Romania - Working time - 2011

10 November 2011

Labour Code, Law No. 53/2003 of 24 January 2003, promulgating the Labour Code, as amended up to 31 December 2008

"Working time" is any period during which the employer performs the work, is available to the employer and fulfils his/her tasks, according to the provisions of the individual employment contract, the applicable collective labour agreement and/or the legislation in force.

"Employee" means a natural person who undertakes to perform the work for and under the authority of an employer, natural or legal person, against a remuneration called wage.

"Employer" means a natural or legal person, which, according to the law, may employ personnel under individual employment contracts.

"Overtime work" means the work performed besides the normal length of the weekly working time. The overtime work may not be performed without the agreement of the employee, except for acts of God or urgent works intended to prevent or to eliminate the consequences of an accident.

A part-time employee is an employee whose number of normal working hours, calculated weekly or as a monthly average, is lower than the number of normal working hours of a similar full-time employee.

"Night work" is the work performed in the interval between 10.00 pm and 06.00 am.
A night worker is, as the case may be:
a) an employee performing night work at least three hours of his/her daily working time;
b) an employee performing night work amounting to at least 30% of his/her monthly working time.

Shift work is any method to organize the work schedule, according to which the employees follow each other at the same workplace, ccording to a schedule, including a rotating schedule, of continuous or discontinuous type, requiring the employee to perform an activity within different time ranges in relation to a daily or weekly period, as established in the individual employment contract.

A shift employee is any employee whose work schedule is of the shift work schedule type.

The employees performing, at their domicile, the specific tasks of their position shall be considered home workers.
For the accomplishment of the assigned tasks, the home workers shall establish their own work schedule.
An employer shall have the right to check the activity of the home worker, under the terms laid down in the individual employment contract.

"Young worker" is the natural person who at least has attained the age of 15 years old and has the agreement of his/her parents or legal representatives, performs work related to activities corresponding to his/her physical development, skills and knowledge, unless his/her health, development and vocational training are harmed.

Without the agreement of his/her parents, a young worker shall acquire legal capacity to work at the age of sixteen.

The normal length of the working time for the full-time employees is of eight hours per day.

For certain economic sectors, organizations or professions, the collective or individual negotiations or the specific legal provisions may specify a daily length of the working time below or above eight hours.
A 12 hour daily length of the working time shall be followed by a rest period of 24 hours.

The normal length of the working time, for the night employee, shall not exceed an average of 8 hours a day, calculated over a reference period of maximum three calendar months, in compliance with the legal provisions on the weekly rest period.

The normal length of the working time, for the night employees whose activity takes place in special or distinct working conditions, as established according to the legal provisions, shall not exceed eight hours within any 24 hour period during which they perform night work.

In the case of young people under the age of eighteen years, the length of the working time is six hours per day.

The normal length of the working time for the full-time employees is 40 hours per week.

The distribution of the working time within the week shall, usually, be uniform, of 8 hours per day in a reference period of 5 day workweek.

In the case of young people under the age of eighteen years, the length of the working time is 30 hours per week.

The work performed besides the normal length of the weekly working time shall be considered overtime.
Overtime work may not be performed without the agreement of the employee, except for acts of God or urgent works intended to prevent or to eliminate the consequences of an accident.

The maximum legal length of the working time may not exceed 48 hours per week, including the overtime.

By way of exception, the length of the working time, including the overtime, may be extended beyond 48 hours per week, provided that the average working hours, calculated over a reference period of three calendar months, do not exceed 48 hours per week.

For certain economic sectors, organizations or professions listed in the national collective labour agreement, reference periods above three months, but not exceeding twelve months, may be negotiated in the applicable branch collective labour agreement.

If the compensation by paid hours off is not possible, the extra pay for overtime shall be established by negotiation, within the collective agreements or, as the case may be, within the individual employment contract, and shall not be lower than 75% premium pay over the basic pay.

Overtime shall be compensated by hours off corresponding to the overtime hours, paid in the next 30 days after its performance.

In general, overtime shall be compensated by hours off corresponding to the overtime hours, paid in the next 30 days after its performance.
If the compensation by paid hours off is not possible within the next month, overtime shall be paid by adding an extra pay according to its duration.

Young workers under eighteen years old are not allowed to perform overtime work.

The distribution of the working time within the week shall, usually, be uniform, of eight hours per day for five days, with 2 days of rest.

The work schedule and its distribution among days shall be notified to the employees and shall be posted in employer’s headquarters.

According to the specific features of the organization or activity performed, an unequal distribution of the working time may be chosen, while observing the normal length of the working time of 40 hours per week.

An employer may establish individualized work schedules, with the agreement or at the request of the concerned employee, should such possibility be provided for in the collective labour agreements applicable at employer’s level or, in their absence, in the rules of procedure.
The individualized work schedules shall involve a flexible organization of the working time.
The daily length of the working time shall be divided into two periods: a fixed period where the entire personnel is simultaneously present at the workplace and a variable, mobile period where the employee chooses the time of arrival and departure, in compliance with the daily working time

The actual organization of the unequal work schedule within the working week of 40 hours, and within the compressed work week, shall be negotiated in the collective labour agreement at the level of the employer or, in its absence, shall be provided in the rules of procedure.

