Employee benefitsin Bulgaria

Employees in Bulgaria are automatically insured with the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), the public body that pays for a defined basic package of care. Cover includes visits to a chosen general practitioner, referred specialist care, diagnostic tests, hospital treatment, maternity care, part of dental care and reimbursed medicines, delivered by doctors and hospitals under contract with the fund; patients pay small user fees for some services. The 2026 health contribution is 8% of insurable pay, split 4.8% employer and 3.2% employee, up to the monthly maximum insurable income. While an employee receives sickness, maternity or child-raising benefits, the employer pays the health contribution on the minimum insurable income for self-insured people. Self-employed people pay the full 8% themselves.

Private medical insurance is one of the most widespread employer benefits in Bulgaria, especially among larger, international and technology employers. Employers buy group health policies from licensed insurers on top of compulsory public health insurance. Typical policies give faster access to private clinics and hospitals, specialist consultations without waiting for a public referral, laboratory tests and diagnostics and annual check-ups; broader plans add hospital treatment, dental care, maternity cover or optional family members, often at the employee's cost. Who pays for family members and how much of the premium the employee bears depends on the employer's policy. Employer premiums for voluntary health insurance, together with voluntary pension and life insurance premiums, are exempt from employee income tax up to about EUR 30.68 per employee a month in total; amounts above that are taxed. Insurers forecast medical cost inflation of about 11% for 2026, so employers are reviewing plan design and limits.

Subsidised sports cards are a widespread benefit in Bulgaria. Employers pay for or co-fund a monthly multi-facility sports card that gives employees access to a network of gyms, swimming pools and fitness classes. Gym memberships also appear among the most popular benefits in employer pay surveys.

Bulgarian employees are insured against work accidents and occupational diseases through the state social insurance system. The employer alone pays a contribution of 0.4% to 1.1% of insurable pay, set each year in the social insurance budget act according to the business's main economic activity. An employee who is unable to work because of a work accident or occupational disease receives a daily benefit from the National Social Security Institute (NSSI) of 90% of average daily insurable earnings from the first day, with no minimum insurance period and without the net-pay cap that applies to ordinary sickness. Disability and survivor pensions are available for lasting harm.

Employers whose work carries a risk to life and health must also buy compulsory work-accident insurance from a private insurer at their own cost, covering death, permanent loss of work capacity and temporary incapacity caused by a work accident. For activities where accident rates equal or exceed the national average, the minimum sum insured is seven times the employee's gross annual pay.

Bulgaria's state pension fund (фонд „Пенсии“), run by the National Social Security Institute (NSSI), pays contributory old-age, disability and survivor pensions. For employees born after 1959 the contribution is 14.8% of insurable pay (employer 8.22%, employee 6.58%), alongside a 5% contribution to a compulsory private universal pension fund; for those born before 1960 the state pension contribution is 19.8% (employer 11.02%, employee 8.78%).

In 2026 the contributory pension age is 62 years and 6 months for women with 36 years and 10 months of insurance, and 64 years and 9 months for men with 39 years and 10 months; both ages are rising towards 65 and the service requirements towards 37 years for women and 40 for men. People without enough service can retire later with at least 15 years of actual insurance. From 1 July 2026 the minimum contributory pension is EUR 347.51 a month. Survivors may receive a survivor's pension, and the state pays a one-off death grant.

Employees in Bulgaria born after 31 December 1959 have a second, privately managed pension account in a universal pension fund (UPF), chosen by the employee from licensed pension companies. The contribution is 5% of insurable pay, split 2.8% employer and 2.2% employee, collected with other contributions and invested on the employee's individual account. The account pays a supplementary lifetime pension when the employee reaches state pension age, and the balance can be inherited before retirement. Self-employed people born after 1959 pay the full 5% themselves. Workers in first- and second-category hazardous work also have employer-funded professional pension fund contributions of 12% or 7%.

Employees in Bulgaria who lose their job can claim unemployment benefit from the National Social Security Institute (NSSI) if unemployment-fund contributions were paid for at least 12 of the 18 months before insurance ended, they register with the Employment Agency within 7 days, have no right to an old-age pension and are not working. The daily benefit is 60% of average daily insurable earnings over the previous 24 months, with a 2026 minimum of EUR 9.21 and maximum of EUR 54.78 a day, paid monthly for the working days in each month.

