08.02.2023

PROTECTING WHISTLEBLOWERS

The Parliament in Bulgaria adopted a Law for the protection of persons reporting or publicly disclosing information about violations.

The main purpose of the law is to ensure the protection of persons in the public and private sector who file reports or make public information about violations of Bulgarian legislation or EU acts, which became known to them during or on the occasion of performing their work or fulfilling their official duties.

Obliged entities under this law are all employers in the public sector, with the exception of municipalities with less than 10,000 inhabitants. In relation to the private sector, it is envisaged that employers with more than 50 workers or employees, as well as those with less than 50 workers or employees, if their activity falls within the EU acts, are obliged entities.

The law also aims to ensure effective protection of whistleblowers or public disclosures of violations regarding acts and areas where law enforcement needs to be improved.

The scope is broad, with categories including: public procurement, financial services, products and markets, anti-money laundering, environmental protection, public health, consumer protection, transport safety, privacy and data protection, security of networks and information systems, etc.

What are the interrelationships between the adopted law and labor and service relations?

At first glance, the subject of the law is not labor and directly related relations, insurance relations, as well as issues of the standard of living, but in practice, in most cases, the persons who will file reports are precisely workers or employees. And it is against them that some kind of pressure, coercion, influence, threat and other unfavorable actions, disciplinary sanctions or direct dismissal could be applied because they have reported violations.

It is about protecting the rights of workers and employees, their personal data, as well as the status and role of trade unions in the process of reporting violations.

Regarding the field of application, this law should also be applied in relation to reports or public disclosure of information about violations of Bulgarian legislation in the field of labor legislation and legislation related to the performance of public service. In practice, the persons making such reports will, in most cases, be in the capacity of "worker or employee" or "public servant", that is, working under an employment or official legal relationship.

Closely related to labor relations are insurance relations or legal relations. Their importance comes from the fact that they are public relations to compensate for the adverse social consequences for the insured person or for the family members supported by him when carrying out the social risks provided for in the law, as a result of which temporary unemployment, temporary/permanent incapacity or death of the insured person, but also all questions concerning the granting and amount of pensions, pension funds, etc.