Content:
• Law no. 19/2020
• Decision no. 217/2020
• Emergency Ordinance no. 30/2020
The normative acts regulating the granting of days off for the supervision of children in the event of temporary closure of educational units, are the following:
• Law no. 19/2020 published in the Official Gazette Part I no. 209 of March 14, 2020 on granting some days off to parents for the supervision of children, in the event of temporary closure of educational units;
• Decision no. 217/2020 published in the Official Gazette Part I no. 230 of March 21, 2020 on the application of the provisions of Law no. 19/2020 on granting some days off to parents for the supervision of children, in the event of temporary closure of educational units;
• Emergency Ordinance no. 30/2020 published in the Official Gazette Part I no. 231 of March 21, 2020 amending and supplementing a series of normative acts, and establishing measures in the field of social protection in the context of the current epidemiological situation caused by the spread of the SARS-COV-2 coronavirus.
Under these acts, one parent is granted days off for the supervision of children, in the event of temporary closure of the educational units where they are enrolled, as a result of adverse weather conditions or other extreme situations declared so by the competent authorities the field.
The paid days off to be granted for the supervision of the children during the suspension of courses or temporary closure of the educational units and due to the Decree 195/2020 establishing the emergency state on the territory of Romania, are established as the working days until the termination of the emergency situation, except for those working days that fall during school holidays.
In order to benefit from paid days off for the supervision of children, the parents must submit a request and meet the following requirements:
a) have children aged up to 12 years, enrolled in an educational unit or have children with disabilities aged up to 18 years, enrolled in an educational unit;
b) the occupied workplace does not allow work from home or telework.
By “parent” it is understood:
a) the biological parent, according to Law no. 287/2009 on the Civil Code, republished, with subsequent amendments and additions;
b) the person who adopted a child;
c) the person who has the child/children in custody for adoption;
d) the person who has the child in foster care or in guardianship;
e) the person designated according to art. 104 paragraph (2) of Law no. 272/2004 on the protection and promotion of the rights of the child, republished, with subsequent amendments and supplements;
f) the parent or legal representative of the adult person with disabilities enrolled in an educational unit.”
The request shall be accompanied by the following documents:
—An affidavit of the other parent, showing that he/she:
→has not requested at his/her place of work days off to supervise the children;
→is not on annual leave, unpaid or parental leave, is not the personal assistant of one of the dependent children;
— Copies of birth certificates of the children.
The official template of the affidavit is set by Decision 217/18.03.2020
Parents shall receive a daily indemnity of 75% of the base salary corresponding to a working day, but not more than 75% of the average gross salary used as a reference value for the annual social security budget and shall be borne by the Guarantee Fund for debt salaries.
We mention that the employer may request reimbursement only for the net amounts paid to the parent. The social insurance contributions shall be borne by the employer.
For the reimbursement of the amounts related to child supervision allowances, the employer shall submit to the local agency for employment a request accompanied by the following documents:
a) the list of employees who have benefited from the days off, as well as the allowance granted during this period;
b) copies of payroll slips showing the allowance granted;
c) the affidavit of the legal representative of the employer certifying that the list mentioned at letter a) comprises the individuals who meet the requirements set in art. 2 paragraph (2) of Law no. 19/2020; the template of the affidavit is approved by order of the President of the National Agency for Employment, which is published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I;
d) proof of payment of contributions and taxes related to the month in which the allowance was paid.
These provisions do not apply to:
— persons whose labour relations or those of their spouse are suspended due to the temporary interruption of the employer’s activity;
— persons who are on annual or unpaid leave;
— persons who are child rearing leave with children up to 2 years old, 3 years old, respectively in case of disabled children;
— persons who are on child care leave for children up to 7 years old (granted after the age of 3 years for the child with disabilities);
— if the other parent doesn’t earn income from salaries and assimilated to salaries, income from independent activities, income from intellectual property rights, income from agricultural activities, forestry and fish farming, subject to income tax according to the provisions of Law no. 227/2015 on the Fiscal Code, with subsequent amendments and supplements.
• Emergency Ordinance no. 30/2020
Emergency Ordinance no. 30/2020 published in the Official Gazette Part I no. 231 of March 21, 2020, amending and supplementing a series of normative acts, and establishing measures in the field of social protection in the context of the current epidemiological situation caused by the spread of the SARS-COV-2 coronavirus, bring the following clarifications:
Comment: During the state of emergency established by Decree no. 195/2020, for the period of temporary suspension of the individual employment contract, from the initiative of the employer, according to art. 52 para. (1) letter c) of Law no. 53/2003, the allowances received by employees are set at 75% of the base salary corresponding to the position held and are borne from the unemployment insurance budget, but no more than 75% of the average gross salary.
These provisions benefit the employees of employers who fall into one of the following situations:
1. Employers who have completely or partially interrupted their activities during the state of emergency based on the decisions issued by the competent public authorities and possess the state of emergency certificate issued by the Ministry of Economy.
For example, bars and restaurants, beauty salons, fitness clubs, etc., for which was issued the Military Ordinance no. 1/17.03.2020. Employers can benefit in this case from the reimbursement of the allowance for all employees.
The technical unemployment benefit is reimbursed based on the possession of the state of emergency certificate and on the reimbursement request, signed and dated, accompanied by the list of beneficiaries, submitted in the current month for the payment of the previous month’s allowance.
Payment of the amounts is made based on the request submitted, no later than 30 days from the its submission date. The payment and submission of tax and contributions returns term is the 25th of the month following that for which the payment is made from the unemployment insurance budget.
The templates are found in the Annexes of GEO 30/2020.
2. Reduce the activity due to the effects of the COVID-19 epidemic and do not have the financial capacity to pay all the salaries of their employees. In this case, employers can benefit from the payment of the technical unemployment benefit for up to 75% of the employees who have active employment contracts on the date of entry into force of this emergency ordinance.
The payment shall be made on the basis of an affidavit that shows that the employer registered a decrease in the proceeds from the month before the submission of the affidavit, by at least 25% compared to the average revenues form January — February 2020, and that the employer does not have the financial capacity to pay all employees.
In this situation, the request for the reimbursement of the technical unemployment benefit shall be accompanied by the affidavit stating that the employer records a decrease in the proceeds by at least 25%, plus the list of beneficiaries.
The technical unemployment benefit is subject to income tax and social contributions, CAS and CASS. The withholding and payment of such amounts shall be made by the employer from the indemnity collected from the unemployment insurance budget. This indemnity is not subject to the work insurance contribution (CAM) for the amount of the indemnity borne from the unemployment insurance budget.