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Employment and Social Security Law

We apply our knowledge of the law, our business acumen and our experience to deliver the best results to our employment clients. Our attorneys understand the impact that employment laws can have on you and your business. Our professionals will assist your business managers and human resource professionals with understanding statutes and regulations.

We provide subject matter counseling to solve workplace challenges covering the entire range of employment law issues, such as: senior executives' employment contracts, employee share schemes, preparation of internal regulations and codes of conduct, health and safety rules, mass redundancy schemes and staff restructuring. We take a proactive approach in helping clients with respect to wrongful termination of employment, compensation claims, employment benefits, etc. 

We are also experienced in obtaining residence and work permits.

Below is a list of our advisory expertise:

  • Individual and/or Collective Employment Contracts/ Senior Executives' Employment Contracts;

  • Mechanisms for Payment of Salaries, Bonuses and Benefits/ Employee Share Schemes;

  • Complex Data Protection and Privacy Internal Rules and Regulations, and Internal Corporate Codes of Conduct;

  • Bargaining with the Trade Unions and other Employees' Representatives;

  • Representation before Administrative Bodies, such as; National Revenue Agency, National Statistic Institute, and National Employment Agency, as well as Appearances before Bulgarian Courts;

  • Employee Layoffs, Staff Reductions and Severance Packages;

  • Employment Issues related to Mergers and Acquisitions;

  • Termination of Employment and Unfair Dismissal;

  • Workplace Safety and Health;

  • Employment Permits and Residence Permits based on Employment.

Some highlights of our employment and social security experience include:

  • we advised Inditex S.A. and its subsidiaries Zara, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Oysho, Pull and Bear, Stradivarius on various employment and social security issues. In the area of employment and social security we dealt with matters such as drafting and negotiating individual employment agreements, hiring of personnel, payment of bonuses and related allowances and benefits, and other day-to-day issues;

  • representation and advice to Sutherland related to data breach and employer-employee relations;

  • legal advice to Telenor on the statutory grounds for termination of employment contracts under the Bulgarian Labour Code. Further, Penev LLP prepared a full set of documents for Employees Performance Evaluation including Evaluation Forms, Self-evaluation Forms, Internal Evaluation Rules and other;

  • we advised Veolia, a French transnational company with activities in water management, waste management, transport, and energy services, on the employment, data protection (GDPR) and tax implications of the implementation of Employee Share Options Plans;

  • we acted for Alpha Bank providing a full scope of legal advice in the field of employment, including a limited scope due diligence focused to labour relations, and further drafting any kind of individual employment agreements, executing redundancies, updating internal rules, negotiating with employees during redundancies, and providing complex legal advice on a variety of current labour issues;

  • we advised the French video game company Ubisoft on the employment, data protection and tax implications of the implementation of Employee Share Options Plans in Bulgaria;
     
  • legal advice to British Airways with respect to (i) formation of European Works Council and any related legal actions required by the applicable Bulgarian employment law such as convening a general meeting of the employees and election of representatives, and (ii) termination of contracts – employment and social security aspects;
     
  • we advised Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company in the area of employment and social security law where our work covered numerous employment and social security issues such as drafting and negotiating individual and collective employment agreements, representation before trade unions, administrative bodies and courts, hiring of personnel and executing redundancies, drafting of internal rules on the formation of salary, elaborating mechanisms for payment of salaries, bonuses and related allowances and benefits, and other day-to-day issues;
     
  • Penev LLP acted for the Heineken Group of Companies in the area of employment and social security law. Our work covered numerous employment and social security issues such as drafting and negotiating individual and collective employment agreements, representation before trade unions, administrative bodies and courts, hiring of personnel and executing redundancies, drafting of internal rules on the formation of salary, elaborating mechanisms for payment of salaries, bonuses and related allowances and benefits, and other day-to-day issues;
     
