The proposed changes to the Labor Code, according to which work experience will now be calculated according to the hours actually worked, and not as before - four hours of work to be recognized as one day of work experience, have pitted employers and unions against each other.
„It is not the same to work eight hours and to work four hours, and to have equal rights. What is being done is to introduce a more correct calculation of work experience. The rights must follow the work you have put in“. He said this on the air of "This Morning" on bTV, the deputy chairman of the Bulgarian Industrial Chamber, Maria Mincheva.
According to her, the change will not affect the insurance experience and pensions, since they still take into account the actual time worked and the insurance contributions paid. According to her, the amendments only unify the two regimes and are in accordance with the practice of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
However, the chief economist of the KT “Podkrepa“ Atanas Katsarchev categorically opposed the proposals, warning that they would limit the rights of people working part-time.
“If you need work experience to take on a certain position, instead of three years you will have to work six. Vacation is being reduced, the time for acquiring professional experience is being doubled, and if the internal rules of the enterprise link social benefits to work experience, they will also be affected“, he pointed out.
According to Katsarchev, the motives for the changes are not sufficiently substantiated.
“There is no impact assessment, there are not enough motives, and we do not even have information about how many people will be affected and in what way. If you are fighting the shadow economy, why are you constantly punishing the worker?“, he asked.
For her part, Maria Mincheva stated that the changes are part of a broader need to modernize labor legislation.
“There are a number of texts in the Labor Code that are remnants of the past and do not correspond to the modern economy. Any linking of rights to actual work performed has absolute logic and this is a principled proposal that must be supported,“ she said.
The two also entered into a dispute about the effect on employers, social benefits, additional remuneration for time served and the role of the state in the fight against the shadow economy.
The unions insist that the controversial texts be rejected between the first and second readings in the National Assembly, while the employers' organizations define them as a step towards a fairer and more realistic accounting of work performed.