The payment period depends on insured service since 2002: 4 months for up to 3 years, 6 months for over 3 to 7 years, 8 months for over 7 to 11 years, 10 months for over 11 to 15 years, and 12 months for more than 15 years. People who resign, leave by agreement (including an employer-proposed exit with compensation) or are dismissed for misconduct receive only the minimum benefit for 4 months, as do people claiming again within 3 years. The claim must be filed within 3 months of insurance ending to be paid from that date.

A Bulgarian employer may offer to end an employment contract in return for compensation. The employee has 7 days to accept in writing; silence counts as rejection. If the employee accepts, the employer must pay at least 4 times the employee's last gross monthly pay, or more if agreed. If the compensation is not paid within one month of the termination date, the termination ground lapses. Because this route needs no statutory dismissal ground, it is widely used for negotiated exits. Employees leaving this way receive only the minimum unemployment benefit for 4 months.

Bulgaria has no general severance entitlement; the Labour Code requires compensation only on specific grounds, paid by the employer on the employee's gross monthly pay:

- Closure of all or part of the business, staff reduction, reduced workload, work stoppage of more than 15 working days, refusal to relocate with the business, or freeing the post for a reinstated employee: gross pay for the period the employee remains unemployed, up to 1 month (a collective agreement, government act or contract may provide more).
- Termination for illness: 2 months' gross pay if the employee has at least 5 years' service and has not received this payment in the last 5 years.
- Termination after the employee qualifies for a contributory old-age pension, whatever the reason: 2 months' gross pay, or 6 months' if the employee has worked 10 years for the same employer or group in the last 20 years; paid only once.
- Employee resigning without notice because the employer delayed pay or unilaterally changed the place, nature or pay of work: gross pay for the notice period (actual damages on a fixed-term contract).

Unused annual leave is always compensated, and unfair dismissal can lead to up to 6 months' pay. A separate rule requires at least 4 months' pay where the employer proposes ending the contract by agreement. Payment is due by the end of the month after termination.

Bulgarian employers may set aside money for social, welfare and cultural services for their staff. How the money is used is decided by the general meeting of employees, and the funds cannot be redirected to other purposes. The Labour Code lists typical uses: organised meals or canteens, transport between home and work, holiday and sports facilities, cultural activities and libraries, support for young and newly hired employees, and other social needs; by decision of the general meeting, retired former employees can also benefit. Social benefits provided in kind are taxed at employer level rather than as employee income, which makes them a tax-efficient way to fund items such as transport, food vouchers and voluntary insurance.

Some Bulgarian employers provide group life insurance, often combined with accident and disability cover, as part of a wider benefits package. Policies typically pay a lump sum to the employee's beneficiaries on death and may pay a benefit for permanent disability. This is separate from the compulsory work-accident insurance that employers in higher-risk activities must buy. Employer life-insurance premiums count towards the combined tax exemption of about EUR 30.68 per employee a month for voluntary insurance and pension contributions.

Some Bulgarian employers, mainly large companies, pay contributions into a voluntary supplementary pension fund (доброволен пенсионен фонд) for their employees, on top of the compulsory state and universal pension fund contributions. Contributions are often shared between employer and employee, and one guide reports an average of about 2% of monthly salary. Funds are managed by licensed pension companies and paid out from retirement, with earlier withdrawal possible under the fund rules. Employer contributions are tax-free for the employee up to about EUR 30.68 a month, combined with voluntary health and life insurance premiums; employees can deduct their own voluntary pension contributions up to 10% of annual taxable income.

Bulgarian employees should use their annual leave in the calendar year it relates to. Leave can be postponed to the following year by the employer for important business reasons (as long as the employee takes at least half the year's leave) or by the employee when on another type of leave or at their request with the employer's consent. Postponed or unused leave must then be granted within 6 months after the end of the year it relates to; if the employer does not allow it, the employee can set the dates, giving 14 days' written notice. The right to take leave expires 2 years after the end of the year for which it was due (or, for postponed leave, 2 years after the reason for postponement ends). Unused, unexpired leave is paid out when employment ends.

