Working Hours and Overtime in Bulgaria

What Are The Standard Working Hours In Bulgaria?

An employee whose age is 16 or younger has a maximum of 7 hours per day and 35 hours per week. An employee whose age is 18 or older is allowed to work 40 hours per week. A minimum meal interval of 30 minutes must be observed by employees who work more than 6 hours in a day. In typical working hours, Monday through Friday, the hours are 9:00 to 18:00.

Maximum Working Hours In Bulgaria

Under Bulgarian law, standard working time for adults is 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week in a five-day working week. You may introduce a summarized calculation of working time, but the average over the reference period must not exceed 40 hours per week. You must clearly define the working time regime in employment contracts or internal rules.

Daily working time, including overtime, generally cannot exceed 10 hours for adults when summarized working time is applied. You must consult employee representatives or trade unions when changing working time arrangements. Keep accurate working time records to demonstrate compliance during inspections.

Industry-Specific Exceptions

Companies hiring in sectors like healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, or hospitality may be subject to special scheduling rules. In healthcare and security, 12-hour shifts are common, but you must still respect minimum daily and weekly rest and ensure that average weekly hours do not exceed 40 over the reference period. In transportation, EU sectoral rules on driving time and rest breaks override general national limits where they are stricter.

• Healthcare professionals may work 12-hour shifts with extended rest periods.
• Transport workers must comply with EU-aligned rest and driving limits.
• Manufacturing and security staff often rotate through night or weekend shifts.

Even in these sectors, you must ensure the average weekly limit is respected over a reference period. You should document any sector-specific derogations in collective agreements or internal policies and ensure employees are informed in writing.

Managerial And Exempt Employees

Bulgarian law does not create a broad exemption from working time rules for managers, but certain senior managerial employees may agree to extended availability and flexible schedules. You may set different working time arrangements for managers, yet you must still respect health and safety limits, daily and weekly rest, and overall maximum working hours. Any agreement on extended working time or on-call duties must be clearly documented in the employment contract or an addendum.

For managers who effectively determine their own working time, labour inspectors may accept more flexibility, but abuse of this concept can lead to findings of undeclared overtime. You should avoid relying on flat salaries alone to cover long hours and instead track working time and pay overtime or provide time off in lieu where legally required. Transparent policies reduce disputes over unpaid overtime.

Statutory Full-Time Working Hours In Bulgaria

Statutory full-time work in Bulgaria is defined as 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week for adults. You may agree on part-time arrangements with fewer hours, but these must be explicitly stated in the employment contract. Part-time employees must not be treated less favourably than comparable full-time staff solely because of their reduced hours.

You can also introduce summarized calculation of working time, where daily hours vary but the average remains 40 hours per week over a reference period of up to 4 months, extendable to 12 months in specific cases. Any such regime must be introduced by a written order and communicated to employees in advance. Failure to formalize these arrangements can result in reclassification of hours as overtime.

Overtime Regulations In Bulgaria

As an employer in Bulgaria, you may only assign overtime in the limited cases allowed by the Labour Code, such as for urgent repairs, seasonal peaks, or to continue ongoing work. You must keep precise records of overtime hours for each employee and retain them for labour inspections. Non-compliance with overtime rules exposes you to administrative fines, back-pay claims, and potential reputational damage.

What Counts As Overtime In Bulgaria?

Overtime in Bulgaria is any work performed beyond the employee’s established daily working time or beyond 40 hours per week in a standard regime. Work performed on the employee’s weekly rest days or on official public holidays is also treated as overtime when ordered by the employer. On-call time is counted as working time when the employee is actually performing work, and those hours beyond the normal schedule qualify as overtime.

Overtime must generally be ordered in writing by the employer, except in emergencies where prior written order is not possible. You should avoid systematic overtime, as the law treats it as an exceptional measure and labour inspectors scrutinize repeated patterns. Employees may not waive their right to overtime compensation by contract.

Maximum Overtime In Bulgaria

Bulgarian law sets strict numerical caps on overtime. For each employee, overtime may not exceed 3 hours in a single day and 6 hours in a single week for day workers. Over a longer period, overtime is limited to 30 hours per month and 150 hours per calendar year per employee.

