site.btaTripartite Council Fails to Agree on Proposal for State to Pay Health Contributions of Women During Two Years of Maternity Leave

The National Council for Tripartite Cooperation (NCTS) on Wednesday failed to reach agreement on a bill amending the Health Insurance Act, submitted by Venko Sabrutev and a group of MPs from Continue the Change–Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), which proposes that the state covers the health insurance contributions of women during the two years of maternity leave. The meeting was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev.

Currently, these contributions are paid by the employer. According to the sponsors, the proposed changes would ease the financial burden on employers, which is the main reason they avoid hiring women of childbearing age. The bill’s sponsors, however, did not attend the meeting.

Labour Minister Borislav Gutsanov said that he would not support the bill as the proposed amendments create conditions for unequal treatment.

Natalia Stefanova from the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that the organization supports the bill. She added that the proposal represents an incentive measure that would save employers costs, because during a maternity leave the employer usually hires a substitute for the job and must also pay insurance contributions for the new appointment. Stefanova noted that the issue also applies to other cases where compensation is due, while the employer is still required to pay health insurance contributions, as is the case with sick leave.

The Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria abstained from supporting the bill.

The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) did not support the proposed changes, too. “There is no logic in exempting employers from payments related to the rights of their workers,” said Asya Gorneva from the union. “We do not consider this proposal to be justified. I do not understand why Bulgarian employers find it burdensome to pay anything for their workers — salaries, contributions, even the three days of sick leave,” she added.

The Podkrepa Confederation of Labour does not support the proposed bill, as it considers it unjustified and inappropriate, said Valeri Apostolov from the Union.