In the context of the state of emergency declared by the Decree1 of the President of Romania due to the pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and given the necessity of taking urgent measures to support both the employers and the employees, on March 18th, 2020, the Romanian Government adopted the Emergency Ordinance no. 30 for the amendment and supplementation of some normative acts, as well as for establishing measures in the field of social protection in the context of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic (hereinafter referred to as the “G.E.O. 30”)2.
On 26th March 2020, the Romanian Government adopted Emergency Ordinance no. 32 for the amendment and supplementation of the Emergency Ordinance no. 30 for the amendment and supplementation of some normative acts, as well as for establishing measures in the field of social protection in the context of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic and for establishing some additional measures of social protection (hereinafter referred to as the “G.E.O. 32”). G.E.O. 32 was published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 260/ March 30th, 2020 and is applicable from publication.
By G.E.O. 32, material amendments were made to the conditions and procedure for the technical unemployment to be applied in the context of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
EMPLOYERS FALLING UNDER THE SCOPE OF G.E.O. 30, AS AMENDED BY G.E.O. 32
Employers may benefit from the provisions of G.E.O. 30 on technical unemployment provided that they temporarily reduce or interrupt the activity in full or in part as a result of the effects of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus epidemic, during the state of emergency, and they issue a statement on their own responsibility in this regard.
In case the employer decides to apply the measures described by G.E.O. 30, the individual employment agreements of the employees that are included in the technical unemployment process will be suspended at the initiative of the employer3.
For the period of temporary suspension of the individual employment agreement at the initiative of the employer, the employees will be entitled to receive an allowance.
Particular cases to be verified and observed by the employer:
1. If an employee has concluded several individual employment agreements of which at least one full-time employment agreement4 is active during the state of emergency, he/she will not benefit from the allowance.
2. If an employee has concluded several individual employment agreements and all of them are suspended as a result of the state of emergency, he/she benefits from the allowance corresponding to the individual employment agreement providing for the most advantageous salary rights.
ALLOWANCE TO BE PAID TO THE EMPLOYEES FOR TECHNICAL UNEMPLOYMENT
The allowances that the employees are entitled to are set at 75% of the base salary corresponding to the job position and are borne by the unemployment insurance budget, capped at the correspondent per day of 75% of the gross average salary provided by the Law no. 6/20205. Currently, the monthly gross average salary is of RON 5,429 (i.e. EUR 1,100).
The allowance may be supplemented by the employer with amounts representing the difference of up to at least 75% of the basic salary corresponding to the job position.
PROCEDURE FOR GRANTING THE ALLOWANCE
In order to receive the amounts necessary for the payment of the allowance, the employers must submit, by e-mail, to the employment agencies6 an application signed and dated by the legal representative, together with an affidavit and the list of the employees who will benefit from the allowance, assumed by the legal representative7.
The employers assume their responsibility for the accuracy and veracity of the data provided in the above-mentioned documents.
Payment of the allowance from the unemployment insurance budget will be made no later than 15 days from the submission of the documents, in the accounts opened by the employers with the banks.
Further, the employer will pay the allowance due to each employee within a maximum of 3 business days as of the receipt by the employer of the amounts borne by the unemployment insurance budget.
The employers shall calculate, retain and pay the income tax, the state social insurance contribution and the social health insurance contribution and from the allowances received from the unemployment insurance budget. The allowances are exempted from payment of the labour insurance contribution.
The payment of the tax and contributions shall be made until the 25th of the month following the month the allowances are paid to the employers from the unemployment insurance budget.