Every employee in Bulgaria is entitled to at least 20 working days of paid annual leave a year. Someone starting work for the first time can take leave after 4 months of service; if the job ends earlier, unused leave is paid out. Employees doing work with specific health risks and those on an irregular working day get at least 5 extra working days each, and certain categories (such as teachers and some public-sector roles) have longer leave set by government decree. Part-time employees receive leave in proportion to their hours. Public holidays falling on working days are not deducted from annual leave.

Leave is taken with the employer's written permission and may be split. The employer may send employees on leave without their consent during a stoppage of more than 5 working days, collective leave, or if the employee has not requested leave by year end after being invited to. Leave pay is based on the employee's average daily gross pay in the last month in which they worked at least 10 working days. Paid leave cannot be exchanged for cash except on termination.

An employee in Bulgaria who is unable to work because of illness receives sick pay from the first day, based on a sick-leave certificate (болничен лист) issued electronically by a doctor. The employer pays the first 2 working days at 70% of the employee's average daily gross pay for that month, and not less than 70% of the agreed daily pay. From the third day the National Social Security Institute (NSSI) pays a daily benefit of 80% of average daily insurable earnings over the previous 18 months, capped at the employee's average daily net pay and at the monthly maximum insurable income. For a work accident or occupational disease the NSSI pays 90% from the first day, without the net-pay cap.

To qualify for the NSSI benefit for ordinary illness the employee needs at least 6 months of sickness insurance (not required for under-18s). The benefit continues until recovery or until a disability is assessed; a treating doctor can certify up to 14 days at a time, with longer absences approved by medical commissions. The employee must present the certificate to the employer within 2 working days of its issue, and the employer sends the data to the NSSI by the 10th of the following month.

Bulgarian employers must give employees time off for certain events: 2 working days on getting married; 2 working days on the death of a parent, child, spouse, sibling, parent-in-law or other direct relative; the day of a blood donation medical check and donation plus the following day; and time needed to appear in court or before other authorities as a party, witness or expert. Pay for marriage, bereavement and blood-donation leave follows the collective agreement or an agreement between employee and employer, so it is not automatically full pay. Employees serving notice from the employer also get 1 hour off a day to look for work if they work more than 7 hours a day.

Where a collective agreement provides for it, a mother with two living children under 18 receives 2 extra paid working days a year, and with three or more children 4 days.

Insured employees in Bulgaria can take paid leave to look after or accompany a sick family member, paid by the National Social Security Institute (NSSI) on the same terms as ordinary sick pay (80% of average daily insurable earnings). Each insured person can take up to 10 calendar days a year to care for a sick family member over 18. Care for a sick child under 18 is allowed for up to 60 calendar days a year in total for all insured family members. Additional leave covers a child under 18 in quarantine, a hospitalised child under 3 who stays with the parent, and a healthy child under 12 sent home because of school or nursery quarantine. Only one family member can receive the benefit for the same case and period.

A Bulgarian employer may grant unpaid leave at the employee's request, whatever their length of service or remaining paid leave. Up to 30 working days of unpaid leave in a calendar year count as service (and towards insurance for benefit purposes); longer periods count only where a law or government act says so. The employer must grant up to one year of unpaid leave, once, to an employee who takes up a post with an EU institution, the United Nations or certain other international organisations.

Some Bulgarian employers give more paid annual leave than the 20 working-day legal minimum, typically 5 to 6 extra days a year, sometimes increasing with length of service. Extra days are written into the employment contract, internal rules or a collective agreement and are taken like statutory leave. Employees on an irregular working day or in hazardous work already have at least 5 additional statutory days.

A pregnant employee in Bulgaria is entitled to 410 days of maternity leave for each child, of which 45 days must be taken before the birth; if the baby arrives early, the remaining pre-birth days are added after the birth. During the full 410 days the National Social Security Institute (NSSI) pays a daily benefit of 90% of her average daily insurable earnings over the 24 months before the leave starts, capped at her average daily net pay and the maximum insurable income, and not less than the daily minimum wage. To qualify she needs 12 months of sickness and maternity insurance, which can be with different employers.

The first stages are certified by doctors (45 days before birth, then 42 days after, then the remainder up to day 135); the rest of the 410 days is requested from the employer. Once the child is 6 months old, the mother can transfer the remaining leave and benefit to the father or to a grandparent who is employed, who is then paid on their own earnings. A mother who returns to work before day 410 receives 50% of her daily benefit on top of her salary. If the child is stillborn or dies, the mother keeps at least 42 days of leave after the birth. Employees on maternity leave can be dismissed only if the whole business closes.

