Bulgarian Parliament to Discuss Paid Leave Early 2011

Bulgarian Parliament will discuss again the paid leaves text in the Labor Code in the beginning of 2011. Photo by BGNES

The text in the Bulgarian Labor Code, regarding paid leaves, will be discussed again in the first working days of 2011, the Bulgarian ruling party GERB has announced.

The MP from GERB and Deputy Chair of the parliamentary Social Committee, Svetlana Angelova, said Tuesday that amendments will be done to the Labor Code and the Civil Service Law in connection to the paid leaves for 2010.

She stated that people could be sure that their unused paid leave for 2010 will not burn next year.

In July, the Parliament approved the text in the Labor Code, which mandated that all paid leaves, accumulated by 2010, should be used by employees by the end of 2011, otherwise it would expire. The text also stated that the there is a 2-year deadline to use the paid leaves.

“So part of this year’s paid leave had to be used under the old rules, and the other part – by the new rules. The confusion came from the fact that some employees began to use the days, accumulated before 2010, although they were advised to use this year’s days first,” Angelova said.

She added that next year, the text will be discussed with experts from the Social Ministry and with representatives of the trade unions and employers.

The debatable paid leave use was legally attacked by the Bulgarian President, Georgi Parvanov, and 51 Members of the Parliament from the two main opposition parties in Bulgaria – the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the ethnic Turkish party, Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) on the grounds the new rule contradicts the Constitution and international contracts and EU directives.