Starting from 22 October, Law No 283/2022, which substantially amends the Labour Code, entered into force.

Among the legislative changes introduced, there are certain ones which we consider to have an impact on the companies’ activities:

1. A new type of leave for employees who provide care to family members

The employer has the obligation to grant special leave to the employee who needs to provide personal care or support to a relative or a person living in the same household as the employee who needs care or support because of a serious medical condition. The maximum duration of this leave is five working days in a calendar year and will be granted at the written request of the employee. However, through internal documents (such as the internal regulation, specific policies or collective labour agreement), employees are allowed to provide longer leave for such purposes.

This period shall not be included in the duration of annual leave and shall constitute seniority in employment and in the speciality.

The specific conditions for granting this type of leave shall be determined by joint order of the Minister of Labour and the Minister of Health. The employers who refuse, for unjustified reasons, to allow their employees to take such leave, are liable to a fine of between 4,000 lei and 8,000 lei.

2. Employee’ absences from the workplace can be allowed for family emergencies, in certain conditions

An employee shall have the right to be absent from work in unforeseen circumstances arising from a family emergency caused by illness or accident, provided that the employer is informed in advance and that the period of absence is compensated until the employee's normal working hours have been covered in full.

Absence from work in such situations may not exceed 10 working days in a calendar year. The employer and the employee will agree on how to make up the period of absence from work.

4. Individualized work schedule

The employer may establish individualized work schedules for all employees, with their agreement or at their request. Such individualized schedules can be established for a limited or determined period of time and the employer will have to provide in writing, within five working days of receipt of the request, motived reasons in case of refusal.

Where the individualized work schedule is of limited duration, the employee has the right to return to the original work schedule at the end of the agreed period. The employee has the right to return to the original schedule before the end of the agreed period if the circumstances which led to the establishment of the individualized schedule change.

5. Transfer to a vacant position

Employees will have the right to apply for a transfer to a vacant position "offering more favourable working conditions if they have completed their probationary period and have been with the same employer for at least six months". The employer has to provide a motivated response to the employee within 30 days of receiving the request.

6. The possibility of performing work based on two Labour Agreements

Any employee has the right to work for different employers or for the same employer, under different individual employment agreements, only subject to the condition that the working schedules under the two agreements do not overlap.

7. New information obligations

This concerns the minimum elements which the Labour Code establishes that the employer must inform candidates and employees about, and which must be included in the individual employment agreement. Thus, the following additional information will have to be provided:

• if the work is performed in more than one place, it must be stated whether the person's travel between these places is insured or paid for by the employer;
• with regard to the salary, the method of payment should be expressly mentioned;
• in addition to the normal working hours, the person should be informed of the conditions for working and compensating/paying overtime and, where applicable, how shift work is organized;
• in the case of a probationary period, the conditions, and not just the duration, should also be specified;
• specification of the benefits granted (e.g. payment of private medical insurance or voluntary/occupational pension contributions);
• if the work is to be carried out abroad, the country (or countries) should be indicated in addition to the duration of the work period.

As a result, companies shall have to update their relevant documents, especially individual labour agreements and internal regulations in order to fulfill their newly-imposed legal obligations.