The transition from an employment record to an electronic employment record

As of 01.06.2025 the amendments to the Labour Code, promulgated in issue 85 of 2023 of the State Gazette, shall enter into force, whereby the employment record book, as an official certifying document proving circumstances related to the employee’s employment, shall be replaced entirely by the single electronic employment record. As regards civil servants, these amendments shall enter into force 1 year later, as from 01.06.2026.

With the entry into force of the above legislative changes, an obligation is introduced for employers or their authorised persons to submit to the National Revenue Agency an electronic employment record for the conclusion, amendment or termination of employment contracts concluded on or after 01.06.2025.

The National Revenue Agency (“NRA”) maintains an Employment Register which contains employees’ uniform electronic employment records. Prior to 01.06.2025, the NRA shall complete in the Employment Register all data it currently holds in the Register of Employment Contracts concerning the conclusion, amendment and termination of employment relationships.

In practice, this means that from 01.06.2025 the electronic employment record replaces in full the notifications currently submitted to the NRA under Article 62(5) of the Labour Code.

The new provisions of the Labour Code are supplemented by the Regulation on entry in the employment register (promulgated in SG 65 of 02.08.2024, in force from 01.06.2025). The Ordinance on entry in the employment register to some extent clarifies the adopted amendments to the Labour Code by providing a model of the Unified Electronic Employment Record to be submitted by employers. Also, the Ordinance regulates the terms and methods for submitting the electronic employment records, as well as the conditions for access to the information that is stored in the Employment Register and the persons who should have access to this information. At this stage, even before the entry into force of the new provisions, the need to amend and supplement them is already being discussed, and proposals to amend the Ordinance are to be submitted to the National Assembly for a vote.

Below we draw your attention to some of the changes that will come into force as of 01.06.2025:

• More details are to be entered in the electronic employment record than are entered in the employment record book or in the notification under Article 62(5) of the Labour Code (including the beginning of the performance of the obligations under the employment contract, the agreed paid annual leave and the actual paid annual leave taken).
• The recording of the paid annual leave taken on termination of the employment relationship is of important practical significance for the new employer, as the latter will be able to check for itself whether the newly recruited employee is entitled to take paid annual leave during the relevant calendar year in the new undertaking at the time of his entry.
• The registration of the conclusion and amendment of the employment contract must be made within 3 days and the registration of the termination of the employment contract within 7 days;
• More circumstances related to the amendment of the employment relationship will be subject to entry in the Employment Register, such as: the reason for the conclusion, the amount of the basic salary, the code of the main economic activity with which the person is employed according to the Classification of Economic Activities, the agreed paid annual leave.
• Each employee will have access to the data available in his or her single electronic record, as will the employer to the employment records of his or her contracted employees.
• The employer will not have access to the employment records of job applicants, but could request a printout of the applicant’s employment record to establish prior service and work experience, for work experience acquired after 01.06.2025. For work experience acquired before 31.05.2025, the applicant’s employment record will still be used as the official certifying document.
• The employer will have access to the information on the persons employed by him/her under an employment contract that has been entered by previous employers, with the exception of information on the amount of wages and the amount of benefits that the employee received with his/her previous employers.
• By way of exception, Employers will have the right to access information on benefits paid under Article 222(2) of the Labour Code (severance pay for termination of employment due to sickness) and Article 222(2) of the Labour Code. 3 of the Labour Code (compensation for termination of employment after entitlement to retirement pension). This exception was introduced in view of the special rules for the payment of these types of benefits laid down in the Labour Code.
• Access to the Employment Register will be possible through a qualified electronic signature via the NRA e-services portal.
• The electronic employment records will be submitted in the same way – through a qualified electronic signature via the NRA’s e-services portal. An exception is provided for employers with up to 5 employees.
• The new provisions remove the employer’s liability for “unlawful retention” of the employment record (often also imposed where the employer is objectively unable to perform its duties, either because of the absence of an officer or manager, for example due to leave, or because of attempts by employees to delay the return of the employment record in order to claim damages).
• The new provisions provide for a period until 01.06.2026 in which the current employer must clear the employment record by calculating the employee’s length of service with the employer up to and including 31.05.2025. The employment record should then be returned to the employee immediately against a declaration signed by the employee.
• The length of service acquired from 01.06.2025 shall only be recorded in the Employment Register.
• Employees should keep ‘closed’ employment records to prove length of service prior to 01.06.2025.

The team of T.P.A. Bulgaria will keep you informed about future changes and additions to the legal provisions regulating the Employment Register and the electronic employment record.

If you have any questions on this topic, do not hesitate to contact us!

TPA Bulgaria

+359 2 981 66 45/46/47

office@tpa-group.bg

128, G.S. Rakovski str, floor 2

1000 Sofia