Regulations on sexual harassment in the workplace in Bulgaria

The prohibition of sexual harassment is regulated in the Bulgarian Protection Against Discrimination Act (PADA). Pursuant to the PADA, sexual harassment is “any unwanted physical, verbal or other conduct of a sexual nature which violates the dignity or honour and creates a hostile, degrading, offensive, humiliating or intimidating environment and, in particular, where refusal to accept such conduct or the compulsion thereto may influence the taking of decisions affecting the person.” As such, it is considered a form of discrimination. The law does not distinguish sexual harassment in the workplace from sexual harassment in any other context, but rather sets a general rule, according to which any direct or indirect discrimination on the grounds set under Art. 4, para. 1 of PADA (gender, race, nationality, ethnicity, etc.), including sexual harassment, is prohibited.

The legal prohibition of sexual harassment has been in force since 1 January 2004.

Pursuant to Art. 18 of the PADA, employers, in cooperation with trade unions (if any), must take effective measures to prevent all forms of discrimination in the workplace. Where employers fail to comply with this obligation, they shall be liable under the PADA for acts of discrimination committed in the workplace by their employees. In addition, the Bulgarian Labour Code sets a general obligation for employers to protect the dignity of their employees in the course of performing their work duties. However, the law does not stipulate specific measures that employers must take to comply with these obligations. It is generally accepted in practice that such measures may include the adoption of anti-sexual harassment policies and/or the training of employees on sexual harassment regulations.

Despite the noticeable impact of the #MeToo movement in other countries and the intensive public discussions regarding the #MeToo movement and sexual harassment in Bulgaria, there has not been a significant increase in the number of sexual harassment claims in the workplace in Bulgaria. Our experience shows that in the last few years, sexual harassment claims have started to appear from time to time, but such cases are still rare. Most of the complaints are settled internally by the employer. Very few claims are raised with the competent administrative body, the Bulgarian Commission for Protection against Discrimination (CPD), and/or the court. Our clients, especially multinational companies, are focused on improving their internal procedures and policies that are related to dealing with harassment claims and encouraging employees to report their concerns.

An employee can make a complaint to the employer, which is obliged to immediately investigate the complaint, take measures to stop the sexual harassment and impose disciplinary sanctions, if the sexual harassment has been caused by another employee. Although this is not explicitly required in law, the practice is that employers in such cases form a commission, preferably with the participation of a person who is not a part of the organisation and is therefore unbiased (e.g. an attorney) to investigate such complaints.  If there is a ground for imposing disciplinary sanctions, including the dismissal of the employee who has caused the harassment, employers are obliged to observe a mandatory procedure for imposing disciplinary sanctions.

Notwithstanding the above, employees can bring a claim before the CPD. The sanctions it can impose are financial sanctions of up to EUR 1,000 per breach. It can also issue mandatory recommendations for remedying the breach which has triggered the complaint.

An employee can also file a court claim under the general litigation regime before the competent Regional Court. In case of sexual harassment at the workplace, the employee can claim compensation for damages caused by the sexual harassment and request the court to order the offender to cease and desist from the violation, to restore the situation before the violation and to refrain from further violations in the future.

Finally, an employee can submit a complaint to the Labour Inspectorate for failure by the employer to perform its statutory duties (e.g. to protect the dignity of each employee, in particular).

There is no legal requirement in relation to the order or subordination of the available legal remedies. The only rule envisaged in the law is that the CPD shall not open a case if there is a pending court case for the same matter elsewhere.

Red to amber. The majority of our clients are multinational companies or major local players which are particularly sensitive to reputational issues, including any allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace. A significant number of our clients take or have already taken preventive measures to introduce whistleblowing policies, codes of ethics and various other safeguards to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. A lot of them operate these policies at a group level which apply to their Bulgarian subsidiaries as well.

No.

The only official data related to sexual harassment in the workplace was published by the National Statistical Institute in connection with a survey on gender-based violence, conducted between November 2021 and February 2022. According to the survey data, 12.2% of women aged 18 to 74 reported experiencing sexual harassment at work from a male with whom they have a professional relationship. However, there is no official data about sectors which are more heavily affected by sexual harassment than others. Nevertheless, it can be expected, that the trends in Bulgaria would have a more distinct regional angle rather than a sectoral one. It is more likely that poor regions with high unemployment rate will score low in the battle against sexual harassment in the workplace as opposed to regions with better performing economies and lower unemployment rate (these are mainly the largest district cities like Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna and Bourgas). As an overall comment, sexual harassment in the workplace in Bulgaria is an issue with an unmeasured magnitude and with a slowly increasing number of complaints reaching the competent authorities and gaining publicity.