14.02.2024

CAN WE WORK FOR LESS THAN MINIMUM WAGE

The minimum wage is determined for full-time work for 8 hours per day, 5 days per week. Its amount is the same for the whole country. It is the basic salary and to it are added the additional labor remunerations that are due under the employment relationship on a general basis.

Many employers ask themselves the question, for example, whether it is possible to conclude an employment contract with remuneration below the minimum wage, for full-time work, if the person has previous experience in the specialty and with the additional remuneration for acquired work experience and professional experience forms a gross remuneration of more than 780 BGN

The answer to the question is negative. The basic salary should be at least the minimum wage for the country, no matter how much the additional remuneration will add to it.

The gross salary of each worker or employee is different, because it also depends on the percentage of additional labor remuneration for acquired work experience and professional experience.

The minimum wage can serve as a basis for determining the initial basic wages in the enterprise, additional wages and social benefits. It is also used for the purposes of insurance law and social assistance.

It is also good to pay attention to the ratio between "minimum wage" and "minimum insurance income/threshold", as they are often mixed up.

The minimum insurance thresholds represent legally established minimum amounts of insurance income, on which insurance contributions are made, depending on the main economic activity of the employer and the qualification group in which the profession practiced by the insured person is classified. The amounts of the minimum insurance income for basic economic activities and qualification groups of professions are determined by the Law on the State Public Insurance Budget for the relevant year.

The minimum wage also serves as a unit of measure for determining the sequesterable part of a person's income in the sense of the Civil Procedure Code. If the execution is directed to the labor remuneration or to any other labor remuneration, as well as to a pension, the amounts of which are above the minimum wage, it can be withheld only if the convicted person receives a monthly remuneration in the amount between the minimum wage and twice amount of the minimum wage - one third if without children, and one quarter if with dependent children.

The same applies if the convicted person receives a monthly remuneration in an amount between twice the amount of the minimum wage and four times the amount of the minimum wage - one second part if he is without children and one third part if he has children he supports, as well as if the convicted person receives a monthly remuneration in the amount of more than four times the amount of the minimum wage - the upper limit above two times the amount of the minimum wage, if he is without children, and the upper limit above two and a half times the amount of the minimum wage, if he has children he supports.

We remind you that the non-sequestrable minimum is determined absolutely - in the amount of the minimum wage, and this applies both to any remuneration for work and to the pension. There is no reason to believe that the legislature treats debtors who receive income from employment differently from those who receive income from a pension. Whatever the source of income, the absolutely non-sequestable part is the same for all debtors - the minimum wage. Therefore, employees receiving labor remuneration up to this amount do not have a sequesterable part of the salary.

Reference:

Art. 446, para. 1 of the Civil Procedure Code