Labour and employment law in Romania

Introduction

Romanian employment law has been subject to a series of changes after a long period of stability. These changes are the result of the implementation of EU Directives and negotiations that lead to a new law on social. Further changes are expected as Romania will have to implement the EU Directive on pay transparency.

Key Points

• Most disputes involve financial claims from employees that usually include overtime payment, granting of working conditions, bonuses, etc. The number of collective actions that are usually promoted by unios has decreased over the last years.
• Unions must represent 35% of the employees in one company in order to be representative and part of a collective agreement, meaning that one employer could have two distinct representative unions. For employers that don’t have representative unions, the right to negotiate and conclude a collective agreement is recognized to unions that are not representative and employee representatives are to be elected only when there are no unions present in the Company.
• Employers have the right to regulate working hours, but special legal provisions limit this right. National rules on the working hours and rest periods are more restrictive than the general rules set by EU Directives.
• Great importance is given to the form of the documents drafted by the employer. Court cases usually involve verifying the form of the documents and a significant number of rulings are based exclusively on this aspect.
• Strict regulations apply to individual and collective dismissals. In case of unlawful dismissal, the employee has the right to reinstatement and is granted all financial rights for the entire period during which they were unlawfully dismissed. Dismissed employees will often sue for unlawful dismissal.

Legal framework

Employment law in Romania is largely based on the following sources:

• the Constitution;
• European and international legal instruments –
  • European Union law (including Treaties, EU regulations and directives, as well as case law from the European Court of Justice);
  • protocols and recommendations of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms; and
  • standards and practices established by the International Labour Organisation (ILO);
• the Romanian Labour Code;
• legislation and government decrees, especially –
  • Law nr. 367/2022 regarding the social dialogue;
  • Law no. 360/2023 on the public pension system;
  • Law no. 319/2006 on health and safety at the workplace (among others);
• case law – the provisions of the Labour Code can be interpreted through generally applicable and mandatory decisions of the Supreme Court (High Court of Cassation and Justice);
• interpretative decisions of the Constitutional Court which are mandatory and generally applicable;
• collective labour agreements;
• individual employment contracts.

New Developments

The Romanian Labour Code went through a series of changes that were necessary in order to have its provisions up to date and in agreement with the provisions of the EU Directives in 2022 and 2024, with additional changes being imminent due to the need to implement the EU Directive on pay transparency.

In addition, in order to comply with the international recommendations regarding the encouraging of collective negotiations aimed at increasing the number of employees that are covered by collective agreements, in December 2022 a new law for social dialogue was adopted. During the same period Romania also implemented the EU Directive regarding the protection of whistleblowers by adopting Law No. 361/2022.

The Government Decision that establishes the obligation of the employers to implement internal guidelines regarding the prevention and fighting sexual and moral harassment at the workplace was also updated in 2025, with focus on offering support for harassment victims. Most employees adopted general internal policies aimed at preventing and fighting all types of harassment.