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Romania: Updates on paid leave for parents

21.03.2020

As required under the Law 19/2020 on granting parents paid leave to supervise their children if educational institutions are temporarily closed (“Law no. 19/2020”), the Romanian government has recently approved the manner in which paid leave is granted to parents with children up to 12 years old or up to 18 years old for children with disabilities.

Thus, the government approved the resolution stating that working days until the end of the state of emergency (except for those considered school holidays) will be considered paid leave granted to one of the parents upon request. We underline that such paid days off are only granted if the work performed by the employee is not suitable for working from home. Moreover, persons in “technical unemployment”, those on leave to take care of their child and employees whose spouses do not record any income cannot benefit from the paid leave.

As for the documents required in order to benefit from such paid leave, the application has to be filed alongside copies of the child’s/children’s birth certificate(s) and an affidavit from the other parent stating that he or she has not requested paid leave at his/her place of work under Law no. 19/2020 and that he or she is not on holiday leave or unpaid leave of absence.

With regard to the allowance which will be paid to the employees, whose value is 75% of the wage for one day of work for each paid day of leave, but no more than 75% of the gross average earnings used for setting the social security budget, this allowance is treated as taxable income and subject to payment of taxes and contributions under the Romanian Tax Code.

Employers can only claim settlement of amounts representing the net allowance actually received by the parent

Payment to the employer of the amounts necessary to pay the allowance will be made by the National Workforce Agency within 60 calendar days of submission of the application to the competent employment agencies. The documents required must be submitted by electronic mail or by any other means of communication agreed within a maximum of 30 days from the date of payment of the contributions and taxes applicable to the allowance.

When supplementing the general framework, the Romanian government also passed the Emergency Ordinance which brings, among other things, clarification with respect to the definition of parent by including certain categories that were previously not taken into consideration, such as the biological parent, adoptive parent, parent or legal representative of an adult with disabilities, etc.

Corona Task Force
Employment & Pensions

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