site.btaOne-day Employment Contracts to Be Simplified and Digitalized, Says Labour Minister Gutsanov

Only the unified civil number and full name of the worker will be required in one-day employment contracts, and the next step will be digitalization to eliminate the need for official paper confirmations, said Minister of Labour and Social Policy Borislav Gutsanov at a press conference about the changes to employment contracts for short-term seasonal agricultural work, aimed at reducing the administrative burden on farmers when hiring workers for a single day.

The draft amendments to the regulation on the conditions and procedures for issuing, registering, and reporting so-called one-day employment contracts were prepared by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy (MLSP) in dialogue with agricultural producers. The changes are expected to be published for public consultation and then approved by the government.

In 2024, nearly 240,000 contract templates for one-day jobs were provided, and 1,763 farmers used them, Minister Gutsanov stated. "With these changes, we will ease the burden on the economy, businesses, and agriculture, as well as on employers, enabling them to fill out and report contracts more efficiently," he added.

The contract will be generated and completed by the employer through the Labor Inspectorate’s system, and there will be no requirement to specify start and end times for the working day, since these may vary during the course of work, explained Tsvetan Tsekov, Chair of the National Branch Chamber “Fruits and Vegetables.” He said that this measure will help move the sector out of the gray economy.

Under the old contracts, when a worker was hired to harvest only one specific crop, they were not allowed to work on others, said Tsvetan Filev, Chairman of the National Association of Tobacco Producers. That restriction will no longer apply under the new regulations, he noted.

Industry organizations emphasized a key change: workers will no longer need to carry their ID cards to the field.

Minister Gutsanov also commented on the influx of foreign labour into Bulgaria. In the first four months of 2025, more workers from third countries arrived in Bulgaria than in the entire previous year, he said. "We expect this number to grow significantly," he added. The largest number of these workers are employed in the tourism sector, which is under serious pressure due to a labour shortage. Measures have been taken and a working group has been established to address the issue, the Minister concluded.