An employee in Bulgaria who breastfeeds her child is entitled to paid nursing breaks until the child is 8 months old: 1 hour twice a day or, if she agrees, 2 hours at once, reduced to 1 hour a day for employees working 7 hours or less. After 8 months she keeps 1 hour a day for as long as health authorities consider breastfeeding necessary. Mothers of twins or premature babies get 3 hours a day until 8 months and 2 hours afterwards. The same rights apply to adoptive mothers. The employer pays for the breaks. Employers must also give pregnant employees paid time off for medical check-ups that must take place during working hours.

A father in Bulgaria who is married to the mother or lives in the same household is entitled to 15 days of leave from the date the baby is discharged from hospital. During this leave the National Social Security Institute (NSSI) pays 90% of his average daily insurable earnings over the previous 24 months, if he has at least 6 months of sickness and maternity insurance. The days run as calendar days from discharge. An adoptive father married to the adoptive mother has the same 15 days from the child's placement, for children up to age 5. Fathers can also use two months of paid leave to raise a child up to age 8 and, once the child is 6 months old, can take over the remaining maternity leave with the mother's consent.

An employee in Bulgaria who adopts a child under 5 is entitled to 365 days of adoption leave from the day the child is handed over, ending no later than the child's fifth birthday. The National Social Security Institute (NSSI) pays 90% of average daily insurable earnings, as for maternity, to adopters with 12 months of sickness and maternity insurance. When spouses adopt, the adoptive father or a grandparent can take over the remaining leave after 6 months with the adoptive mother's consent, and an adoptive father married to the adoptive mother also gets 15 days of paid leave from the handover. If the child is still under 2 when the leave ends, second-year child-raising leave follows.

After maternity and child-raising leave, each employed parent in Bulgaria may take up to 6 months of unpaid leave to raise a child until the child turns 8, unless the child is in full state care. Each parent can use up to 5 months of the other parent's allowance with their consent. A parent raising a child alone (unmarried and not living with the other parent, or where the other parent has died or lost parental rights) gets 12 months. The leave can be taken at once or in parts of at least 5 working days, with at least 10 working days' notice to the employer, and counts as service. Parents of children up to 12 may also ask in writing for temporary changes to hours or remote work to balance work and family.

Bulgarian law does not require a 13th-month salary, Christmas bonus or holiday allowance. Any such payment depends on the employment contract, the employer's internal pay rules or a collective agreement, which also set eligibility, amount and timing. Where an employer commits to a recurring bonus in these documents, it becomes enforceable; discretionary bonuses are paid at the employer's choice. Bonuses are taxed and subject to contributions like salary.

Employee referral bonuses are a common recruitment tool in Bulgaria. An employee who recommends a candidate who is hired receives a cash bonus when the conditions in the employer's referral policy are met. Amounts and conditions are set in the employer's policy and are taxed as employment income.

Bonuses are common in Bulgaria. In a 2025 survey of 568 employers, 83% used variable pay schemes such as performance bonuses and incentives. Many employers also pay an extra month's salary or a smaller year-end bonus in December under their internal pay rules, although no law requires a 13th-month payment. Sector practice varies: manufacturers use production bonuses and shift premiums, tourism employers pay seasonal and peak-period bonuses, and technology companies combine annual performance bonuses with other incentives. Eligibility, amount and timing follow the employment contract, internal pay rules or collective agreement; once promised in those documents, the bonus is enforceable. Bonuses are taxed and subject to contributions like salary.

Remote work (работа от разстояние) in Bulgaria is voluntary and must be agreed in the individual employment contract or a collective agreement, which sets the place, nature and conditions of the work; hybrid patterns and switching back to the office can be agreed too. An employee's refusal of an employer's proposal to work remotely may not lead to any adverse consequences. The contract can name more than one work location, and the employer can change the location for up to 30 working days a year at the employee's written request.

