01.11.2023
CAN I REGISTER A COMPANY IF I WORK ON AN EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT?
Laws governing the registration of companies differ from country to country. It is important to note that the administrative requirements to be followed when registering a company sometimes also depend on the employment status of the person when such a step is taken. In reality, the general regulation of legal norms and documents required to register a company have no relation to whether the applicant is an employed worker or an employee.
What is the legal situation in Bulgaria regarding the commitments of employees when they take the step of registering their own company? Is it possible to combine work under an employment contract with being the owner of a company? Does the employer have to be notified that the worker or employee will start his own company?
In Bulgaria, there is no explicit legal provision that prohibits an employed person from being the owner of a company at the same time. The Labor Code of the country regulates the possibilities for additional work with the same or another employer, but here we are talking about additional remuneration.
We remind you that the worker or the employee can enter into an employment contract with the employer he works for, to perform work that is not within the scope of his work duties, outside of the working hours established for him. Also, the worker and the employee may enter into employment contracts with other employers to perform work outside the working hours established for him under the main employment relationship (external compatibility), unless a prohibition has been agreed in his individual employment contract under his main employment relationship due to trade secret protection and/or conflict of interest prevention.
The only prohibition of additional work (again through an additional employment relationship) is for workers or employees who work under specific conditions and the risks to their life and health cannot be removed or reduced, regardless of the measures taken - to work under the same or other specific conditions. This also applies to those positions and professions that are explicitly defined in a law or in an act of the Council of Ministers.
As the Labor Code nowhere mentions a requirement for employees to seek permission from the employer or to notify him that they intend to or have already registered their company, it can be argued that contract workers do not have this commitment and employers should not require such information.
It should be noted that according to the Commercial Law, a manager of a limited liability company cannot be a person declared bankrupt or a person who has been a manager, member of a management or control body of a company dissolved due to bankruptcy in the last two years , preceding the date of the bankruptcy decision, if there are unsatisfied creditors. A person who has been a manager, a member of a management or control body of a company for which a criminal decree entered into force has been found to have failed to fulfill obligations to create and maintain its specified levels of stocks under the Stocks Act cannot be a manager. from oil and oil products.
Again, the Commercial Law states that, without the consent of the company, the manager has no right to participate in general and limited partnerships and limited liability companies, on his own behalf or on behalf of others, as well as hold a position in the management bodies of other companies.
Reference:
Art. 110, 111, 112 of the Labor Code
Art. 141, 142 of the Commercial Law
