Legal Alert Act Amending and Complementing the Labour Code
ACTS AMENDING AND COMPLEMENTING THE LABOUR CODE
(IN FORCE AS OF 22 DECEMBER 2008 AND 2 JANUARY 2009)
In State Gazette No. 108/19.12.2008 and No. 109/23.12.2008 were promulgated Acts amending and supplementing the Labour Code which enter into force respectively on 22.12.2008 and on 02.01.2009г.
Some of the most important amendments introduced by the Acts are summarized below.
- Applicable Law to Employment Relations
The provisions on applicability of Bulgarian labour law to employment relations have been amended. The Bulgarian Labour Code is applicable in the following cases:
(a) to employment relations of Bulgarian citizens, European Union (“EU”) and European Economic Area (“EEA”) member-state citizens, and Swiss citizens with employers in Bulgaria or with Bulgarian employers abroad;
(b) to employment relations of Bulgarian citizens, EU and EEA member-state citizens, and Swiss citizens delegated by Bulgarian employers to work in another state in a foreign or joint enterprise;
(c) to employment relations of foreign citizens working in Bulgaria.
Besides, the parties are given the right to choose another state’s law to apply to their employment relation.
- Overtime Work
To a greater extent the admissibility of overtime work has been facilitated in cases where commenced work cannot be finished during the regular working time. In this case the requirement that the interruption of the work should be able to bring about danger to human life or health or damage of machines and materials has been abolished.