Unless the contract allows the employee's own equipment, the employer pays for the equipment and consumables needed, software, technical maintenance, communication devices including internet connectivity, and data protection. The employee provides the workplace and must describe it in writing; the employer remains responsible for health and safety and may visit with notice and consent. Remote employees organise their own hours within the contract, record time worked monthly, and have the same pay, leave and social-programme rights as office staff. The contract may exclude overtime, night work and holiday work.

Bulgarian employees who are parents or adoptive parents of a child under 12, or who care for a close relative for serious medical reasons, can propose in writing a temporary change to their working hours or schedule, a move to remote work or other changes to help balance work and family. Changes are made by written mutual agreement where the business can accommodate them, and the employee can ask to return to the previous arrangement early. If the employer refuses, it must give written reasons within 14 days. Employees starting work for the first time with that employer can use this right after 4 months of service.

Bulgarian employees who study at a secondary school or university alongside work, with their employer's consent, are entitled to 25 working days of paid study leave for each academic year, in addition to annual leave. They also get a one-off 30 working days of paid leave to prepare for and sit final state exams or defend a thesis. With the employer's consent, part-time doctoral students get a one-off 6 months of paid leave to complete a doctoral dissertation (12 months for a higher Doctor of Sciences degree). Employees in evening studies leave work an hour early on study days. Unused study leave is not paid out. Employers must also maintain and improve employees' qualifications, and training required by the employer counts as working time.

Food vouchers are one of the most common employee benefits in Bulgaria. Employers load an electronic voucher card each month that employees can spend on food and meals at participating shops and restaurants; it cannot be used for cash, alcohol or tobacco. The popularity comes from tax treatment: vouchers up to EUR 102.26 per employee a month (the former BGN 200 limit converted at the fixed euro rate) are exempt from income tax and social contributions, provided basic pay is not reduced to fund them and the employer has no enforceable public debts. The voucher value is set by each employer. Paper vouchers are no longer tax-exempt from 2025. Some employers also provide canteen meals or meals at work.

Employers in Bulgaria's knowledge sector commonly provide laptops, computers and accessories for work, and many extend this to home working set-ups. For employees who work remotely under a remote-work agreement, the Labour Code requires the employer to provide and maintain the necessary equipment, software and consumables unless the contract allows the employee to use their own device. Equipment remains the employer's property and is returned when employment ends.

Hybrid and remote work is common among technology, IT and business-services employers in Bulgaria, where flexible hours and part-time or full-time work from home are widely offered to attract skilled staff. Across the wider economy home-based work remains rare: in 2020 only 1.2% of employed people in Bulgaria usually worked from home, the lowest share in the EU. Arrangements are set out in a remote-work clause or annex to the employment contract, which fixes the work location, availability hours and equipment, and the employer must provide equipment and internet for remote work.

Some Bulgarian employers help with commuting by running company transport between home and work, reimbursing public transport cards or providing parking spaces, which are particularly valued in Sofia. Employer-paid transport from home to work is not taxed as employee income, which makes it an efficient benefit.

Some Bulgarian employers provide company mobile phones or reimburse phone bills for staff who need them for work. For employees working remotely under a remote-work agreement, the employer must pay for communication devices and internet connectivity needed for the work, unless the contract provides otherwise.

Some Bulgarian employers fund professional training, certifications, conferences and language courses for their staff, and training programmes appear among popular benefits in employer surveys. Budgets and eligibility follow internal policy. Separately, employees studying with their employer's consent have statutory paid study leave.

Some Bulgarian employers cover relocation costs such as travel, temporary accommodation, help with permits and initial settling-in expenses. Support is set in the offer letter or the employer's relocation policy. Foreign employees are otherwise entitled to the same statutory benefits as Bulgarian employees.

Bulgarian law requires work that is in substance an employment relationship to be performed under an employment contract: the Labour Code states that the provision of labour is governed only by employment relationships. Typical signs of employment are work at set times and places under the employer's direction, integration into its organisation and disciplinary control. Independent contractors work under civil contracts (граждански договор) for a defined task or result, carry the risk of the result, invoice or are paid fees, handle their own tax and social contributions and receive no employee benefits such as paid leave.

If the Labour Inspectorate finds labour is being provided outside an employment contract, it can declare that an employment relationship exists by order, require the employer to offer a contract from the date work began, and fine the employer BGN 1,500 to 15,000 (about EUR 767 to EUR 7,669) per breach, or BGN 15,000 to 20,000 (about EUR 7,669 to EUR 10,226) for a repeat breach, with unpaid contributions recovered. For pension purposes, work is classed into first, second and third labour categories; almost all office and technology roles fall into the third, standard category.

