The Emergency Ordinance no. 70/2020 regarding the regulation of some measures, starting with May 15 2020, in the context of the epidemiological situation determined by the spread of the SARS-CoV2 coronavirus, for the extension of some terms, for the amendment and completion of Law no. 227/2015 on the Fiscal Code, of the National Education Law no. 1/2011, as well as other normative acts.

The Romanian Government has published a new series of urgent, exceptional measures in the social field, in an attempt to avoid the occurrence of serious damage with long-term effects. We list below the main measures adopted.

Specifications on the extension of the period for granting technical unemployment:

✓ the granting of the allowances to employees in technical unemployment is extended for the period between the end of the state of emergency and 31 May 2020, with the possibility of continuing after this date only in areas where the restrictions will be maintained;

✓ the allowances granted are not subject to enforcement by seizure during their granting, regardless of the budget from which they are borne;

Note: the procedure which includes the use of e-mail as one of the means of communication for requesting and granting social assistance, state social insurance and unemployment rights, applies further for a period of 30 days after the end of the state of emergency.

Specifications regarding the contribution period during the suspension of the employment relationships:

✓ as an exception, the period of suspension of employment during the state of emergency and alert established by law, is taken into account when establishing the contribution period of at least 12 months in the last 24 months prior to the date of registration of the unemployment allowance;

✓ the period of the state of emergency and the period of the state of alert in which the individual employment contracts are suspended, for which the employers do not owe the insurance contribution for work according to the provisions of art. 2205 of Law no. 227/2015 on the Fiscal Code, with subsequent amendments and completions, is an assimilated period in the unemployment insurance system;

Note: for establishing and calculating the unemployment allowance provided by Law no. 76/2002 on the unemployment insurance system and employment stimulation, with subsequent amendments and completions, is used the state-subsidized technical unemployment allowance, in the amount and conditions established by law; the obligation for persons receiving unemployment allowance to report monthly, on a scheduled basis or whenever requested, to the employment agency where they are registered in order to receive employment support is suspended during the period between the end of the state of emergency and 31 May 2020. 

Specifications on the number of paid days off for one of the parents:

✓ by exception from the provisions of Law no. 19/2020, with subsequent amendments and completions, for the year 2020, the number of paid days off for one of the parents is established until the end of the 2019-2020 school year, in accordance with the law;

Note: are applicable the provisions of art. 3 of the Government Decision no. 217/2020. Thus, for the settlement of the amounts for the payment of the indemnity related to the paid days off, the employer will submit an application to the employment agencies of the county, respectively of the municipality of Bucharest in whose territorial area the employer or its branch / workplace operates, as the case may be.

The application will be accompanied by the following documents:

• the list of employees who have benefited from the days off, as well as the allowance granted during this period; -
• copies of the payment statements showing the granting of the allowance;
• the declaration on one's own responsibility of the employer's legal representative certifying that the list contains persons who meet the legal conditions;
• the proof of payment of the contributions and taxes for the month in which the allowance was paid;

✓ until the end of the courses of the school year 2019-2020, in accordance with the law, the employees of the national defense system, the employees of penitentiaries, the staff of public health units, the staff of residential social services and other categories established by order of the Minister of Internal Affairs, Minister of Economy, Energy and Business environment and the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communications, as the case may be, does not benefit from paid days off but benefits from the salary increase, under the conditions and amount provided by law;

Note: the increase is granted in the event that the other parent does not benefit from the paid days off or this increase.

Specifications on the obligation of the units with more than 50 employees:

✓ the employers in the private system, central and local public authorities and institutions, regardless of the method of financing and subordination, as well as autonomous utilities, national companies, national companies and companies in which the share capital is wholly or majority owned by the state or an administrative unit with more than 50 employees have the obligation to establish individualized work programs, without the consent of the employee, so as to ensure that there is an interval of one hour between employees at the beginning and end of the work schedule, within a three-hour interval;

✓ the individualized work schedule and the manner of its distribution by days are establised in the addendum to the individual employment contract or in the administrative act issued by the head of the institution or public authority, as the case may be.