Content:
• Law no. 283/2022
Law no. 283/2022
Law no. 283 published in the Official Gazette no. 1013 of October 19, 2022, amending and supplementing Law no. 53/2003-Labour Code, as well as Government Emergency Ordinance no. 57/2019 on the Administrative Code, brings the following clarifications:
Comments: This law entered into force on October 22, 2022 and brings important changes and supplements regarding labour relations, amending and supplementing the Labour Code.
Thus, employers must update the employment contracts and information provided to future employees to include the following:
- The place of work or, in the absence of a fixed place of work, the possibility for the employee to carry out his activity in different places of work, as well as if the movement between these places is provided or paid by the employer.
- The basic salary, other income-related elements, highlighted separately, the payment cycle and payment method.
- The standard working hours, expressed in hours/day and/or hours/week, the overtime conditions and the way of organising work in shifts (if applicable).
- Duration and conditions of the trial period.
- The payment by the employer of private medical insurance, additional contributions to the employee’s voluntary pension or occupational pension, and the granting, at the employer’s initiative, of any other rights, when these constitute benefits in cash or paid by the employer to the employee as a result of his professional activity, as the case may be.
In view of these changes, we believe that employers must insert this information into the newly concluded individual employment contracts and pre-employment information given out, as well as in the already existing individual employment contracts by concluding an addendum to the contract.
In addition to the above mentioned, we mention that the information prior to employment must also contain aspects such as:
- Mention of the collective labour contract governing the employee’s working conditions.
- The procedures regarding the use of the electronic signature, advanced electronic signature and the qualified electronic signature.
- The right and conditions regarding the professional training offered by the employer.
We mention that within 30 days from the publication of this law, the Ministry of Labour will issue the new framework template of the individual employment contract.
Other aspects required by this law concern:
- The prohibition to establish a new trial period if, within 12 months, a new individual employment contract is concluded between the same parties for the same position and with the same duties.
- The right of employees to work for different employers or for the same employer, based on individual employment contracts, is possible only if there is no overlapping of the working hours.
- The right employees to request the transfer to a vacancy that provides more favourable working conditions if they have completed their trial period and have at least 6 months of service with the same employer.
- Any employee can request an individualised work schedule, even for a limited time period. At the same time, the new provisions establish the flexible organization of working time, as being the possibility for employees to adapt the working hours, including by using remote working formulas, flexible work schedules, individualised work schedules or some work schedules with reduced working time.
- It is established the employer’s obligation to grant carer’s leave to the employee, in order to provide care or personal support to a relative or a person living in the same household as the employee and who needs care or support as a result of a serious medical problem, with a duration of 5 working days in a calendar year, at the written request of the employee. The medical issues and conditions for granting of the carer’s leave are established by the joint order of the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Health. This period is not included in the duration of the annual rest leave and constitutes length of service. Failure by the employer to comply with the obligation to grant this leave is punishable by a fine from RON 4,000 to RON 8,000.
- It is established the right of the employee to absence from work in unforeseen situations, determined by a family emergency situation caused by illness or accident, which make the immediate presence of the employee indispensable, provided that the employer is informed in advance and that the period of absence is compensated until the full coverage of the normal working hours of the employee. Absence from work under these conditions may not last more than 10 working days in a calendar year, the employer and the employee mutually agree on how to compensate the period of absence in question.
- When determining the duration of the annual leave, periods of temporary incapacity for work, those related to maternity leave, paternal leave, maternity risk leave, sick child care leave, carer’s leave and the period of absence from the place of work under the conditions of Art. 152 2 (the 10 working days of absence) are considered worked days.
- It is stipulated the obligation of the employer to inform each employee of the provisions of the Internal Regulations, on the first day of work, and to prove proof of compliance of this obligation. Notification of employees can be made on paper or in electronic format, provided that, in the latter case, the document is accessible to the employees and can be stored and printed by them.
- If the employees are going to work abroad, the employment contract will have to specify the country/countries where they are going to work.
Finally, we would like to point out that the normative act establishes that employees have the right to protection against any adverse treatment from the employer for filing a complaint or initiating a procedure to ensure the observance of the rights provided by the Labour Code. If they consider themselves victims of such adverse treatment, employees can address the competent court for compensation and restoration of the previous situation or annulment of the situation created because of the adverse treatment, by detailing the facts that led to the presumption of adverse treatments.