Bulgarian law has no separate employer-of-record category. A company without a Bulgarian entity can hire directly by registering as an employer for social insurance and payroll, or use a local entity that employs staff on its behalf. Where a business employs people specifically to assign them to work under another company's direction and control, the Labour Code's temporary agency work rules apply. The agency must be registered with the Employment Agency, have no unpaid public debts, and hold group insurance or an unconditional bank guarantee of BGN 200,000 (about EUR 102,258) for workers' claims. The agency and the user company sign a written contract, and the user company must give assigned workers the same basic working conditions and equal treatment as its own comparable staff, provide safety training and pay for their compulsory work-accident insurance. Assigned workers keep their full statutory rights to leave, social insurance and unemployment benefits.

Every employment contract in Bulgaria must be in writing and signed before work begins. It must identify the parties and set the place of work, job title and nature of the work, signing and start dates, duration, basic and extended paid annual leave, an equal notice period for both sides, basic and permanent additional pay and pay frequency, and daily or weekly working hours. The job title must follow the National Classification of Occupations and Positions (НКПД). The employer must give written notice of any change before it takes effect.

The employer must enter the contract in the employment register kept by the National Revenue Agency (NRA), Bulgaria's tax and social-contribution authority, within 3 days of signing or amending it and within 7 days of its termination. Before the employee starts, the employer must hand over a signed copy of the contract and the NRA-certified registration record; the employee may not be admitted to work without them, and must start within one week unless another date is agreed. Since 1 June 2025 employment history is kept in a single electronic employment record (единен електронен трудов запис), which replaced the paper labour book.

Contracts are open-ended by default. Fixed-term contracts of up to 3 years are allowed for temporary, seasonal or short-term work; for permanent work they require a term of at least one year (or a shorter term at the employee's written request) and can be renewed only once. A fixed-term contract becomes open-ended if the employee keeps working for 5 or more working days after expiry without written objection. Employers must keep a personnel file for each employee. Breaching the contract-form or registration rules exposes the employer to fines of BGN 1,500 to 15,000 (about EUR 767 to EUR 7,669) per breach.

Bulgarian employees are entitled to a monthly pay supplement for length of service and professional experience (допълнително възнаграждение за трудов стаж и професионален опит, often called 'клас'). The legal minimum is 0.6% of the basic monthly salary for each year of qualifying service, so an employee with 10 years' service receives at least 6% on top of basic pay. The right starts after one year of service and the percentage rises for each further full year. Service with the same employer counts, and the employer must also count comparable work with previous employers, including in other EU member states. A collective agreement, internal pay rules or the employment contract may set a higher rate. The supplement is paid for time actually worked and is part of permanent pay, so it counts towards leave pay and severance calculations.

Unless otherwise agreed, Bulgarian law requires pay to be made every month in two instalments, an advance and a final payment; in practice most employers pay monthly, usually by the end of the month or early in the following month. Pay is made in person against signature or, at the employee's written request, by transfer to the employee's payment account; employers covered by the Limitation of Cash Payments Act must pay by bank transfer. Wages cannot be paid in cryptocurrency.

Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026 at a fixed rate of 1.95583 leva per euro, so contracts, payslips and payroll must be in euro; the lev ceased to be legal tender after 31 January 2026. Employers withhold income tax and employee contributions and pay them, with employer contributions, by the 25th of the month after the work month. Payroll, contract and personnel records must be kept for 50 years.

Bulgaria's national minimum wage is EUR 620.20 a month from 1 January 2026, or EUR 3.74 an hour, for a full-time schedule of 8 hours a day over a 5-day week. The Council of Ministers sets the rate each year by decree (Decree No. 243 of 13 November 2025 for 2026); it was BGN 1,213 when announced, before Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026 at a fixed rate of 1.95583 leva per euro. Part-time employees receive at least the proportionate amount. The minimum wage also anchors other payroll rules: it is the floor for social-insurance contributions where no higher activity-specific minimum applies and the basis for the statutory night-work supplement.

