Hiring Bulgarians for your company.

I am starting this new thread as I have  been educated in the workplace practices when hiring Bulgarian citizens work in your business.   Fortunately my attorney helped me avoid pitfalls and we did everything by the book.

Below may be a surprise to any American where the customs are different.  I do not know what other countries do in these matters. 


1,  Bg workers have more rights than business owners.  This is not an "at will" country. 
2.  Bg has rigid rules for how employees are to be managed.  Be very careful on what you say and document every communication. 
3.  An employee has a right to expect continued employment even in the event that they might have conducted malfeasance, theft etc.   A mandatory 30 day notice of termination is required in writing with many requirements for disclosures.   In the meantime the worker can continue to steal, do damage etc.  The owner is limited on reassigning the employee to a different assignment.   
4.  One must have employment agreements carefully spelling out all job duties, work hours etc.
5.  Bg has liberal work vacations and leave policies that one cannot change.
6.  If the words "Manager or Management" are in the employment agreement the workers rights are far greater than a normal worker.
7.  Careful documentation must be made about every issue one has with an employee. 
8.  The business must pay social security , retirement and insurance. The employees want the salary to be written as low as possible to avoid taxes.  This hurts the business owner as while they pay less in entitlements they have to pay cash to the employee to make up the difference between declared and undeclared payments. 
10.  More different taxes than you can dream of.  And heavy fines for failure to adhere to the requirements.

Remember!     NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED!     Learn the rules first!


Many X Pats have small private businesses.   Be cautious in all your dealings and understand that having a good attorney and accountant is cheaper in the long run.

One last piece of advice.    DO NOT play any tax games or cash games!  Once the tax auditors get into your business they will leave no stone unturned and they have as much authority as they need---you have none!

My wife recently went through a tax audit that was unbelievable.  Fortunately we were able to prove every penny and balance from our business.  The auditor could not believe our records.   That is because we run a correct and proper business which is a rarity.  The audit went on for over a year and we did not owe one cent more than we had paid.   We have several businesses from small to large (if large is close to 100 employees and small is 2-3 employees) .  The auditors  started on a small company and went through every item, purchase, receipt deed etc. Then then went through every other investment and company interest.   I genuinely believe that they were surprised that we ran the businesses honestly.  DO NOT PLAY ANY GAmES WITH VAT!  This is the core issue. 

I am not an expert in this subject and am not a good resource for guidance so again spend the money to find competent guidance counsel in the beginning.  In my American companies prior to becoming an X Pat we always had an HR Dept to handle this.   Do not attempt to go it alone as a small American business can.   the same rules that apply to the largest company apply to a one employee company.  And last of all---the employee is smarter than you about these R&R's