Employee Rights in Romania

Prior to the start date of employment, the employer and the employee conclude and sign the employment contract in Romanian, with bilingual versions also allowed. Employers must then submit all new contracts and changes to existing contracts via an online platform (ReGES/Revisal) at least one day prior the Revisal effective date of the change.

Only salary changes can be reported 20 days following the effective date. Contract terminations can be reported on the termination date (first day unworked).

All parties have to conclude, sign, and note all the changes in an addendum prior to the effective date.

The employment contract must contain the following information:

• Identification of both parties
• Place of work (e.g., the employer’s registered office, the employee’s residence if teleworking, various workplaces if no fixed workplace is available)
• Contract start date
• Contract duration (e.g., indefinite or definite)
• The employee’s position as per Classification of Occupations in Romania (COR), with the following included in the contract:
  • job description (contract position or internal position)
  • evaluation criteria
  • teleworking clauses
• Annual leave days subject to internal regulations (must be at least 20 working days, excluding legal/bank holidays)
• Probation period
  • For indefinite contracts, it cannot exceed 90 calendar days for executive positions and 120 calendar days for management positions.
  • For fixed-term contracts, the probation period varies depending on the contract’s duration:
    • 5 working days for up-to-three-months’ contracts
    • 15 working days for three-to-six months’ contracts
    • 30 working days for longer-than-six-months’ contracts
    • 45 working days for longer-than-six-months’ contracts for management positions

A contract can contain only one probation period. A new contract can contain an additional probation period to evaluate the employee’s performance in a new role.

• Notice period duration (in case of dismissal, not shorter than 20 working days; in case of resignation, not longer than 20 working days for execution positions and 45 working days for management positions)
• Monthly base salary (for reporting, calculating, and submitting tax statements to the local authorities), salary payment date, other details (e.g., bonuses and meal tickets)
• Type of employment
  • Full time (8 hours per day (a maximum of 6 hours for minors), 40 hours per week
  • Part time (mandatory requirement to specify the exact time slot the employee will be working; no allowed overtime)

Omitting any of the above information invalidates the contract. The parties must note all the changes to their employment agreement (e.g., base salary, working hours, workplace, position) in an addendum.

The employee has the right to receive the payslip monthly (most commonly, electronically).

The payslip has to show the monthly base salary, hours worked and corresponding salary, vacation days and corresponding salary, any medical leave days, any bonuses, deductions and benefits (meal tickets), social taxes withheld and remaining net salary.

The employer is obligated to have work, health, and safety services provider (SSM) responsible for the following:

• Instructing and training employees on health and safety rules
• Performing regular internal health and safety inspections

The employer has to draw up and implement a risk prevention policy detailing ways that employees can identify, evaluate, and minimize the risks – especially, in a home-office environment.

Most often, you can find the health and safety regulations in the employment contract’s annexes.

A specialised labour medical services provider/clinic must examine the employee prior to the start date. The employee must have this type of medical exam yearly (or twice a year for food industry workers and in other special situations set in industry-specific rules). Failing to have the medical checkup will invalidate their contract.

Employees have the right to be protected from discrimination at work and during all stages of the employment cycle, from interviews to termination, based on the following:

• gender
• racial or ethnic origin
• nationality
• age
• sexual orientation
• union membership
• religious and political beliefs
• physical or mental disability

If an employee brings the discrimination concern to the court, the employer usually bears the burden of proof.

All employees have the right to be treated equally at work with respect to the working conditions regardless of gender, disability, or any other ground for discrimination. Employers must (1) give the same benefits, training, and promotion opportunities to all employees and (2) pay the same remuneration for work of the same value and conditions.

Employees with disability have a right to reasonable accommodation of their workplace. Employers have the obligation (1) to secure (at their own expense and by means of technical and organisational measures), adjust, and establish particular working conditions, workplaces, and sheltered working sites and (2) to train or instruct such employees in order to increase their professional qualifications.

No special regulations protect whistleblowers. However, the employer (1) mustn’t put the employee at a disadvantage merely because the employee lawfully claims rights arising from the employment relationship and (2) cannot dismiss or subject to any detriment the employee who submits a genuinely held complaint in good faith.

The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules apply in Romania, granting the right to privacy and the right to determine who is to receive personal data. The employer may process personal data for the purposes of (1) establishing the employment relationship, (2) terminating the employment relationship, or (3) complying with information duties regarding employee representatives under statutory law, a collective bargaining agreement, or a works agreement. Any further use of personal data requires the employee’s direct consent.

Employers controlling data have the duty to keep records of their data-processing activities, particularly with respect to (1) personal data processed systematically and (2) all employees’ personal data. Companies must also inform employees about the processing taking place and secure the processed data by implementing appropriate technical and organisational measures, depending on the type of data processed and the extent of such processing.

Companies are free to transfer personal data among the members of the European Union and the European Economic Area that adhere to the GDPR rules. For data to be transferred outside these parameters, the recipient of the data must ensure an adequate level of protection.

Certain employees find protection from being dismissed during certain periods of their lives, as follows:

• Illness, with medical proof
• Pregnancy and maternity leave
• Paternity leave
• Parental leave (the period during which the employee can’t be dismissed is extended by six months from the date the employee returns to work from parental leave)
• Performance of a military exercise