Remote Working Legislation, Laws & Regulations in Bulgaria

Yes. Section VIIIb of the Bulgarian Labour code regulates the additional conditions for remote work.

Remote work can be implemented by mutual consent through collective agreement or with the individual employment contract (incl. by signing an annex thereto).

For the employee to be able to work from home, the individual employment contract must regulate all specific conditions, rights, and obligations of the parties with regard to the remote work even when the remote work is implemented in the company through collective agreement.

As an exception, remote work can be implemented by unilateral decision of the employer only when a state of emergency or an emergency epidemic situation has been declared.

The only possibility for an employer to force an employee to work remotely is when a state of emergency or an emergency epidemic situation has been declared. In this case, the employer may assign remote working without the consent of the employee by issuing an order to that effect but only for the period for which the state of emergency or epidemic emergency has been declared.

No. The employee may propose to the employer that they work remotely, however, the employer is not obliged to accept the employee’s proposal.

Under specific circumstances (e.g., where the proposal is made by an employee who is a parent (adopter) of a child up to 8 years of age), the employer could be required to justify in writing their rejection to such proposal. 

Yes. The employer has an obligation to provide the employee with office equipment and supplies needed to perform the remote work. However, in the individual employment contract it can be stipulated that the employee will use their own equipment. No such option is given regarding the supplies – these have to be provided by the employer.

The employer has the obligation to provide at their own expense internet connectivity and supplies for the operation of the technical equipment necessary for remote work. This obligation is often fulfilled by reimbursing the employee for the expenses made for Internet or for the supplies.

The law does not require a specific work-form-home allowance to be granted. However, the expenses for internet connectivity and the supplies are often reimbursed by granting an allowance.

Yes, the employer is responsible for the health and safety conditions at the workplace of the employees who are working remotely. The employer is obliged to ensure that the remote workplaces satisfy the minimum requirements for health and safety, and to inform the employees of the requirements on the organisation of work and of the health and safety working conditions. In connection to those obligations, the employer has the right to access the employee’s workplace, subject to advance notification given to the employee who is working remotely and subject to their consent.

Yes. The employer is explicitly obligated to:

1. provide at its own expense: the software needed for remote working; preventive maintenance and technical support; the devices intended for communication with the employee working remotely, including Internet connectivity; data protection; surveillance system, where it is necessary to install one at the workplace and when the employee's written consent to be surveilled has been obtained.
2. provide the employee with: information on and requirements for operating the equipment and keeping it in good repair, and the legal requirements and rules, including those regarding the enterprise in the field of data protection for data to be used during remote work; other technical or documentary means in accordance with the individual employment contract and/or the collective agreement; written information on the liability of the employee and sanctions in case of a failure to observe the rules and requirements established, including those on the protection of business data.
3. provide opportunities for: preventing the isolation of employees who are working remotely from the employees working on the employers' premises (by creating conditions for periodic working or social meetings on the employer's premises and creating a corporate virtual space); access to corporate and professional information of the company related to performing the remote work; participation of the employees who are working remotely in the organisational and social life of the company’s trade union organisation.

There is no specific insurance that the employees working from home must have or are entitled to. The employee is subject to the same social security laws and contributions due for employees working on the company premises.

Yes. The obligation for declaring the work-related injury or illness apply, regardless of the place of performance of the work. Employers and employees have the same obligations in the event of work injury at the remote workplace as for the employees whose workplace is on the company premises.

Furthermore, if an injury qualifies as a work-related injury according to the respective state official, the employer bears liability for damages, which have caused temporary or permanent incapacity for work, or the death of the employee, even though the employee has been working remotely.

No, there is no such possibility under the law.

The employee performing remote work is responsible for the proper storage and operation of the equipment provided by the employer. In the event of a breakdown in the equipment or in the communication systems used, the employee is obliged to immediately notify the employer.

The employee is also responsible for complying with the company's policy on work organization and occupational safety and health, as well as its prescribed rules and regulations for health and safety at work.

In accordance with the recent amendments to the Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria Act, holders of an EU Blue Card (i.e., highly skilled foreign employees) can perform their work duties remotely, if this is stipulated in the foreigner's employment agreement or in an annex thereto. In such a case the general procedure and conditions for remote work prescribed by the Labour Code must be observed. If switching to remote work, the employer must immediately notify the Migration Directorate of the change.

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