Two New Recent Normative Acts Impacting The Activity Of Employers In Romania

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• Law Firm: Kinstellar
• Subject Matter: Employment and HR, Discrimination, Disability & Sexual Harassment, Employee Benefits & Compensation, Employee Rights/ Labour Relations
• Author: Mr Remus Codreanu, Catalin Roman and Gabriela Ion
• Published date: 14 April 2023

April 2023 - Early 2023 is shedding light on how to implement the numerous changes to Romanian labour law that occurred during 2022. In addition, at the EU level, a new directive which is set to come into force provides for equal pay for women and men.

Collective bargaining in Romania at the sector level

On 29 March 2023, Romania's Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity adopted Order no. 798/2023¹ regarding the procedure for the classification of business units to sectors in collective bargaining.

Law no. 367/2022 on social dialogue² provides that collective bargaining agreements may also be negotiated at the sector level, and therefore it was necessary to adopt a subsequent procedure to determine the allocation of business units to sectors.

Thus, after having adopted Government Decision no. 171/2023 on the setting of collective bargaining sectors and their related NACE codes³, this new order aims to regulate the procedure for the classification of business units to a particular sector of activity.

The procedure is relatively simple and is based on a request submitted by employers to Romania's Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity (by registration or by e-mail).

The classification will be made on the basis of the NACE codes related to the sectors of activity of the business units as identified by the company's memorandum or articles of association/statutes showing the NACE codes for the areas of its economic activity. In addition, several other documents must be attached to the application (e.g., a copy of the certificate of registration with the National Trade Register Office/tax registration certificate).

The employer's request will be published on the website of Romania's Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity within five days of its proper receipt.

This new legislative development appears to lead to collective bargaining at the sector level and, consequently, to the adoption of sectoral collective labour agreements. To the extent that this happens, employers must also ensure that the minimum rights established at the sectoral level are implemented internally.

EU level - Directive on pay transparency measures

In March 2023, the European Parliament voted on pay transparency rules⁴. Although the European Commission launched a proposal for this directive in March 2021, it was only in 2023 that the European Parliament and the European Council reached a political agreement on it.

The main...