Romania: Teleworking is regulated for the first time in Romanian legislation

A new Law that defines and regulates teleworking was adopted early this March. For the first time working from a distance is recognized and regulated under Romanian Law. Employees that work from home or from any other place organized by the employer for working at a distance will establish an employment relationship and will enjoy all the benefits a regular employee has.

The teleworking, as it is named by the new Law, is a response for the need to regulate the situations where employees – especially in the IT industry, work from home. The need for a formal recognition for this type of work was recognized as the employees that work from home have to have their working hours monitored and have to be properly instructed in order to limit health and safety hazards that are out of the control of the employer otherwise. The employer is the one to organize the working space for the employee that will perform work at a distance and is allowed to set up the equipment in a manner that ensures the minimum risk for the employee.
Employees that work at a distance benefit from all the right the Law, the collective agreements, the internal regulations and policies grant all the regular employees.

The new Law also introduces a series of obligations and responsibilities for the employees. The employees that perform work at a distance are responsible for the way they conduct their activity, including limiting the health and safety risks, they have to monitor the equipment they are using in order to perform their work at a distance and inform the employer of any malfunctions.