Employment Flash News No. 15/2018
The Government Emergency Ordinance no. 96/9.11.2018 regarding the prorogation of terms, as well as for the amendment and completion of some normative acts was published within the Official Gazette no. 963/14.11.2018.
The mentioned normative act brings amendments, inter alia, to Law no. 53/2003 – Labor Code, as follows:
- The alignment with the recent decisions of the Constitutional Court, in the sense that the female employee is able to opt in writing, within 60 calendar days prior to the fulfillment of the standard age conditions and minimum contributory period for retirement, for carrying on the execution of the individual employment agreement until the age of 65 years – the right of the female employees cannot be subject to any restraints or limitations by the employer;
- The express provision that an increase of the minimum gross base wage established at country level can be implemented by Government decision, by reference to the criteria of study levels and length-in-service. On the other hand, all rights and obligations calculated as per the law by reference to the minimum gross base wage shall be established by reference to the amount of the wage as per Art. 164 par. (1) (the standard amount, and not the one established by reference to the abovementioned criteria).
The Government Emergency Ordinance brings also multiple amendments to several other pieces of legislation, such as Law no. 193/2006 regarding gift and crèche tickets (annual indexation with inflation indicator communicated by the National Statistics Institute of the amounts awarded as crèche tickets), but also to Law no. 279/2005 regarding apprenticeship at work (the alignment of the provisions of the normative act with that of the Order of the minister of national education and of the minister of labor and social justice no. 5,039/2,126/2018; extended categories of employers who do not benefit from the provisions regarding the award of sums granted for the conclusion of such contracts).
The mentioned normative act entered into force upon publication within the Official Gazette.
News on annual leave
In cases C‑619/16 and C-684/16, the European Court of Justice ruled that the European Union law precludes a worker from automatically losing the days of paid annual leave to which he was entitled under EU law and, consequently, his right to an allowance in lieu of the leave which is not taken, solely because he did not apply for leave before the employment relationship ended or during the reference period.
On the other hand, if especially by means of an appropriate information, the employer offered the worker the effective possibility of carrying out annual leave in due time (which must be proven by the employer) and the employee deliberately and fully aware withheld from taking the respective annual leave days, then the EU law does not oppose to the employee losing this right or to losing the right to the allowance in lieu in case of termination of employment relationship.