Overtime is prohibited in Bulgaria except in cases listed in the Labour Code, including national defence, disasters, urgent repairs to utilities and equipment, finishing work that cannot be completed in normal hours and intensive seasonal work. Overtime is capped at 150 hours per employee per calendar year (up to 300 hours under a sector collective agreement), 30 daytime or 20 night-time hours a month, 6 daytime or 4 night-time hours a week, and 3 daytime or 2 night-time hours over two consecutive working days.

Overtime must be paid at a premium agreed by the parties of at least 50% on working days, 75% on rest days, 100% on official holidays and 50% under summarised working time, calculated on the contractual salary. Work on an official holiday is paid at least double whether or not it is overtime. Employees on an irregular working day (ненормиран работен ден) receive no overtime pay for extra weekday hours but receive the rest-day and holiday premiums. Overtime may not be required of under-18s, pregnant employees or, without consent, mothers of children under 6. Employees may refuse overtime that breaks the rules, employers must keep an overtime register and report annual overtime to the Labour Inspectorate by 31 January.

The normal working week in Bulgaria is five days and up to 40 hours, with a normal working day of up to 8 hours. Employees get an unpaid meal break of at least 30 minutes, at least 12 hours of uninterrupted rest between working days and, on a five-day week, two consecutive rest days (normally including Sunday) giving at least 48 hours of weekly rest.

For production reasons the employer may lengthen some working days by written order and shorten others: an extended day may not exceed 10 hours, the week 48 hours, for no more than 60 working days a year and 20 in a row, and the extra time must be offset within 4 months. Employers may also use summarised working time (сумирано изчисляване), where hours are averaged over a reference period of 1 to 4 months (up to 12 months under a sector collective agreement), with shifts of up to 12 hours, weeks of up to 56 hours and at least 36 hours of weekly rest.

Night work runs from 22:00 to 06:00, with a normal night shift of up to 7 hours and 35 hours a week. Each night hour carries a supplement of at least 0.15% of the national minimum wage (about EUR 0.93 an hour in 2026), and the employer must provide free food or refreshments to night workers. Under-18s, pregnant employees and (without their consent) mothers of children under 6 may not work at night. The minimum working age is 16, with light work possible from 15 under labour-inspectorate permission.

A Bulgarian employment contract may include a probation period of up to 6 months, or up to 1 month where the work is agreed for a term shorter than one year. Probation is optional and must be written into the contract, which states whether it favours the employer, the employee or both; if it is silent, it favours both. During probation the parties have the same rights and duties as under a permanent contract, and the party in whose favour it runs can end the contract without notice and without giving a reason before the period expires. Time on statutory leave or other excused absence does not count towards the probation period, and a probation clause can be used only once for the same work with the same employee at the same employer.

Bulgaria has no at-will dismissal. An employer can end an employment contract only on a ground listed in the Labour Code, in writing. Grounds for dismissal with notice include closure of all or part of the business, staff reductions, reduced workload, work stoppage of more than 15 working days, lack of capacity to do the job effectively, lack of the required education or qualifications, refusal to follow the business to another location, changed job requirements the employee does not meet, entitlement to a contributory old-age pension, and objective impossibility of performing the contract. Dismissal without notice is possible mainly for disciplinary dismissal, imprisonment, loss of the right to practise and refusal of suitable alternative work on medical redeployment.

Some employees have special protection. For staff reductions, reduced workload, lack of capacity and changed requirements, the employer needs prior Labour Inspectorate permission to dismiss mothers of children under 3, employees with certain illnesses or reduced work capacity, employees already on authorised leave and elected employee or health-and-safety representatives; trade-union leaders need union consent. Pregnant employees and those in advanced in-vitro fertilisation treatment can be dismissed only on narrow grounds such as full closure, and employees on maternity leave only on full closure.

Before collective redundancies the employer must consult union and employee representatives at least 45 days in advance and notify the Employment Agency. An employee can challenge a dismissal in court within 2 months and seek reinstatement and compensation for up to 6 months without work.

When employment ends, a Bulgarian employer must pay compensation for all unused paid annual leave for the current year and any earlier untaken leave that has not expired, calculated on the employee's average daily gross pay. Paid annual leave cannot otherwise be exchanged for cash. Termination compensation under the Labour Code, such as severance, must be paid by the last day of the month after the month of termination unless a collective agreement sets another deadline; late payment carries statutory interest. The employer issues a dismissal order or other termination document, records the termination in the electronic employment record and enters it in the National Revenue Agency (NRA) employment register within 7 days.

