Paid annual leave in Bulgaria: your entitlement in 2026
How many days of paid leave you get in Bulgaria, after how many months the right arises and what to do if your employer will not let you take it.
You have been working for a few months and are not sure whether you are already entitled to leave. Or you have days left over from last year and wonder whether they have expired.
Here is exactly what the Labour Code (КТ) says: how many days you are entitled to, when the right arises and what you can do if your employer will not let you take leave.
❓How many days of paid leave am I entitled to?
Source: КТ, Art. 155(2) and (4)
How many days you are entitled to
Basic paid annual leave is not less than 20 working days. Some categories of workers are entitled to more, and under certain working conditions additional leave is due on top of the basic leave.
20 working days
Minimum basic paid annual leave for a calendar year
Source: Art. 155(4) КТ
| Who | Minimum amount | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Every worker or employee | not less than 20 working days | Art. 155(4) КТ |
| Workers and employees under 18 | not less than 26 working days | Art. 305(4) КТ |
| People with permanently reduced work capacity of 50% or more | not less than 26 working days | Art. 319 КТ |
| With non-standardised working hours (ненормиран работен ден) | an additional 5 working days at least | Art. 156(1), item 2 КТ |
| In specific conditions and risks to life and health | an additional 5 working days at least | Art. 156(1), item 1 КТ |
These are the statutory minimums for a calendar year. Additional leave under Art. 156 is due on the same condition as the basic leave: four months of work experience when you start work for the first time.
These are minimums, not ceilings
Labour Code (КТ)
Art. 155(4)
Sets the minimum amount of basic paid annual leave.
Labour Code (КТ)
Art. 156а
Allows larger amounts of leave under Art. 155 and Art. 156 to be agreed in a collective labour agreement or between the parties to the employment relationship.
Four months of work experience, not eight
Many articles on the internet still say that eight months of work experience are needed. The Labour Code requires four.
The condition applies only when you start work for the first time. It does not matter whether you accumulated those months with one employer or with several.
For the second and later calendar years a new four-month period is not required. The amount of leave for the year concerned is set in proportion to your length of service in that enterprise.
Beware of outdated information
Labour Code (КТ)
Art. 155(2)
Regulates the work experience required when you start work for the first time before the leave can be taken.
Ordinance on Working Time, Rest Periods and Leave (НРВПО)
Art. 22(1)
Sets out how the amount of leave is determined in the first year and in later years, including the proportional calculation, and that a new 4-month period of work experience is not required for the second and later calendar years.
Your employer must tell you how many days you have
This is the rule that is most often overlooked. At the start of each calendar year, but no later than 31 January, your employer is required to notify you in writing how many days of paid annual leave you are entitled to take during the year.
This includes postponed or unused days from previous calendar years. In other words, the notice shows all the leave available to you, not only the days for the current year.
31 January
The deadline by which your employer must notify you in writing of the days of leave you have available
Source: Art. 37а НРВПО
If you have not received such a notice, ask for it in writing. This is the cleanest way to find out how many days you have, instead of relying on verbal calculations or a table in the accounts department.
Ordinance on Working Time, Rest Periods and Leave (НРВПО)
Art. 37а
Requires the employer to notify every worker or employee in writing at the start of the calendar year of the amount of leave they are entitled to take, including leave postponed or unused from previous years.
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How to request leave
The procedure is short and entirely in writing. A verbal agreement with your direct manager does not replace the employer's permission.
Steps for taking paid annual leave
Submit a written request
State how many working days you want and from which date the leave should start.
Wait for the written permission
Paid annual leave is taken with written permission from the employer.
Take the leave
In one go or in parts. The law does not set how many parts it can be divided into.
Ordinance on Working Time, Rest Periods and Leave (НРВПО)
Art. 22(2)
Provides that paid annual leave is granted on the basis of a written request from the worker or employee to the employer.
Labour Code (КТ)
Art. 173(1)
Provides that paid annual leave is taken with written permission from the employer.
Labour Code (КТ)
Art. 172
Allows paid annual leave to be granted in one go or in parts.
When the employer can send you on leave without your consent
The main rule is in Art. 173(4) of the Labour Code and lists three cases.