  • we acted for the Bulgarian subsidiary of AT&T in the area of employment and data protection by preparing all related documentation including employment contracts, job descriptions, and all statutory required internal regulations and policies. We also provided legal advice on the application of the Transfer of Undertakings Directive (2001/23/EC) in Bulgaria;
     
  • legal advice to Naspers (OLX) regarding the termination of employment and preparation of related documents;
     
  • legal advice to Siemens AG on the employment implications in Bulgaria of the planned spin-off of the company's energy business;
     
  • we acted for SAP on the establishment of their business operations in Bulgaria in 1999. Since then we have advised them on corporate, tax, IP, disputes, and employment and social security issues. In the area of employment and social security we have dealt with numerous matters such as drafting and negotiating individual and collective employment agreements; representation before trade unions, administrative bodies and courts, hiring of personnel and executing redundancies, drafting of internal rules on the formation of salary, elaborating mechanisms for payment of salaries, bonuses, and related allowances and benefits, etc.;
     
  • Penev LLP provided employment advice and prepared various internal documents of CSC (part of DXC) including employment and management contracts. Advice on the lawful processing of personal data and the provision of personal data to non-EU countries. Representation of the company before the Bulgarian Commission for Personal Data Protection. Drafting of contractual clauses and their submission to the Commission for Personal Data Protection.
     
  • we provided employment advice to CIBANK (part of KBC Group) on very specific aspects of the termination of the employment relationship under the Bulgarian Labour Code. Termination of an employment contract at the management level;
     
  • we acted for a large local distributor of Miele on various employment and data protection related matters including the overall GDPR compliance of the company;
     
  • legal advice to ISG Technology on the applicability of UK's Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment Regulations in Bulgaria;
     
  • we acted for ADF on the establishment of their business operations in Bulgaria in 2001. Since then we have advised them on corporate, tax, disputes, and employment and social security issues. In the area of employment and social security we have dealt with numerous matters such as drafting and negotiating individual and collective employment agreements; representation before trade unions, administrative bodies and courts, hiring of personnel and executing redundancies, drafting of internal rules on the formation of salary, elaborating mechanisms for payment of salaries, bonuses, and related allowances and benefits, etc.;
     
  • advice on employment, social security, regulatory and HR matters as well as representation before the court to Kendle UK;
     
  • we have acted for the Spanish companies Metalyeso, Liñagar, and Ancin Clima in the recruitment process of technical experts for the purposes of registration with the Central Professional Register of Builders. The work involved drafting individual agreements, representation of employees before the respective tax authorities and registration at the National Employment Agency of seconded workers;
     
  • we acted for ZyXEL with respect to the hiring of new personnel and payment of incentives. The work involved drafting of individual agreements and representation before the respective administrative tax authorities;
     
  • we also provided a full spectrum of advice to Nestlé in their operations in Bulgaria in the area of employment and social security law;
     
  • advice on employment, social security, regulatory and HR matters as well as representation before the court to IMS Health (USA);
     
  • we acted for Metro Cash and Carry (Germany) on the establishment of their business operations in Bulgaria in 1998. We also acted as its counselors in the area of employment and social security law. Our work covered numerous employment and social security issues such as drafting and negotiating individual and collective employment agreements, representation before trade unions, administrative bodies and courts, hiring of personnel and executing redundancies, drafting of internal rules on the formation of salary, elaborating mechanisms for payment of salaries, bonuses and related allowances and benefits, and other day-to-day issues;
     
  • we acted for HIT hypermarkets (Dole Handelsgroup, Germany) on the establishment of their business operations in Bulgaria in 2002. We also acted as its counselors in the area of employment and social security law;
     
  • we advised the group of bondholders (Group of large US and London based investment banks and hedge funds) on matters relating to downsizing and laying off personnel in the largest Balkan’s steel mill Kremikovtsi AD;
     

  • advice on employment, social security, regulatory and HR matters as well as representation before the court to Invitel (Hungary);

  • provision of legal advice to Solvay on Employee Shares Plans, and related taxation and social security aspects.