Leave in Romania

Holiday Leave in Romania

Holiday entitlement

By law, both full-time and part-time employees can receive 20 days of annual paid leave accrued progressively based on hours worked. However, employers commonly give more than this statutory minimum. Employees can receive pay for unused leave upon termination only.

Employees should use their accrued leave in the same year; however, they can also carry it forward for 18 months. They must take at least one part of their leave as a two-week block.

By the end of each year, employers have the obligation to make a schedule of leaves during the following year, indicating either precise dates or periods of up to three months when employees should take their leaves.

Bank holiday

Romania has 15 public holidays observed on the days on which they fall:

Those celebrating other religions receive two paid days off for each three annual holidays.

If the employer requires the employee to work on a holiday, the employee can either receive double pay for that day or get a different day off to be used by the third calendar month following the holiday.

Types of Leave in Romania

Sick leave

Employees can take a paid sick leave based on a medical certificate issued by a medic/family doctor/specialist, etc., with most common leaves taken for the following reasons:

• Normal work incapacity (75% coverage)
• Surgical emergencies (100% coverage)
• COVID-related sick leave (100% coverage)
• Maternity leave (85% coverage)
• Caring for a sick child (85% coverage)

In order to benefit from the payment during sick leave, the employee must have paid social contributions for at least 6 months over the last 12. During the leave, employees receive payments according to the Indemnity Code, calculated based on (1) the nature of the specific illness (covered 75%–100%) and (2) the average income from the previous 6 months.

The employer financially covers sick leaves, based on the corresponding percentage. However, the National Health Insurance Fund reimburses eligible amounts as follows:

• COVID-related leaves, maternity leaves, and caring-for-a-sick-child leaves, starting with the first day
• Other leaves, starting with the sixth day

The downside is that payments are slow due to the high number of requests and lack of funds, taking employers up to a few years to receive the amounts.

Maternity leave

The pregnant employee can receive maternity leave based on the certificate issued by the medic who determines the leave start date. The leave can last for 126 calendar days, begin before the birth of the child, and end after. However, the employee must take at least 42 days of the leave, following the birth date.

Paternity leave

Male employees can receive up to ten working days of paternity leave plus five days if the father has an infant care certificate. The paternity leave must start within eight weeks of the birth date. The employer covers 100% of the employee’s regular salary.

Parental leave

Employees can take child care leave up until the time the child turns two years old (three years old in disability cases). Either parent can take it; however, commonly, mothers do, usually starting on the day following the end of maternity leave. During this leave, the employer suspends the employee’s contract and no longer pays, while the employee receives an indemnity payment from the local social services.

By law, the father has to take at least one month of parental leave as well, while the mother returns to work. They can’t both take the leave simultaneously, since only one parent at a time can receive the state indemnity.

The mother can return from the child care leave sooner, based on the request to return from leave. Most mothers choose to return to work two months earlier, since thus they receive the state’s insertion bonus given until the child turns three years old.

Without her salary being affected, the pregnant employee can benefit from the shift reduction — from eight hours a day to six hours a day — based on the certificate issued by the doctor.

If returning sooner after child care leave, the mother can benefit from two hours’ shift reduction for breastfeeding, until the child turns one year old.

By law, the employer can’t dismiss an employee for six months following the return from child care leave or during the time she benefits from the insertion bonus.

Adoption leave

Adopting parents can take a paid leave of up to one year as accommodation leave, which is the corresponding child care leave. Prior to this, the employer has to grant the adopting parent 40 hours per year (as paid time off) to carry out the required assessments and certifications and to assess the practical fit.

Special events leave

Employers also grant additional paid leaves for special occasions:

• Marriage* – five days
• Marriage of a child* – two days
• Birth of a child – ten days (paternity leave) with five additional days granted if the father successfully completes a childcare course, taken in the first eight weeks following the birth date
• Death of a husband/wife, child, parent, in-laws* – three days
• Death of grandparents, siblings* – one day
• Blood donation – one day
• COVID vaccination – one day (no time limit clearly set)

* The above number-of-days guideline represents the common practice based on the National Collective Labour Agreement used until 2011. Since then, employers have used either this guideline or the internal regulations as a reference.

Unpaid leave

Employees can request unpaid leave for personal reasons, during which the employer suspends their contract and pays no salary. The maximum period during which the employee can benefit from unpaid leave is subject to the employer’s discretion and the internal regulations, with common practice being one month per year.