Changes in labour legislation

Gov't passed a memorandum laying down the principles based on which public sector salaries will be regulated

Leyla Cheamil, 16.04.2021, 14:00

The government of Romania has passed a memorandum laying down the principles for revising and updating the legislative framework concerning the salaries of public sector staff.

Ministries have 30 days to submit proposals regarding salary policies in the public system. The government plans to draw up a new law on public sector salaries within a year, and to submit it to Parliament.

The memorandum, signed by all ministries, is a reflection of their commitment to presenting their own view of the occupational fields they coordinate, the labour minister Raluca Turcan said. She also made it clear that the document will not pave the way for pay cuts, but on the contrary, that the goal is to increase those salaries that have always been overlooked because of inequities in previous regulations.

“Once the salary system becomes fair and public institutions become efficient in relation to citizens, the competition with the private sector will be stronger, the quality of work will improve both in the public and in the private system, and we will see better salaries both in the public and in the private sector, the labour minister added.

Raluca Turcan also explained that the pay grade structure will be reanalysed for each occupational group, and some bonuses will be included in the core salary. Also, the bonuses that can be made flat-sum will be paid as a fix amount, while the remaining ones will not exceed 20% of the individual base salary. Base salaries should be the same for everybody, Raluca Turcan believes, because, she argues, it is unacceptable for some public sector staff to be paid according to the 2019 salary level, and others to a level only possible in 2022.

Meanwhile, the government endorsed emergency orders that simplify working relations by digitisation and by cutting red-tape.

One of these orders regulates the use of advanced or qualified electronic signatures, accompanied by time stamps, in signing employment contracts, in the relations between businessses and public institutions, and enables employers to purchase electronic signatures for their employees. The same order, the labour minister also explained, is designed to streamline teleworking, given that at present around 400,000 employment contracts include telework clauses, as opposed to only 50,000 last year.

Another emergency order targets nearly 445,000 micro-enterprises in Romania, which have a maximum of 9 employees. These businesses are now no longer bound to draw up job descriptions and company regulations or to keep attendance registers, and thus the workload of business owners is reduced. (tr. A.M. Popescu)