The unequal work schedule may only operate if it is expressly specified in the individual employment contract.

The rest period means any time that is not working time.

Should the daily length of the working time exceed six hours, the employees shall have the right to a meal break and other breaks, under the terms provided for in the applicable collective labour agreement or in the rules of procedure.

Except for the contrary provisions in the applicable collective labour agreement and in the rules of procedure, the breaks shall not be included in the normal daily length of the working time.

The young people under the age of eighteen years shall enjoy a meal break of at least 30 minutes, should the daily length of the working time exceed four and a half hours.

The employees shall have the right, between two working days, to a rest period that may not be shorter than 12 consecutive hours.

By way of exception, in the case of shift work, that rest period between the shifts may not be shorter than eight hours.

By way of exception, in the case of shift work, that rest period between the shifts may not be shorter than eight hours.

The weekly rest period shall be taken in two consecutive days, usually Saturday and Sunday.

In exceptional cases, the weekly rest period days may be taken on a cumulative basis, after a continuous activity that may not exceed 14 calendar days, with the authorization of the territorial labour inspectorate and with the agreement of the trade union or, as the case may be, the representatives of the employees.

The employees taking their weekly rest period under these conditions, shall have the right to twice the ordinary compensation.

The weekly rest is usually the Saturday and Sunday.

Should the rest during Saturday and Sunday be detrimental to the public interest or the normal course of the activity, the weekly rest period may also be taken in other days laid down in the applicable collective labour agreement or in the rules of procedure.

In this case, the employees shall enjoy an extra pay, as laid down in the collective labour agreement or, as the case may be, in the individual employment contract.

In case of urgent works, whose immediate performance is necessary for the organization of rescue measures for persons or goods of the employer, with a view to avoiding imminent accidents or to eliminating the effects of these accidents on the materials, installations or buildings of the organization, the weekly rest period may be suspended for the personnel necessary to perform these works.

The employees whose weekly rest period has been suspended, shall have the right to twice the ordinary compensation.

The right to paid annual leave shall be guaranteed to every employee, and may not be subject to any assignment, waiving or abridgement.

The annual leave shall have a minimum length of 20 working days.
The actual length of the annual leave shall be laid down in the applicable collective labour agreement, shall be provided for in the individual employment contract and shall be granted in proportion to the activity performed in a calendar year.

Annual holiday can be interrupted, at the employee’s request, for objective reasons.

During the leave, the employee shall receive a leave benefit which may not be lower than the basic pay, the benefits and permanent extra pay due for that period, as provided for in the individual employment contract.

The leave benefit shall be the daily average of the pecuniary rights in the last three months before the month when the leave is taken,
multiplied by the number of days of leave.

The leave benefit shall be paid by the employer at least five working days before taking the leave.

The public holidays and the paid days off laid down in the applicable collective labour agreement shall not be included in the length of the annual leave.

The leave shall be taken each year.
However, by way of exception,the leave may only be taken in the next year in the cases expressly provided for in the law or in the applicable collective labour agreement.
An employer shall grant a leave, until the end of the next year, to all employees who, within a calendar year, did not take the entire leave they were entitled to.

A leave shall be taken on the basis of a collective or individual schedule laid down by the employer after consulting the trade union or, as the case may be, the representatives of the employees, as far as the collective schedule is concerned, or after consulting the employee, as far as the individual schedule is concerned.
The schedule for the next year shall be prepared until the end of the current calendar year.
The collective schedule may establish leave periods not shorter than three months, by categories of personnel or workplaces.
The individual schedule may set the date the leave is taken or, as the case may be, the period within which the employee has the right to take the leave, period which may not exceed three months.
Within the periods of leave laid down, the employee may request the leave at least 60 days before actually taking it.
Should the leave be divided, the employer shall set the schedule in such way that every employee takes at least 15 working days of uninterrupted leave in one calendar year.

An employee shall take the leave in kind within the period it was scheduled, except for the cases expressly provided for in the law or when, for objective reasons, the leave may not be taken.

Annual holiday can be interrupted, at the employee’s request, for objective reasons. The employer may call back the employee from their annual holiday in case of in case of an act of God or urgent matters that require the presence of the employee at the workplace. In such case, the employer shall bear all expenses of the employee and his/her family necessary to return to the workplace and the potential damages suffered by him/her following the interruption of the leave.

The employees working in difficult, dangerous or unhealthy conditions, the visually impaired persons, other disabled persons and the young people under the age of eighteen years shall enjoy a supplementary leave of at least three working days.

Young workers under the age of 18 years old shall enjoy a supplementary leave of at least three working days.

