.

The restrictions introduced on overtime work do not apply to employees on reduced working hours who are involved in providing medical care.

If the volume of work decreases, the employer may introduce part-time working hours until the state of emergency is lifted, but working time may not be reduced by more than 50%.

While the law is in force, but for no more than three months, the National Social Security Institute (NOI) will pay employers that have suspended operations but are not dismissing staff, out of the “Unemployment” fund, an amount equal to 60% of the employees’ salary for January 2020.