These caps apply to all forms of overtime, including work on rest days and public holidays. You cannot exceed the annual limit of 150 hours per employee, even with employee consent or a collective agreement. You must monitor cumulative overtime across the year and redistribute workloads or hire additional staff when approaching the cap.

Overtime Payout Rates In Bulgaria

The Labour Code requires specific minimum numerical premiums for overtime pay in Bulgaria. For overtime worked on a normal working day, you must pay at least 150% of the employee’s regular hourly wage, that is a 1.5x rate. For overtime worked during weekly rest days, such as Saturday or Sunday when they are rest days for the employee, you must pay at least 175% of the regular hourly wage, that is a 1.75x rate.

For overtime worked on official public holidays, the minimum premium is 200% of the regular hourly wage, that is a 2.0x rate. When overtime is performed at night, you must apply both the overtime premium and the night work premium, which is at least an additional 0.25 BGN per hour on top of the base rate. You may grant equivalent paid time off instead of cash payment only where the employee agrees and the arrangement complies with collective or individual agreements.

Rest Periods And Breaks In Bulgaria

In Bulgaria, employees typically work 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week, and rest periods are designed to protect health and safety within this framework. Daily and weekly rest rules ensure that employees have sufficient time away from work between shifts and across the week. You must structure schedules so that breaks and rest periods are not merely theoretical but actually taken in practice.

• Meal Break: Employees who work more than 6 hours in a day are entitled to a meal break of at least 30 minutes, which is usually unpaid. You should schedule this break so it occurs no later than 4 hours after the start of the shift and ensure employees are free from work duties during this time.
• Daily Rest: Employees must receive a minimum uninterrupted daily rest of 12 consecutive hours between the end of one working day and the start of the next. In summarized working time regimes, limited derogations are possible, but you must still safeguard health and safety and compensate with equivalent rest.
• Weekly Rest: Employees are entitled to at least 48 consecutive hours of weekly rest, typically including Sunday. Where continuous operations make this impossible, you may provide at least 24 consecutive hours of weekly rest, plus the daily rest, and grant compensatory rest on another day.
• Minors: Employees under 18 benefit from stricter rules, including shorter daily working hours and longer rest periods. They must receive a meal break of at least 30 minutes and cannot be scheduled for night work or overtime, which you must reflect in your rosters.
• Employer Duty: You are responsible for organizing work so that statutory breaks and rest periods are respected and not waived. Labour inspectors may review schedules and time records, and failure to provide proper rest can result in fines and mandatory corrective measures.

Night Shifts And Weekend Regulations In Bulgaria

Night and weekend work are legal in Bulgaria but subject to additional employer responsibilities and employee protections. You must carefully manage scheduling, health and safety, and pay premiums where required by law or collective agreements. Poorly managed night and weekend work can lead to sanctions and higher turnover.

Night work in Bulgaria is generally defined as work performed between 22:00 and 6:00. For employees who regularly perform at least 3 hours of work during this period or whose night work represents a significant part of their monthly hours, special protections apply. You must assess whether roles involving night work are suitable for vulnerable groups and adjust duties where necessary.

• Premium Pay: For each hour of night work, you must pay a statutory minimum premium of at least 0.25 BGN per hour on top of the employee’s regular hourly wage, and many collective agreements set higher rates such as 0.50 BGN per hour. When night work coincides with overtime, weekends, or public holidays, you must apply both the night premium and the relevant overtime or holiday premium, for example 150%–200% of base pay plus the night supplement.
• Health Monitoring: Regular night workers are entitled to periodic medical examinations to assess the impact of night work on their health. If a doctor finds that night work is harmful to an employee’s health, you must, where possible, transfer them to suitable daytime work without reducing their basic pay.
• Workplace Restrictions: Minors under 18 are prohibited from night work, and you must not schedule them between 22:00 and 6:00. Pregnant workers, workers who have recently given birth, and breastfeeding workers are also protected and may request transfer to daytime work or exemption from night shifts without adverse consequences.

Weekend work, including Sunday, is permitted when the nature of the business requires continuous or shift-based operations. If you require employees to work on their weekly rest day, you must provide substitute rest of at least 24 consecutive hours and pay a premium of at least 175% of the regular hourly wage when this work is overtime. For work on official public holidays that fall on weekends, you must pay at least 200% of the regular hourly wage and still ensure compensatory rest.