01.02.2023

WORK INTERNSHIP IN WORKING ON A CIVIL CONTRACT

It often happens that citizens ask whether work experience is accumulated when they work on a "freelance" basis.

The questions are of a very different nature, delineating different hypotheses related to work during paid annual leave, work during maternity leave and many others related to putting in some kind of work in the most diverse form. What do the regulations in the Bulgarian legislation regarding the length of service in such situations regulate?

Let's first clarify what "freelance work" means, or rather what the questioners who use these words mean. Royalty generally means monetary compensation paid for the work of freelancers or creatives - such as writers, translators, artists, actors, teachers, lawyers, etc. Payment of fees in the form of royalties usually comes in two forms - as a percentage of sales or as a one-time payment.

In fact, when someone works "on a freelance basis" they often mean that they are working on a civilian contract. In these situations, in practice, the rules of procurement and production contracts are used in the sense of the Law on Obligations and Contracts. The employment contract refers to remuneration. Therefore, you cannot work under an employment contract and receive a fee.

Work under a civil contract could in no way affect the length of service, including during maternity. However, it leads to the accumulation of a longer insurance period, which will be reflected in a much later stage with a view to receiving a higher amount of pension for insurance period and age.

That is why work under a civil contract does not accumulate work experience, but only insurance experience. If, for example, the mother, during the period of her maternity leave, works on a civil contract, this form of employment does not lead to an interruption of her work experience, nor to an interruption of the payment of the cash benefit for maternity.

According to the Social Insurance Code, persons insured for general illness and maternity are entitled to cash compensation for pregnancy and childbirth and for raising a child up to the age of 2, instead of remuneration, if they have 12 months of insurance experience as insured for this risk .

When a person insured for general illness and maternity, during the period of leave for pregnancy and childbirth or for raising a child up to the age of 2, receives cash compensation, taking a job without an employment relationship (civil contract) is not an obstacle to receiving of the monetary compensation.

It is important to clarify that this opportunity is given not only during the use of pregnancy and childbirth leave, but also during the use of the additional paid leave for raising a child up to the age of 2.

Reference:

Art. 48a and Art. 52a of the Social Security Code

Art. 164 of the Labor Code