Employment Law

The legal relationship between employer and employee is heavily regulated in Romanian labor law; labor law prescribes a variety of requirements that both parties must strictly observe.

The labor law regulates, among other things, that the employment relationship must be written in a written contract in Romanian. The contract must include the following:

– Information about employers and employees
– activity
– Workplace
– Date of entry into force of the contract
– Holidays
– Working conditions and special risks of the job
– Working hours in hours
– Day of payout
– obligations and rights
– Occupational health and safety measures

The employment contract is drawn up in three copies, one for the employer, one for the employee and the third for the local place of work.
Employees can only be hired after a medical examination and certification.

Minimum wage

The gross basic salary is determined annually by government decisions.
You can find further information on the subject of minimum wages and social contributions at the following link:
Social security contributions and minimum wages Romania

Probationary period and time limit

At the beginning of the employment relationship, a trial period of max. 90 days to be agreed.
The individual employment contract may also be concluded for a certain period if it is justified by a legal reason (e.g. seasonal work, replacement for a lost worker, temporary work requirements). Temporary employment contracts can be agreed for a maximum of 24 months.

Working hours

For full-time employees, the normal working hours are 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week. (Article 112 of the Labor Book Act).
The division of working hours during a week is usually set equally to 8 hours a day for 5 days a week with two days off. (Article 113 of the Labor Code)
The maximum working hours must not exceed 48 hours per week, including overtime. (Article 114 of the Labor Code).
Exceeding the legally required overtime (maximum 8 hours / week) is prohibited unless it is due to force majeure or mandatory precautions to prevent an accident or to remove the consequences of an accident.
Overtime can be compensated with free but paid hours within 60 calendar days. In this case, the employee receives the basic wage for the overtime worked.
If it is not possible to compensate overtime with free and paid hours in the next 60 calendar days, the employee will be charged an overtime bonus. The allowance must not be less than 75% of the basic salary for these hours.

Surcharges

For overtime work, a minimum supplement of 75% of the basic wage is paid within 30 days. If the overtime is not compensated within 30 days, an additional payment will be made in the following month.
Alternatively, overtime can also be compensated with free time.

Annual leave

Annual leave is at least 21 working days per calendar year and is based on the length of service.
An increased holiday entitlement exists for special groups of people (e.g. disabled people, employees who work under severe, toxic, etc. conditions) or is stipulated by a collective agreement.

Termination

The employer can usually dismiss the employee as follows:

a) Business-related termination: in this case, the employer must be able to prove, in the event of an examination or a legal dispute, that the company had declining orders, lost orders, etc. It must therefore be possible to demonstrate in concrete terms that the job cuts are not fictitious.
If possible, employees must be offered alternative positions, further training measures, possibly continued wages, etc.
If several employees occupy an affected position, the length of service must also be taken into account.
The statutory notice period of at least 21 working days must be observed.

b) Dismissal for subjective reasons by the employer is justified in the following cases:

1. serious or repeated disciplinary offense. Three warnings must be carried out in accordance with the law. See disciplinary proceedings, below.
2. Imposition of pre-trial detention exceeding 30 days
3. If a physical or mental disability is determined after a medical examination
4. If the employee is not professionally qualified for his job.

We recommend that you seek advice from an expert in labor law before giving notice of termination. Quite often dismissals are challenged and this can have serious consequences for the employer if the legally prescribed procedures do not take place