The Bankruptcy Law regulates the rights of workers and the procedure of their realization in the bankruptcy procedure in a special way. The goal of the bankruptcy procedure defined by the law itself is the collective settlement of the creditors of the bankruptcy debtor. Workers in bankruptcy proceedings may be bankruptcy creditors or creditors of the bankruptcy estate. This is a consequence of the differentiation of workers with regard to the (non)existence of employment claims at the time of opening the bankruptcy proceedings. The bankruptcy trustee has a very important role in the bankruptcy proceedings, whose powers and duties are prescribed by law. Fulfillment of the goal of the bankruptcy proceedings, achieved either by general enforcement or by the successful implementation of the bankruptcy plan, depends primarily on whether the proposal to open bankruptcy proceedings was submitted on time. In addition, the submission of a proposal for the opening of bankruptcy proceedings is an obligation prescribed by law for certain persons or bodies of a legal entity, but in certain cases also for the Financial Agency. Methods of description, analysis, synthesis, induction and deduction were used in the preparation of the paper and the study of the literature. Bankruptcy legislation must enable the survival of those economic entities who can recover, and at the same time the removal from the market of those who cannot. Although the Bankruptcy Law defines workers as creditors of the first higher payment order, the actual settlement of workers' claims from the bankruptcy estate is difficult to achieve, especially taking into account the fact of late initiation of bankruptcy proceedings. The existence of workers is often endangered even before the opening of bankruptcy proceedings, and due to the long duration of bankruptcy proceedings and during its implementation. Faster and more efficient legal protection of workers is regulated by the Law on Insurance of Workers' Claims, which regulates the material rights of workers in the event of bankruptcy of the employer, as well as the procedure for their realization.