site.btaParliament to Broaden Labour Inspectorate Powers, Tighten Restrictions on Unfair Employers, in Bid to Address Unpaid Wages Issue

Sofia, July 6 (BTA) - Bulgaria's Parliament Thursday unanimously adopted the report of an Ad Hoc Committee of enquiry into cases of unpaid wages.

The Ad Hoc Committee was established on a motion by BSP for Bulgaria for two months to look into cases of overdue labour remunerations for the 2012-2016 period. It established that out of a total of 322 million leva unpaid wages, 300 million have already been paid after General Labour Inspectorate (GLI) inspectors drew up written statements and fined unfair employers nearly 8 million leva. In recent years, the amount of unpaid wages has been varying from 30 to 90 million leva annually. Nearly 45 million leva were found to be overdue in facilities construction for the five-year period, and this amount has now been reduced to a little over 10 million leva. The respective figures for building construction are over 45 million and around 18 million leva. Unpaid remunerations in healthcare exceed 16 million leva.

Speaking during Thursday's debate, Labour, Social and Demographic Policy Committee Chairman Hasan Ademov MP of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms said that National Ombudsman Maya Manolova has alerted the Committee that employees' complaints against unfair employers had snowballed from 104 for the full year 2016 to 117 for just the first several months of 2017. The worst delays are in trade, because the number of economic entities there is the largest. Next come the apparel industry and restaurateurship.

Manolova said that no outstanding case of overdue wages has been solved during the two months of the Ad Hoc Committee's operation. She listed cases in Doupnitsa, Vetren, Rousse Shipyard West, the Vidin sanitation company, and large retail chains in Sofia and Varna.

Laws to Be Revised

The report recommends amendments to the Labour Code and six laws, based on proposals by Manolova and the trade unions. Consensus has been reached on a package of revisions that will be tabled shortly as a joint bill by all parliamentary parties.

Under these revisions, companies with overdue wages and social insurance contributions will be barred from public procurement.

The GLI powers will be broadened. Ademov noted that the Inspectorate finds it difficult to perform some of its functions at present because its fewer than 350 officers must check over 250,000 enterprises.

A relaxed procedure will be introduced, enabling employees to obtain writs of execution against unfair employers on the strength of GLI directions.