Factsheet for measure
RO-2020-16/414
–
Updated
– measures in Romania
Free paid days to parents for the purpose of childcare
Zile libere platite pentru parintii cu copii in ingrijire
Background information
On 9 March 2020, the Romanian Centre for Emergency Situations decided that all schools would be suspended from 11 March 2020 until 22 March 2020 to limit the effects of coronavirus.
Against this background, on the 10 March 2020, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection issued a set of recommendations in order to ensure the health and safety of workers and to support the activity of the employers. These measures mainly concern: flexibilization of the working time, working from home, teleworking.
Soon after this, on the 16 March 2020, the Romanian President has declared a state of emergency – as a result, schools remained closed until Orthodox Easter (19 April) initially. After 30 days, the state of emergency was prolonged with another 30 days, till 15 May 2020 - during all this period, the schools remain suspended. This situation left a lot of employees without any immediate solutions to ensure their children supervision and care. To respond to this problem, the Romanian Parliament passed a law (Law no. 19/2020) requiring employers (both in the public and the private sector) to grant paid leave to one of the parents if schools are closed due to “extreme situations”.
Content of measure
According to the law 19/2020, employers must grant employees paid leave if schools are closed in exceptional circumstances, but only if the tasks associated with the employees’ roles cannot be performed in “working from home” or teleworking conditions. Paid leave can be granted to only one of the parents, and only if the child in care is of maximum 12 years of age (or 18 years of age for children with a disability), who are formally registered as attending courses in a school.
In some sectors, the parent's request for leave is conditioned by the employer's acceptance (national energy system units, operating units in the nuclear sectors, continuous fire units, health and social care units, telecommunications, public radio and television, rail transport, units that ensure the public transport and sanitation of the localities, as well as the supply of the population with gas, electricity, heat, and water). During such leave, employees will be entitled to a payment of up to 75% of the employee’s base salary, but not more than 75% of the average gross salary in the economy. The allowance is subject to personal income tax and social security contributions (i.e. personal income tax, social security contribution, health insurance contribution and work insurance contribution).
The net value of the allowance paid by the employer (the amount actually received by the parent) can be recovered from the Guarantee Fund for the payment of salary claims; the corresponding personal income tax and the social security contributions are borne by the employer. To recover the net allowance, employers should submit a request to the local or the Bucharest unemployment agency.
Updates
The following updates to this measure have been made after it came into effect.
|
02 October 2021
|
In October 2021, the Government Emergency Ordinance 110/2021 has extended the application of the measure for the entire duration of the school year 2021-2022 until 25 May 2022.
The free paid days are to be granted in the event of limitation or suspension of teaching activities involving the physical presence of children in educational establishments and pre-school early education establishments.
|
|
30 December 2020
|
The application of the measure was extended in December 2020 until 30 June 2021 (end of the school year) through the GEO 220/2020.
|
|
22 October 2020
|
The GEO 182/2020 extends the application of the GEO 147/2020 provisions to those parents who have children with chronical illnesses and who are at risk in case of physical school attendance, therefor must follow the online courses. The GEO also provides that days off work for parents whose children go to school/kindergarten/nursery on a rotation basis or they carry their activity online (when applicable) is a facility that is available only when telework/work from home is (no longer) an option.
The GEO 198/2020 extends the application of the facility in the case of online schooling.
The law that approves the GEO 147/2020 ( Law 278/2020) adds certain categories, such as employees of the energetic system, telecommunication, public television and public radio, financial services, which can only benefit of the provisions of GEO 147/2020 with the approval of the employer.
|
|
28 August 2020
|
GEO no. 147 from 27 August 2020 stipulated the conditions under which parents are granted days off while the school activity of their children is suspended. The measure applies for one parent/family (or legal guardian), whose children are below 12 years old, or below 26 years old if they have disabilities, and are enrolled in school. The allowance for each day off is in the amount of 75% of the basic salary corresponding to a working day, but not more than the daily correspondent of 75% of the average gross earnings. Employees in certain categories of enterprises can benefit from days off only with the consent of the employer, while others in certain sectors with continuous activity have more restricted rights in this regard.
|
Use of measure
These applies to all employees with children in care. There is no estimation yet regarding the number of parents/employers that made use of the legal provision.
Target groups
|
Workers
|
Businesses
|
Citizens
|
|
Does not apply to workers
|
Does not apply to businesses
|
Parents
|
Actors and funding
|
Actors
|
Funding
|
National government
Trade unions
Employers' organisations
Company / Companies
|
Companies
National funds
|
Social partners
Social partners' role in
designing the measure
and form of involvement:
|
Trade unions
|
Employers' organisations
|
|
Role
|
Consulted
|
Consulted
|
|
Form
|
Any other form of consultation, institutionalised (as stable working groups or committees) or informal
|
Any other form of consultation, institutionalised (as stable working groups or committees) or informal
|
Social partners' role in the
implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:
-
No involvement
-
Main level of involvement: Peak or cross-sectoral level
Involvement
The social partners have been consulted during the legislative process in the Romanian Parliament (specialized committees discussions).
Views and reactions
Unknown.
Sources
