BULGARIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Diana Milkova and Victoria Penkova, Penkova & Partners Law Firm
issues related to industrial relations and social secu - rity, both before the employer and state bodies. These representatives shall be elected by a majority of more than two-thirds of the members present at the general meeting. In companies with at least 50 employees, or in organi - sationally and economically self-contained divisions of the employer with at least 20 employees, the gen - eral meeting shall elect employees’ representatives from among its members. These representatives are responsible for exercising the right to information and consultation. They will also take part in concluding an agreement that defines the content of the infor - mation to be provided, the timing for its delivery to the representatives, the time frame for receiving their opinion, and the subject of consultation. Additionally, the agreement will outline the employer’s designated representatives responsible for informing and consult - ing the employee representatives. The number of the employees’ representatives shall be determined in advance by the general meeting, as follows: • applicable to companies with 50 to 250 employees – not fewer than three and not more than five; • applicable to companies with more than 250 employees – not fewer than five and not more than nine; and • applicable to organisationally and economically self-contained divisions – not fewer than one and not more than three. The employees’ representatives shall be elected for a term of one to three years. The employees’ representatives shall have the right to: • be informed by the employer in a manner enabling them to assess the possible impact of the meas - ures envisaged by the competent authorities; • require that the employer provide them with the necessary information, if this has not been done within the established time limits; • participate in consultation procedures with the employer and to express their opinion on the measures envisaged by the competent authori -
ties, which shall be taken into account during the decision-making process; • meet with the employer in cases where they have to inform the employer of the questions raised by the employees; • have access to all workplaces in the enterprise or division; and • be enrolled in training necessary for the perfor - mance of the functions thereof. 6.3 Collective Bargaining Agreements The collective agreement governs issues related to the industrial and social-security relations of employees that are not addressed by mandatory legal provisions. It cannot include clauses that are less favourable to employees than those provided by the law or a collec - tive agreement that is binding on the employer. A collective agreement can be concluded at the employer, branch, industry, or municipal level. With - in a company, it is typically concluded between the employer and a trade union organisation. At the industry or branch level, the agreement is concluded between the relevant representative organisations of employees and employers. In municipalities, collec - tive agreements for activities funded by the munici - pal budget are concluded between the representative organisations of employees and employers. The collective agreement must be made in writing and registered with the relevant Labour Inspectorate. It will apply to employees who are members of the trade union organisation party to the agreement. The employer is required to inform all employees of the collective agreements concluded at the enter - prise, industry, branch, or municipal level that bind the employer, and to ensure that the texts of these agreements are available for employees to review. Any party to the collective agreement, or any employ - ee to whom the agreement applies, has the right to take legal action before the court to request the dec - laration of nullity of the collective agreement or any of its individual clauses, if such clauses are in conflict with or circumvent the law. Legal action may also be taken in the event of non-performance of obligations under the collective agreement.
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