The three cases under Art. 173(4) КТ
These are not all the cases. See also Art. 173а КТ below.
During a work stoppage (престой) of more than five working days
When all workers and employees take leave at the same time
When, after an invitation from the employer, you have not requested your leave by the end of the calendar year to which it relates
There is also a fourth case, outside these three
Labour Code (КТ)
Art. 173а(1)
Gives the employer the right to grant paid annual leave without the worker's consent when a state of emergency or an epidemic emergency has been declared, including to a worker who has not acquired 4 months of work experience.
A separate rule applies to workers and employees under 18 and to mothers with children up to 7 years of age. They take their leave in the summer, and at their wish at another time of the year, except in the three cases under Art. 173(4).
Labour Code (КТ)
Art. 173(4)
Lists the cases in which the employer can grant paid annual leave without the consent of the worker or employee.
Labour Code (КТ)
Art. 174
Regulates the use of leave by persons under 18 and by mothers with children up to 7 years of age.
If your employer does not let you take leave
This is your strongest right and it is hardly known. If leave remains untaken, the employer has a time limit to provide it for you. If it does not, you decide for yourself when you will take it.
What happens to untaken leave
The leave stays untaken until the end of the year
The employer must ensure it can be taken in the following calendar year, but no later than six months from the end of the year it relates to.
Request the leave in writing
Make the request within this six-month period and keep a copy.
If they do not approve it, you decide the time yourself
You notify the employer in writing at least 14 days in advance.
14 days
written notice with which you decide for yourself when you take the leave
This right arises only after the employer has not allowed the leave within the time limits under Art. 176(2) КТ.
Labour Code (КТ)
Art. 176(2)
Requires the employer to ensure that postponed or unused leave can be taken in the following calendar year, no later than six months from the end of the year it relates to.
Labour Code (КТ)
Art. 176(3)
Gives the worker or employee the right to decide for themselves when to take the leave, after notifying the employer in writing at least 14 days in advance.
Keep a paper trail
Labour Code (КТ)
Art. 399(1)
Assigns overall control of compliance with labour legislation to the General Labour Inspectorate Executive Agency (Изпълнителна агенция „Главна инспекция по труда“) under the Minister of Labour and Social Policy.
When leave expires
Untaken leave is not kept indefinitely. The right to take it lapses by limitation (давност), that is, after a certain period it falls away.
two years
from the end of the year the leave relates to
After this period expires, the right to take the leave lapses, regardless of why the leave was not taken.
For leave postponed under Art. 176(1), the period is counted differently. The limitation period runs for two years from the end of the year in which the reason for not taking the leave ceased.
Labour Code (КТ)
Art. 176а
Regulates the lapse by limitation of the right to take paid annual leave, including postponed leave.
If your employment relationship has already ended, work out what you are owed with the calculator for compensation for untaken leave.
How much you are paid during leave
For the period of paid annual leave your employer pays you remuneration. It is calculated from the average daily gross employment remuneration accrued with the same employer for the last calendar month before the leave in which you worked at least 10 working days.
If there is no such month, the remuneration is determined from the basic and additional permanent remuneration agreed in the employment contract.
Leave cannot be bought out with money
Labour Code (КТ)
Art. 177(1) and (2)
Determines how the remuneration for the period of paid annual leave is calculated, including when there is no month with at least 10 working days worked for the same employer.
Labour Code (КТ)
Art. 178
Prohibits compensating paid annual leave with cash payments, except when the employment relationship is terminated.
For day-by-day calculations see the paid leave calculator. If you are returning to work after maternity leave, the rules for using your accumulated days are described in paid leave after maternity leave.
Frequently asked questions
❓Can I take my leave in parts?
Source: КТ, Art. 172
❓Do I lose my leave if I change jobs?
Labour Code (КТ)
Art. 224(1)
Provides that when the employment relationship is terminated, the worker or employee is entitled to cash compensation for untaken paid annual leave whose right of use has not lapsed by limitation.
❓Can leave that has already started be interrupted?
Source: КТ, Art. 175
You can read the full text of the provisions on leave in the Labour Code, and a summary from the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy is in its leave section.
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⚠️ Important
Pravko provides legal information, but it does not replace advice from a lawyer. For important legal matters, consult a licensed lawyer.
