Legal Flash no. 52

Law no. 58/2021 for the approval of the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 211/2020 on the extension of the application of some social protection measures adopted in the context of the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, as well as for the amendment of the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 132/2020 on support measures for employees and employers in the context of the epidemiological situation caused by the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, as well as for stimulating employment growth

In the Official Gazette, Part I no. 345 of April 5, 2021 Law no. 58/2021 was published regarding the amendment of GEO 211/2020 and GEO 132/2020 (“Law no. 58/2021”), a law that will enter into force on April 8, 2021.

By adopting Law no. 58/2021, the Romanian Parliament ordered the following measures of interest in the field of labor law:

• By derogation from the provisions of the Labor Code, in case of temporary reduction of the working time, during the state of emergency/alert/siege, as well as for a period of up to 3 months from the date of termination of the last period in which the state of emergency/alert/siege was established, the employers have the possibility to reduce the working time of the employees by at most 80% of the daily, weekly, or monthly duration, provided in the individual employment contract;
• Where there are trade unions entitled to negotiate a collective agreement at the unit level, as they are defined in the Social Dialogue Law no. 62/2011, or employees 'representatives, the measure to reduce working time is taken by the employer with the consent of the trade union organization entitled to negotiate the collective agreement or, in case they do not exist, with the employees' representatives;
• The reduction of the working time is established by the decision of the employer, for a period of at least 5 working days, included in the period of 30 calendar days, starting with the first day of effective application of the measure;
• During the reduction of the working time, the employees affected by the measure benefit from an indemnity of 75% of the gross monthly basic salary related to the hours of reduction of the working time;
• The employer may request the settlement of the indemnity granted to the employees affected by the reduction of the working time if the following conditions are cumulatively fulfilled:

1. the measure affects at least 10% of the number of employees of the unit;
2. the reduction of the activity is justified by a decrease of the turnover from the month prior to the application of the measure provided in par. (1) or, at most, from the month before the month preceding it, by at least 10% compared to the similar month or compared to the monthly average turnover in the year prior to the declaration of the state of emergency/alert/siege, respectively 2019. In case of non-governmental organizations, as well as employers in the category regulated by Government Emergency Ordinance 44/2008 on carrying out economic activities by authorized individuals, individual enterprises, and family enterprises, approved by Law no. 182/2016, the decrease is related to revenues.

• Within 30 days from the date of entry into force of the law, Government Decision no. 719/2020 for the approval of the settlement and payment procedure of the amounts granted based on the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 132/2020 on support measures for employees and employers in the context of the epidemiological situation caused by the spread of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, as well as to stimulate employment growth, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 794 of August 31, 2020, with subsequent additions, will be modified accordingly.