LABOR CODE : THE RELATIONSHIP EMPLOYER - EMPLOYEE SUBJECT TO MAJOR CHANGES

The Law no. 283/2022, published in the Official Journal no. 1.013/2022, in force as of October 22nd, 2022, enacts significant changes to the Labor Code.

These changes are mainly aimed at regulating the minimum content of the employment agreement, days off and supplementary leaves benefiting the employees, aspects to be communicated to the future employee before the hire and to the employee during the agreement, as well as the probation period.

The new law comes with an important clarification related to the employee’s right to enter into multiple employment agreements with several employers. Although entitled to multiple employment agreements, no overlapping in the employee’s work schedule is allowed.

There follows on overview of the main changes the employers must consider starting with this very week :

The obligation of information of the hire to be / the employee

• The hire shall be informed, upon employment, not only about the place of work (as under the previous legislation) but also about whether travelling expenses between workplaces are paid up by the employer ;
• The same applies to base salary and other elements of salary related revenues (bonuses, etc.), the payment method (cash / bank transfer), which shall now be expressly provided for in the employment agreement. Likewise, the employment agreement shall expressly provide for overtime conditions and compensation ; 
• In addition to the probation period, the conditions to be met in order to successfully pass will mandatorily be provided for and priory set by the employer ; 
• The employer shall provide in the employment agreement whether a private medical insurance, supplementary contributions to optional or occupational pensions funds of the employee are paid, under the law, and any other advantages of pecuniary nature the employer wishes to grant the employee in consideration of the latter’s professional activity ;
• The employment agreement will also provide for the professional training of the employees.

According to the provisions of the article 17(2) of the Labor Code, the information obligation is deemed complied with upon signature of the employment agreement or of the addendum.

Template of the employment agreement

The new template of the employment agreement, which will contain the minimum mandatory information to be conveyed to the employees, will replace the current template (approved under the Order no. 64/2003) and is due for publicity by the Labor Inspection within 30 days since publicity of the Law no. 283/2022 in the Official Journal.

New rights for the employees

• The right to be exempt from a new probation period if a new employment agreement is entered into by the same parties, for the same position and with the same responsibilities within 12 months.

• The right of the employee to apply for a vacant position providing for more favourable working conditions, the probation period was successfully passed and seniority with the same employer is over 6 months. The employer is bound give a grounded response to the employee’s request within 30 days, without an obligation to act on it, which is very likely to result in litigation.

• The right of the employee dismissed to ask for clarifications : the employee who deems to have been laid off for having exerted certain rights (such as those provided for under art. 31 on the probation period, under art. 17(3), 18 related to the information obligation, the leave for care), may request the employer to lay down, in written, in addition to the mandatory provisions of the layoff decision, the grounds of the layoff decision.

• The right to customized working schedule : the employees continue to be allowed to request a customized working schedule; the refuse thereof by the employer shall have to be motivated in written within 5 working days since the request of the employee.

• The right to care leave : the employer has the obligation to grant a care leave to the employee thus allowing the employee to provide care or personal support to a relative or to a person living in the same household with the employee and that needs care due to a serious medical condition. Leave is granted upon written request by the employee and for a 5-working day duration in a calendar year, it will not be included in the paid leave and accounts for work and speciality seniority. A duration of more than 5 days for the care leave may be set under special laws or the bargaining agreement. The employees in care leave continue to be insured under the health social insurance system, without payment of the contribution. The care leave accounts for contribution period for unemployment entitlement and allowance for temporary working incapacity under the law. The serious medical conditions and the requirements to benefit from the care leave will be set by Order of the labour ministry.

• The employee’s right to time off from work in unforeseen situations : unforeseen situations due to family emergency related to medical conditions or accident, requiring the presence of the employee, qualify for grounds for absence from work. Still, the employer, who will decide on how the time of absence is recovered to match normal working hours, shall be previously warned of such absence. The employee may make use of this right without exceeding 10 working days in a calendar year, the employers, on the other hand, may at their discretion allow it longer.

• The right to paternal leave : This right is not new, being provided for in the national legislation for the father of the new-born child, under a special law, but according to the new legal regulation the paternal leave is no longer conditioned by the term of employment or the seniority of the employee.

The internal regulation

The employer has the obligation to communicate the Internal Regulation on the first day of work and to produce proof of compliance with this obligation. The Internal Regulation can be conveyed on paper or electronically, provided that, in this latter case, it may be accessible at any time, stored and printed by the employee.

Last but not least employers should know that they have the obligation to provide the supplementary information about the conditions applicable to the employment relationship to employees hired prior to the entry into force of the law, upon their request, within maximum 30 days since receipt of such written request.

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These are just the most important newly brought modifications to labor law. Depending on each company, to ensure compliance with the new law, it may be necessary that the employers amend the Internal regulations, the employment agreements, and the employees will have to be informed about all changes, as provided for under the law.