Holidays

• 1st January – New Year’s Day
• 3rd March – Liberation Day
• 30th April – Orthodox Good Friday (Movable)
• 1st May – Orthodox Holy Saturday
• 2nd May – Orthodox Easter Day
• 3rd May – Orthodox Easter Monday
• 4th May – Labour Day
• 6th May – St. George’s Day
• 24th May – Culture and Literacy Day
• 6th September – Unification Day
• 22nd September – Independence Day
• 24th December – Christmas Eve
• 25th December – Christmas Day
• 26th December – Second Day of Christmas
• 27th December – Second Day of Christmas
• 28th December – Second Day of Christmas

Paid Time Off

• Vacation/Annual Paid Leave

Employees are entitled to up to 20 days of paid annual leave if they have been employed for at least 8 months before taking the leave.

Regarding minors and employees that are partly unable to work (from a degree of 50 %) the minimum annual leave amounts to 26 days.

Specific categories of employees and officials are entitled to extended annual leave. To take an extended annual leave, the employment must be of a special type and the employee’s service acquired must be of at least 8 months. This leave may amount from 30 to 48 days. The extended annual leave is added to the basic vacation.

• Rollovers and payout of unused hours

• Use-it-or-lose-it policy 

Employees are entitled to carry over up to 10 days of paid annual leave into the next calendar year. The paid annual leave shall lapse within 2 years of the end of the year for which it is due or as of the end of the year in which the reason for its non-use is no longer present.

• PTO payout at the termination

Employers are required to pay employees the monetary value of their paid leave entitlement at the termination of employment.

Maternity Leave, Child Raising Leave, Parental Leave

Maternity Leave

The employee is entitled to 410 days of paid maternity leave, which commences 45 days prior to the child’s due date. During this period, the employee will receive monthly compensation up to 90 per cent of her social security income, calculated on the basis of the instalments paid for the last 24 months. In addition, for the period between the expiration of the 410 days and the child reaching the age of two years, the employee is entitled to monthly compensation, paid by social security, in the amount of the minimal monthly salary.

Adoption Leave

Adoptive parents are entitled to 365 days leave upon adoption of a child up to 5 years of age starting from the date of the adoption.

Paternity Leave

Father are entitled to up to 15 days of paid leave. In addition, after the child reaches the age of 6 months, fathers may also take on the care for child until the expiration of 410 days. Adoptive fathers can also take care of the child from the 6th month after the adoption until the end of the leave (365 days).

If the maternity leave (pregnancy and birth) or adoption leave is not used, or the person using such leave terminates its use, the mother (adoptive mother), if she is working under an employment relationship, is entitled to be paid a cash compensation from the State Social Security.

Sick Leave

Employees are entitled to paid sick leave due to an illness, an accident at work, if they are required to attend a medical examination or to provide necessary care for family members. The leave starts the first days of occurrence until working capacity is regained or until disablement is established. Employer is required to pay for the first 3 days of the leave, then the rest of the leave is paid by the State Social Security.

Employees are required to provide a medical certificate.

Jury Duty Leave, and Voting Leave

An employee is entitled to leave in case he or she has been called to appear in court or other bodies as a party, a witness or an expert.

Bereavement Leave

Employees are entitled to up to 2 days of paid leave in the event of the death of a parent, a child, a spouse, a brother, a sister and a parent of the spouse or other relatives in direct lineage.

Military Leave

An employee called up for mobilisation training event shall be deemed to be on official leave for the duration of the training, including the days of travelling to and returning from the training camp.

If the mobilisation training lasts for 15 days or more, the employee is entitled to two calendar days of paid leave before departure, and two more days following his return, which shall be included in the annual paid leave.

Please consult your local legal counsel to learn more about Bulgaria Leave Laws.

To learn more about laws in various countries, check out our Leave Laws page.