Summary of the Romanian Labour Law

By way of background, the Romanian Labour Code (the “Labour Code”) governs general employment relationships; although the Labour Code is usually modified every year by the publication of the government approved National Collective Labour Agreement in the Official Gazette. The National Collective Labour Agreement may also be modified by collective labour agreements for each industrial activity in Romania.

The Labour Inspectorate is the governmental body within the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection and is the authority which supervises labour relationships and the compliance of the enacted labour safety rules. The Labour Inspectorate has territorial branches (Territorial Labour Inspectorates) that are responsible for the above-mentioned labour duties.

Individual labour contracts concluded with privately owned companies should be registered within twenty (20) days from date of execution with the Territorial Inspectorates of Labour. Any document regarding the execution, amendment, and termination of an individual labour contract shall be registered with the Territorial Inspectorates of Labour within five (5) days from the conclusion of such document, and the employer shall report on a monthly basis, on the 15th day of the following month, the documents evidencing payments for salaries, social security, supplementary pension, and the unemployment contribution.

Individual Labour Contract

The Labour Code provides that individual labour contracts (hereinafter “ILC”) shall be in a written form and shall include at minimum the clauses provided for by the sample ILC. As a matter of practice, the inspectors from the Labour Inspectorate mainly accept employment agreements presented in the form of the sample contract. However, this practice is not compliant with the legal provisions, since the sample ILC provides for the possibility to add other clauses, which are not covered in the sample.

(a) Duration of the Employment Contract ILC may be established for either an undetermined or a fixed duration. The usual form of contract is one of an undetermined period of time. ILC may be concluded for a fixed period of time if done: (i) for replacement of an employee on a temporary leave of absence who the employer is required to retain; or (ii) for activities of a temporary nature; (iii) the temporary growth of the employer’s activity; (iv) if the contract is concluded on the basis of certain legal provisions issued with the purpose of temporarily favouring certain categories of unemployed persons; the hiring of a person which meets all retiring conditions within 5 years from the date she was hired; occupying eligible functions within trade union organizations, or non-governmental organizations, on the period of the mandate; hiring retired persons whom, under the conditions provided by the law, may cumulate the pension with the salary; other cases expressly provided by special laws. ILC for a fixed duration might not be concluded for a period exceeding 12 months.

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