Either party may end an open-ended Bulgarian employment contract on written notice of 30 days, unless the contract sets a longer period, which may not exceed 3 months; the same period applies to both sides. For redundancy-type dismissals and changed job requirements, a collective agreement may link the notice period to the employee's service with the employer. For a fixed-term contract the notice period is 3 months, but no longer than the remaining term. Notice runs from the day after it is received.

A party may end the contract before the notice expires by paying the other side compensation equal to the employee's gross pay for the unobserved part of the notice. Where the employer gives notice, an employee working more than 7 hours a day is entitled to one hour off work each day of the notice period. No notice is needed during probation by the party the probation favours, or in the cases where the Code allows termination without notice.

Employment income in Bulgaria is taxed at a flat 10%, with no tax-free allowance or brackets. The tax base is gross pay minus the employee's compulsory social and health contributions, so for most employees income tax equals 10% of gross pay after the 13.78% employee contributions. The employer withholds tax monthly and recalculates the annual tax by 31 January of the following year; the employee files an annual return by 30 April only where required, for example with other income or to claim reliefs. Bulgarian tax residents are taxed on worldwide income; non-residents on Bulgarian-source income. Other personal rates include a 5% final tax on dividends and 15% on the profit of sole traders.

Employers and employees in Bulgaria pay compulsory contributions on gross pay. For an employee born after 1959 in standard (third-category) work, the 2026 rates are:

- State pension fund: 14.8% (employer 8.22%, employee 6.58%).
- Universal pension fund (UPF), a compulsory private pension account for people born after 1959: 5% (employer 2.8%, employee 2.2%).
- General sickness and maternity fund: 3.5% (employer 2.1%, employee 1.4%).
- Unemployment fund: 1% (employer 0.6%, employee 0.4%).
- Work accident and occupational disease fund: 0.4% to 1.1%, employer only, depending on the business's economic activity.
- Compulsory health insurance with the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF): 8% (employer 4.8%, employee 3.2%).

The employer therefore pays 18.92% to 19.62% and the employee 13.78%, a combined 32.7% to 33.4%. The guaranteed-claims fund rate is 0% in 2026. For employees born before 1960, who have no UPF account, the state pension rate is 19.8% (employer 11.02%, employee 8.78%). Contributions are charged on gross pay, but not below the minimum insurable income set for the employee's activity and occupation, and stop at the monthly maximum insurable income set each year in the social insurance budget act. The employer withholds the employee share and pays all contributions by the 25th of the following month.

In Bulgaria, cash pay and most benefits from the employer are taxable employment income subject to the flat 10% income tax and contributions. Some benefits are exempt from employee tax. Social benefits provided in kind are not taxed as the employee's income because the employer pays a separate tax on them under corporate tax rules. Within that regime, these items are tax-free up to fixed limits written in leva in the law: electronic food vouchers up to BGN 200 (about EUR 102.26) per employee a month, if basic pay is not reduced and the employer has no enforceable public debts; and employer premiums for voluntary pension, voluntary health insurance and life insurance up to BGN 60 (about EUR 30.68) a month in total. Also exempt are employer-paid transport between home and work, one-off aid for medical treatment up to its cost, documented travel and accommodation costs and daily travel allowances up to twice the statutory amount, and protective work clothing. Employees can also deduct their own voluntary pension contributions and voluntary health and life insurance premiums, each up to 10% of annual taxable income.

Collective labour agreements in Bulgaria are concluded at company level between the employer and a trade union, and at sector or industry level between representative employer and union organisations. A sector agreement can be extended by the Minister of Labour and Social Policy to all businesses in that sector at the joint request of the parties, after which it binds every employer in the sector. Collective agreements commonly improve on statutory minimums, for example by setting higher seniority pay, longer notice linked to service, larger severance, paid days for parents or pay during special leave, and they can raise the annual overtime cap to 300 hours or allow 12-month reference periods for summarised working time. Employees have the right to join unions, and union leaders are protected against dismissal. The main national union confederations are the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria and the Confederation of Labour Podkrepa.