Bulgaria
There’s plenty of great remote talent in Bulgaria. But how do you go about hiring them? That’s the question we’ll answer for you by the end of this page. You’ll learn about legal obligations, risks, and the easiest path to hiring great talent in Bulgaria.
Country snapshot
CURRENCY
Bulgarian Lev (BGN)
EMPLOYER TAXES
18.92% - 19.62%
PAYROLL FREQUENCY
Monthly
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
Bulgarian
It’s the fastest way to hire globally
Hiring employees takes months, at the minimum. When you hire with Thera's locally-generated contracts, it’s a matter of days or weeks. This means you can hire the best talent, fast, without losing them to a hellish procession of paperwork.
It’s a lot cheaper
It costs just $0 to sign up for Thera, then $25 per month to hire your contractors with Thera. If you hired employees manually (or did contracting on your own), you’d likely be on the hook for thousands of dollars each month. Setting up an entity alone can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
It’s more flexible for you & your team
Can be less risky than hiring employees
Hiring employees is a bigger commitment, and can open you up to increased liabilities and regulations. When you hire contractors overseas, your biggest risk is misclassification—but laws surrounding contractor classification are often significantly more straightforward.
Some people want to be employees
The contractor life isn’t for everyone—some people want the security that being an employee often appears to provide. Though it’s rare, this does happen, and it’s one disadvantage of manage an all-contractor team.
You might not have as much control over your talent
Most countries’ contractor-employer relationship laws stipulate that the employer can’t set fixed working hours, among other things. These laws give contractors more freedom over how and when they do their work than an employee would have. In reality, however, most contractors are willing & able to work on the company’s schedule—it’s a matter of setting expectations beforehand.
It doesn’t matter where your HQ is, we can tell you one thing: Bulgaria has different labor laws than your home country (well, unless your home country is Bulgaria, of course). If you don’t do things right, you’ll be putting your company at the risk of fines—and risk losing the talent you brought onboard.
Hire talent as contractors
Hire talent as employees
If you’ve read up until this point, you’ll know that it’s easier, cheaper, and more flexible to hire contractors in Bulgaria than employees. Still, there are valid reasons why you might want to hire employees instead. The content below is for you—we’ll cover employer taxes and obligations in Bulgaria
Employer tax
Social Security + Unemployment
Accident at Work & Occupational Illness Fund
Health Insurance
Paid Time Off (PTO)
PTO is calculated by the:
- 20 days minimum, and can be used by employees after 8 months of service at their company.
Public Holidays
There are 16 public holidays.
Sick Days
The duration of sick leave entitlement provided to workers is dependent on how long they have been employed by their employer:
- The employer pays 70% of the basic income for the first three days of sickness.
- Social Security provides 80% of the basic income from the fourth day of sickness until full recovery.
Maternity Leave
410 days, paid at 90% of basic income (average gross wage in the 24 months prior). Maternity leave can begin 45 days before the birth of the child. The first 135 days are mandatory.
Paternity Leave
New fathers are entitled to 15 days leave paid at 90% basic income rate.
Parental Leave
After the baby reaches the age of 6 months, any part of the remaining maternity leave can to transferred to the father.
Other Leave
None.
Marriage Leave
In the event of their marriage employees are entitled to paid leave for 2 days.
Bereavement Leave
Employees are entitled for two days of leave to attend the funeral of a family member.
Termination Process
An employer must provide the employee with a month’s written notice regarding the termination.
The notice period can be up to 3 months if stated in a contractual agreement.
Notice Period
The notice period in Bulgaria is:
One month minimum, three months maximum, depending on terms of the contract.
Severance Pay
The Severance Pay in Bulgaria depends on:
Employees who are cut for reasons of redundancy or if the company is closing or downsizing are entitled to one month’s pay in severance.
Probation Period
Probation period is 6 months.
Working Hours
Full-time employment is considered 40 hours weekly, and 8 hours daily.
Overtime
Overtime cannot exceed 3 hours per day (2 hours at night) over two consecutive days, 6 hours (4 at night) in a week, 30 hours (20 at night) in a month and 150 hours in one year.
Overtime is paid at a rate of +50% for regular days; +75% for weekends; +100% for national holidays.
%5B1%5D.avif)
Run your global workforce on autopilot with Thera
Book a demo to get started.