How do the law on granting extra time off to parents apply?

The Romanian Government adopted, through the Emergency Ordinance, a series of measures in the field of social protection in the context of the epidemiological situation caused by the spread of SAR-CoV-2 coronavirus.

Thus, Amendments and additions have been made to Act 19/2020 on the granting of leave to parents for child supervision in the event of temporary closure of educational establishments, in the sense that:

• the notion of “parent” for the purposes of the law has been clarified;

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On the 16 March 2020, the President of Romania signed the decree to establish the State of Emergency in Romanian for a period of 30 days.

Among the measures introduces by the new regulations, the Article 45 is stating the following:

“Al.1. During the state of emergency, the work of the National Office of the Trade Register and of the regional offices of the Trade Regiater continues with regard to the registration of changes related to the legal entities and rnatural persons registered in the Trade Register. These registrations will be carried out by electronic means, based on the changes requests and additional documents deposited in electronic form, with the electronic signature incorporated.

The current context, triggered by the COVID19 epidemic, is already creating numerous difficulties and challenges for companies, with a new economic crisis on the horizon. The bill on the amendment of certain provisions of the Tax Code to change the payment deadlines for a series of substandard taxes in the next period was presented to the Chamber of Deputies yesterday.

Therefore, the taxes and duties in the bill are:

• income tax for fiscal year 2019 and first quarter 2020;

• income tax on micro-enterprises for the first quarter of 2020;

• payroll taxes and salaries between February and April 2020;

• Social health contributions related to wages received in the period February-April 2020;

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Today, March 16, 2020, the President of Romania signed the Decree on establishing the state of emergency on the territory of Romania, for a period of 30 days. The President shall request Parliament to approve the measure adopted, within a maximum of 5 days from his issuance date.

Here are some of the measures that have an impact on the economic and social life:

In the economic field:

As a result of the difficult economic context caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the Minister of Finance, through a press release from the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF) announced today (Monday, 16.03.2020) a series of measures to support the business environment.

Below you can find an overview of the main provisions:

We are living these days an exceptional period, in which all things happen differently than we were used to. But on how we will all mobilize to overcome this moment will also depend on the future evolution of things. And at such times, we believe that we must prove solidarity and contribute with everything we can to provide support to those around us.

At Ascent Group, our main resource is know-how. And these days we receive an avalanche of questions related to the latest legislative measures, the declaration of the state of emergency, the alternatives that employers have to make work more flexible during this period, medical leave, quarantine, fiscal measures to mitigate the impact of the crisis, etc.

The press office of the National Health Insurance House published today, on the official website of the institution, a series of recommendations regarding the granting of medical leave and the quarantine payment.

According to the published text, in order to prevent illnesses and to recover the capacity to work, the insured persons can benefit from leave and allowance for quarantine, according to the regulations contained in the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 158/2005 regarding the holidays and indemnities of social health insurance, with the subsequent modifications and completions, as well as in the Norms of application of its provisions, approved by the Order of the Minister of Health and of the president of CNAS no. 15 / 1.311 / 2018, as subsequently amended and supplemented.

In the context created by the coronavirus (COVID19) pandemia, employers play a major role in reducing the risk of employee contamination with the new virus.

Apart of the implementation of additional hygiene measures and the correct information of employees on how to protect themselves, companies can adopt, in the framework of labour relations, solutions that make work schedule and the way of work more flexible.

One of the measures may be the decaling of the work programme, as state Secretary Raed Arafat recommends in the middle of last week.

 As a result of the courses suspension in pre-university education in Romania, between March 11 and March 22, 2020, the public authorities have decided to take measures to help parents who cannot leave their children unattended.

Therefore, the Chamber of Deputies adopted on 12.03.2020, by unanimous vote, the legislative initiative that obliges all employers, both public and private, to grant paid days off to one of the parents in the situation of temporary closure of the schools due to adverse weather conditions or other extreme situations decreed by the competent authorities with responsibilities in the field.

The law also applies to single persons from the single-parent family, to the legal representative of the child and to the person designated to exercise the rights and fulfill the parental obligations towards the child.


Therefore, free days are granted for as long as the authorities decree the closure of schools.

The summer brouth a new Human Resources Manager in Ascent Group’s team. Starting in mid-June, Florina Băbău joined the Ascent Group team to coordinate the human resources activity of the group.

Florina is a graduate of the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the Western University of Timisoara and holds numerous certifications in the field of management and human resources. Being very passionate about learning and discovering new ways of developing people, Florina is currently continuing her education at the School of Psychology and Psychodrama.

Professionally, Florina has over 15 years of experience in human resources, both in multinational and local companies, in various roles such as: Improvement Coordinator, and subsequently Training & Development Coordinator for Leoni Wiring Systems Arad, HR Manager within ARED group, or HR Recruitment & People Development at Coficab Eastern Europe.

On the 21^st of June the Emergency Ordinate number 43/2019 came into force. It brings significant changes to the regulations that have previously governed the construction industry.

Briefly, the changes brought by the EO 43/2019 are based on four pillars. These have implications for the minimum wage in the industry, on the one hand, and for the necessary conditions employers and employees need to fulfil in order to enjoy the financial benefits, on the other.

 I. Minimum wage.

For the period comprised between 01.01.2020 and 31.12.2028, the minimum wage in the construction industry will be 3.000 RON, for a normal work schedule averaging around 167,333 hours per month. This will represent, on average, 17. 938 RON per hour.

Ascent Group continues it’s expansion plans, and July 2019 marks the opening of a new office, in  Piatra Neamț.

The expansion decision is based both on Ascent Group’s strategic plan to be present in all Romanian’s regions and the business potential of Romania’s North-Eastern region, which is growing mainly on the IT&C serivces and shared services centers. An important role in the office opening decision played also identifiction of the right local partner. 

Starting with January 2019, the gross minimum wage will increase and will be differentiated according to the level of education.

The Government approved this week an Emergency Ordinance amending a number of normative acts, including the Labor Code – Law no. 53/2003, and Law no. 279/2005 on apprenticeship at the workplace. Amendments to the Labor Code will come into force on 1st January 2019 and aim to create the legal framework for establishing the minimum gross national salary guaranteed in pay by reference to the criteria for the level of studies.

Initially, the change envisaged differentiation according to the seniority in work, but in the end the Government dropped it, keeping only differentiation according to the level of education.

The law permitting the payment of dividends during the year was voted. According to the principle “autumn is a time of harvest “, perhaps from September or October this year we will already be able to reap the “fruits” of the business.

On July 12, the normative act (Law 163/2018) amending the dividend payment procedure was published, which allowes the distribution of the profit between the companies’ shareholders also quarterly, within the limit of the net profit realized after the preliminary filing of an interim financial statement .

The European Parliament and the Council of Europe adopted on 27 April 2016 the EU2016 / 679 Regulation on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data. Its provisions will be applicable in all Member States of the European Union as of 25 May 2018.