Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2001, published 90th ILC session (2002)

Weekly Rest (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1957 (No. 106) - Bulgaria (Ratification: 1960)

The Committee notes the Government’s report. It would be grateful for further clarifications regarding the following points.

Article 8, paragraph 1. The Article provides that temporary exemptions, total or partial (including the suspension or reduction of the rest period), from the provisions of Articles 6 and 7 shall be permitted in enumerated cases under (a) (c). Overtime work on a weekly rest day is allowed under section 144 of the Labour Code, inter alia, in case of hard seasonal work. This exception does not appear to be in conformity with the stipulated exceptional cases under Article 8, paragraph 1(a)-(c). The Committee requests the Government to inform the Committee how the full application of the Convention is ensured in this respect.

Article 8, paragraph 3. This Article provides that, where temporary exemptions are made in accordance with the provisions of this Article, the persons concerned shall be granted compensatory rest at least equivalent to the period provided for under Article 6. In accordance with sections 144 and 146(3), overtime may also be worked on a weekly rest day. Under section 150(1) of the Labour Code of Bulgaria, enacted on 1 January 1993, compensation of overtime work by rest is prohibited. The Government’s report pointed out that the problem has been solved by section 153(2) of the Labour Code. This section, however, is applicable to sum calculation of working time in case of productions of uninterruptible process, in shift changes and the six-day working week and does apparently not ensure a compensatory rest for exemptions made under section 144.

Furthermore, the Committee notes the forthcoming amendment of the Labour Code through section 136(a). It notes that this section will allow a prolongation and respectively shortening of working hours during working days for manufacturing reasons. Again, this section does not provide for compensatory rest for exemptions made under section 144 of the Labour Code.

Therefore the Committee recalls that the national legislation is still not in conformity with the Convention. It trusts that the Government will take the necessary action in the near future and that it will provide full information in its next report.

Part V of the report form. The Committee requests the Government to give a general appreciation of the manner in which the Convention is applied in the country, including extracts from the reports of the inspection services and information concerning the number of workers covered by the relevant legislation and the number and nature of the contraventions reported.