Romania

• Author: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (European Commission), European Centre of Expertise (ECE)
• Pages: 49-50

Flash Re por t 1 2/2018

Decem ber 20 18

49

Rom ania

Sum ma ry

(I ) The m inimum wage w ill increase f rom 01 Janu ary 201 9.

(I I) The possibility of using day labour ers ( workers w it hout conclud in g a cont ract of

em ploy men t, who ar e pa id per d ay w ork ed) has been limit ed.

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1 Nation al Le gislat ion

1.1 Mini mum w age

New n or m ative act s have been adopted on em ployees’ righ t s to remun er ation and

ta xat ion . The m in im um w age wil l in cre ase f rom 0 1 Janua ry 20 19 at tw o l evel s: a gene ral

minim um wage and a special m inimum w ag e for cert ain cat egor ies of em ployees.

Accor ding to Governm ent Decision No. 937 / 2 018 ( pu blish ed in the Of ficial Gazet t e of

Romania, No. 10 45 of 1 0 December 2018) , the general m inimum gross wage w ill be

RON 2 080 (about EUR 45 0). Ther e are two except ions:

First , h igher educat ion gr aduates with at least one year of senior ity in the field of t heir

stud ies w ill b e entit led to a minim um gro ss wage of RON 2 350 per month.

Secon d, as of 0 1 January 20 19, t he minim um g ross wage in con st ruction w ill be

RON 3 000. Labour taxes have b een elim in at ed fr om t his sector. This ex cep t ion was

in tr odu ced by Gov er nm ent Em er gen cy Ord inan ce No. 11 4/ 2 018 (p ubl ishe d i n t he Off icia l

Gazet te of Romania, No. 1116 of 29 D ecember 20 18) , w hich int rodu ced m ajor t axat ion

chang es.

The forst prov ision has generat ed controversy over post s for which t he law does not

requir e a high er education degree, bu t t h e em p loyer imposes this condition. The

min imu m w age of RON 2 350 app ears to only be m andat ory for post s for wh ich the law

ex plici tly req uir es a high er edu cation deg ree. Ano ther prob lem is th at the re a re j obs for

which th e law requ ir es a higher education degree, w hich are ext r em ely similar t o

posit ions for which this r equirement does not exist .

Accor ding to Governm ent Emer gency Ordinance No. 3 / 2 018 ( published in the Official

Gazet t e of Rom an ia, No. 125 of 08 Febr uary 2018; see also Febru ar y 2018 Flash

Report ), part -t ime employees pay security an d health insu rance con t ribut ions on their

incom e and employer s must pay t h e diff er en ce in con t ribut ions t o r each t he lev el of

m inim um wa ge. Fro m n ow on, as t her e wi ll b e t wo m inim um wag e le vels, th e on e t o be

ta ken int o acco unt wil l be t he one t hat cor respon ds t o the em plo yee’s se nior ity and t he

lev el of edu cation r equired for the j ob.

1.2 Le gal re gim e o f day labo ure rs

Governm ent Em ergency Ordin ance No. 1 14/ 2018 int roduced v arious changes in m an y

norm ative act s. This includes t he leg al r egim e of day labourers, regu lated in Law No.

52 /2 01 1 ( repub lished in the Off icial Gazet t e of Rom ania No. 947 of 22 Dece mb er 2 015 ).

Day la bou rer s d o n ot hav e a con tr act of em pl oym en t but ar e s ubj ect t o st ri ct reg ist rat io n

ru les.

Day labou rers cannot carry out activit ies for t he sam e cont ractor of m ore t han a t otal

of 90 days w ith in a calendar year. With some exception s, an individual can n ow no

lon ger perform activit ies as a day labour er for m or e t han a t ot al of 120 days w it hin a

calend ar year, regardless of the num b er of different con t ract ors. Those who do not

com ply w ith t his rest riction can be fin ed.