site.btaProposed Labour Code Amendments to Regulate Seasonal Employment in Agriculture, Flexible Working Time

Proposed Labour Code Amendments to Regulate Seasonal Employment in Agriculture, Flexible Working Time

Sofia, April 23 (BTA) - Between 60,000 and 100,000 people are
expected to be hired under one-day contracts for seasonal
picking of agricultural produce, Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister
for Demographic and Social Policy and Labour and Social Policy
Minister Ivailo Kalfin told a news conference here on Thursday
together with Agriculture and Foods Minister Desislava Taneva.
For the time being, the amendments to labour legislation will
cover the sectors of fruits, vegetables and rose-picking.

Remuneration will be paid personally to each worker against
receipt, and its amount will be calculated on the basis of a
monthly wage of 383 leva in the sector. The time worked will not
count as length of employment service but only as contributory
service, and an order terminating the employment contract will
not be issued, he added. Persons hired under a one-day contract
will also be exempt from the community service obligation.

Kalfin said that one-day contract workers will have retirement,
employment-injury and health insurance but will be exempt from
sickness and maternity insurance. "The contracts are short-term,
which is why the contributions will be paid for not more than
90 days," he pointed out. Contracted persons will keep their
unemployed status and Labour Office registration, the Deputy PM
said.

Kalfin said that one-day employment contracts are introduced as
a new type of employment contract so as to allow more flexible
hiring, which will help the unemployed increase their income
without risking to forfeit their social insurance and
unemployment benefits. "These Labour Code amendments will
promote the creation of a labour market in a number of regions,"
he commented. The proposals are supposed to be submitted to
Parliament for a first-reading debate by the beginning of May.
Kalfin hopes that the amendments will enter into force before
the end of that month. He recalled that employers who hire
workers without an employment contract now incur a sanction of
150,000 leva.

Taneva hopes that the revision will bring some relief to the
sector and to agricultural producers, above all in fruit and
vegetable picking. "Not a single agricultural producer wishes to
work in the grey sector," she commented.

Another proposal to amend the Labour Code provides for more
flexible limits of working time, Kalfin said. The idea is to
increase flexibility while keeping the mandatory presence in
specified hours of the day and the mandatory logging of a
40-hour week. This will require the employer's consent, he
explained. With the permission of the employer, the worker will
be able to work from home as well. "This amendment enables
people to better plan their time, especially mothers and people
taking care of elderly and sick parents," the Labour and Social
Policy Minister pointed out. LI/LG

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