10 days. The public holidays shall be as follows:
a) 1st and 2nd of January;
b) the first two Easter days;
c) 1st of May;
d) 1st of December;
e) the first two Christmas days;
f) two days for each of the two annual religious holidays, declared as such by legal religious denominations, other than Christian, for the persons belonging to those religious denominations.

The legislation does not provide if public holidays are enjoyed with pay or not. However, it seems that public holidays are not paid, unless the worker performs work during these days.

With a view to ensuring the medical assistance and the supply with essential foodstuffs, appropriate work schedules for the health and food and beverage establishments shall be laid down by Government Decision, whose application shall be mandatory.

Public holidays shall not apply to workplaces where the activity cannot be interrupted due to the character of the production process or the specific features of the activity.

The employees working in the organizations and in the
workplaces where the interruption of work during public holidays is not possible, it shall be provided adequate compensatory time off in the next 30 days.
If, on duly justified grounds, no days off are granted, the employees shall benefit, for the activity performed during the public holidays, from an extra pay added to the basic pay, which may not be lower than 100% of the basic pay corresponding to the activity performed within the normal work schedule.

In case of extraordinary family events, the employees shall have the right to paid days off, not included in the length of the leave.
The extraordinary family events and the number of paid days off shall be laid down by law, applicable collective labour agreement or rules of procedure.

With a view to solving personal issues, the employees shall have the right to unpaid leave.
The length of the unpaid leave shall be laid down in the collective labour agreement or in the rules of procedure.

A part-time employee is an employee whose number of normal working hours, calculated weekly or as a monthly average, is lower than the number of normal working hours of a similar full-time employee.

The wages shall be paid in proportion to the time actually worked, in connection with the rights established for the normal work schedule.

An employer shall, as far as possible, take into account the demands of the employees to be transferred either from a full-time workplace to a part time workplace, or from a part-time workplace to a full-time workplace, or to extend their work schedule, should such opportunity arise.
(2) An employer shall notify in time the availability of part-time or full time workplaces, with a view to facilitating the transfers from full-time positions to parttime positions and vice versa. Such notification shall be done through an announcement posted at employer’s headquarters.
(2.1) A copy of the announcement provided for in paragraph (2) shall be forthwith forwarded to the trade union or the representatives of the employees
(3) An employer shall ensure, as far as possible, the access to part-time workplaces at every level.

Overtime work is prohibited for part-time workers, except for acts of God or other urgent works intended to prevent the accidents or to remove their consequences.

An individual part-time employment contract shall include the following:
a) the length of the activity and the distribution of the work schedule;
b) the cases when the work schedule may be amended;
c) overtime work prohibition, except for acts of God or other urgent works intended to prevent the accidents or to remove their consequences.

An employee hired under a part-time employment contract shall enjoy the rights of the full-time employees, under the terms of the law and the applicable collective labour agreements.

Night work is the work performed in the interval between 10.00 pm and 06.00 am.

An employer frequently using night work shall notify the territorial labour inspectorate thereof.

The normal length of the working time, for the night employee, shall not exceed an average of 8 hours a day, calculated over a reference period of maximum three calendar months, in compliance with the legal provisions on the weekly rest period.

The normal length of the working time, for the night employees whose activity takes place in special or distinct working conditions, as established according to the legal provisions, shall not exceed eight hours within any 24 hour period during which they perform night work.

The night employees shall benefit:
a) either from a work schedule shorter with an hour than the normal length of the working day, for the days when they perform at least three hours of night work, without any decrease of the basic pay;
b) or from an extra pay of at least 15% of the basic pay for each hour of night work performed.

Workers with at least three hours of night work are subject to periodic, free, medical examination before starting the activity and regularly thereafter.

The conditions to perform the medical examinations and their frequency shall be established by a regulation approved by Joint Order of the Minister of Labour and Social Solidarity and the Minister of Health and Family.

The employees performing night work and having problems acknowledged to be connected to it shall be transferred to a day work they are suitable for.

The young people under the age of eighteen years may not perform night work.

Pregnant and post-natal women and breastfeeding mothers may not be required to perform night work.

Shift work is any method to organize the work schedule, according to which the employees follow each other at the same workplace, ccording to a schedule, including a rotating schedule, of continuous or discontinuous type, requiring the employee to perform an activity within different time ranges in relation to a daily or weekly period, as stablished in the individual employment contract.

A shift employee is any employee whose work schedule is of the shift work schedule type.

In the case of shift work, the rest period between the shifts may not be shorter than eight hours.

Relevant provisions on "on-call work" have not been identified.

May be set up with the consent of concerned workers or provided for by collective agreement. Flexible hours of work comprise a fixed period applicable to all staff and a mobile period as chosen by the workers, within normal hours of work.

Relevant provisions on "casual work" have not been identified.

Relevant provisions on "short-time work" have not been identified.

The employees performing night work and having health problems acknowledged to be connected to it shall be transferred to a day work they are suitable for.

Relevant provisions on "information and consultation" have not been identified.