Employers in Romania are legally required to provide employees with a contract of employment, written in Romanian, and which should include all relevant details of employment such as:
The employment contract can be concluded with wet ink signature or by using the advanced electronic signature or the qualified electronic signature.
Employer must register employment contracts with the electronic register of employees (known as REVISAL).
The normal working hours for most employees in Romania are 40 hours per week and eight hours per day. Depending on the employer’s activity, the working program may be structured differently as long as it line with the provisions of the Labor Code.
A working week, including overtime, must not exceed 48 hours unless there are exceptional cases. When employees work overtime, they must be compensated by being given paid leave during usual work time, for the hours worked. This paid leave must be given within 60 days of when the overtime was performed. In circumstances where compensation in the form of paid leave is not possible, employees can be compensated by a payment of 75% of the base salary pro rata.
There are several public holidays in Romania:
Employees who work during public holidays must be compensated with days off. As per the Romanian Labor Code, the employees whose work cannot be interrupted on the public holidays must be compensated with days off during the next 30 days, otherwise employees will be compensated by a payment of 100% of the base salary pro rata.
Employers in Romania are legally required to provide their employees with at least 20 working days of paid annual leave.
An employee should try to use their entire annual leave during the year it accrues. However, if an employee does not do this then any untaken leave can be taken within 18 months of the year following its accrual.
Annual leave cannot be exchanged, transferred, limited or waived in exchange for a compensation payment. The only situation where an employee may be paid a cash compensation for their annual leave is when their employment contract is terminated.
In case of extraordinary family events, the employees shall have the right to a certain number of paid days off.
In cases where the employee is temporarily unable to work due to illness or injury, the employee may receive paid sick leave but must obtain a medical certificate granting medical leave for prescribed number of days.
Parental leave is granted for a maximum period of two years from the birth of the child or for a period of three years in the case of disabled children.
Maternity leave lasts for 126 days, of which at least 42 days must be taken after the birth of the child; the difference up to 126 days can be taken before or after the child’s birth. During parental leave, the monthly allowance is equal to 85% of the average net income achieved in the last 12 months of the last two years preceding the child’s birth.
The new born child’s father, performing activities under an employment contract, irrespective or whether they are insured in the public social insurance system, are granted 10 working days, which can be extended by 5 working days for each new-born child, provided the father obtains a certificate showing completion of a childcare course.
An employment contract is terminated when:
The notice period can be agreed by the parties in the employment contract or, provided in the applicable collective labour agreements. In case of resignation, it cannot exceed 20 working days for employees in non-management positions or 45 working days for managing employees.
In case of dismissal, the employers must give at least 20 working days’ notice of termination. During this notice period, the employee is entitled to receive his salary and all other rights.
Termination without notice is only lawful if there is a severe or repeated breach of the employee’s duties, confirmed under a disciplinary review, or if the employee is held under temporary detention for more than 30 days. Also, notice is not required where an employee is under probation period and is dismissed for being professionally unfit.
Employers are not required to pay severance upon termination.
The general social contributions rates are established as follows:
Employee contributions:
The monthly assessment base is the gross salary.
Employer contributions:
The employer should withhold the employee’s social security contributions from their salary and pay these contributions monthly to the Romanian State budget.
In Romania all employees benefit of a basic health coverage and a supplementary insurance coverage. The basic coverage provides for medical treatment, medicines, sanitary materials and medical devices.
Many employers choose to offer employees a variety of health services under individual insurance contracts.
Compensation laws in Romania
Starting with January 2022, the minimum monthly gross salary in Romania is Lei 2,550/ month (EUR 515/month). The national minimum salary corresponds to the normal work schedule, with an average monthly full-time schedule of 167.333 hours, without including bonuses or other additional payments.
Apart from the benefits provided by the relevant legal provisions, many Romanian employers offer to their employees’ extra-salary benefits, to ensure their loyalty and motivation. Usually, these extra-benefits consist of meal tickets, gifts, holiday, and vouchers.
Setting up a benefits system for your employees in Romania can be challenging if you are not familiar with the complex labor laws, language, and cultural differences.
Temps HR can help you bypass this complicated part by offering you a great benefits management system. Our expert team will advise you on the best practices and handle all of your benefit setup and management, enabling you to focus on the rest of your business.
