Last updated: 6 June 2018
The law regulating occasional work was recently changed and new sectors where economic agents can use unskilled work on an occasional, seasonal basis were added. Law no. 86/2018, published in Official Journal no. 313 as from 10 April 2018 amends and supplements the law on occasional work and introduces a series of regulations applicable to companies that place occasional workers.
An occasional worker is a natural person, a Romanian or a foreign citizen, who is able to work and who performs unskilled work on an occasional basis, in return for payment, for the benefit of a beneficiary, who is a legal person.
According to the law, the duration of occasional work is at least one day, corresponding to 8 hours of work, and the duration of a day's work can not exceed 12 hours. An underage person may perform occasional work, but without exceeding 6 hours a day, or 30 hours a week; also, underage persons are not allowed to work during the night.
Sectors Where Occasional Workers Can Be Used
Law no. 86/2018 extends the sectors where occasional workers can be used. Therefore, the following activities are added to the already existing list:
• Restaurants (activity included in the classification of national economic activities CAEN class 5610)
• Other food activities not classified elsewhere (CAEN class 5629)
• Bars and other beverage service activities (CAEN - class 5630)
The use of occasional workers has been allowed until now in several sectors, such as agriculture, hunting and related services, the collection, processing and disposal of non-hazardous waste, wholesale of raw agricultural products and livestock, the organisation of fairs and exhibitions, congresses, advertising, research and development in biotechnology, research and development in other natural sciences and engineering, landscaping, hotel activities and sports facilities etc.
As a general rule, an occasional worker cannot work for the same beneficiary for more than 90 days during a calendar year.
Exceptionally, in the following sectors, occasional work can last up to 180 days: extensive livestock farming through grazing, seasonal activities carried out in botanical gardens subordinated to accredited universities and, more recently, from April 2018 – in viticulture.
Occasional Work Placement Agencies
The law regulates the activity of economic agents that place occasional workers and establishes certain conditions that they must comply with in order to operate. Therefore, such economic agents must:
• Have been established in compliance with Law no. 31/1990 on companies and their activity must include “Activities of labour placement agencies – CAEN Code 7810”;
• Have been legally established in the EU or EEA, their activity must include the “provision of labour intermediation services” in the concerned State and they must establish themselves permanently or provide cross-border intermediation services in Romania.
The authority that accredits these intermediation agencies is the National Employment Agency, through the county employment agencies, respectively the Bucharest employment agency.
Also, please note that the unaccredited placement of occasional workers represents an offence and is punishable by a fine between 5,000 and 10,000 Lei.