Date: 11.08.2020

OU.G. no. 132/2020 regarding the measures for employees and employers in the context of the epidemiological situation caused by the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, as well as for stimulating employment growth

Published in the Official Gazette, Part I no. 720 of August 10, 2020.
Effective: August 10, 2020

The Government has adopted an G.E.O 132/2020. through which it offers the possibility to the employer to reduce the working time of employees (after the inspiration of Kurzarbeit model).

The measure is an alternative to reducing the working hours from 5 to 4 days (art. 52 paragraph (3) of Law no. 53/2003), these cannot be cumulated.

The period for which this measure may be applied is to be determined by H.G., the text of the O.U.G. shows only that the temporary reduction of the employer's activity must be determined by the establishment of the state of emergency / alert.
The state alert period will expire on 16.08.2020, but, according to public information, it is possible that it will be extended.

Some of the new provisions are the following:

• the measure applies in case of temporary reduction of the employer's activity determined by the establishment of the state of emergency / alert;
• employers have the possibility to reduce the working time of employees by a maximum of 50%;
• the reduction of working time is established by the employer's decision, for a period of at least 5 consecutive working days;
• during the reduction of working time, the employees affected by the measure receive an allowance of 75% of the difference between the gross base salary provided in the individual employment contract and the gross base salary for the hours actually worked as a result of the reduced working time,
• the allowance is borne by the employer and is paid on the date of payment of the salary for that month, to be settled from the unemployment insurance budget;
• in the event that, during the same month, the employee obtains both income from salaries and the allowance, for tax purposes, they are cumulated, in order to grant personal deduction;
• the employer can take the measure to reduce working time, if the following conditions are cumulatively met:
  1. the measure affects at least 10% of the number of employees of the unit;
  2. the reduction of the activity is justified by a decrease of the turnover from the month prior to the application of the working time reduction measure or, at most, from the month before its previous month by at least 10% compared to the similar month of the previous year;

The settlement of the amounts will be carried out within maximum 10 days from the date of submitting the application, based on a procedure that will be approved by Government decision.

For the development of the telework activity, the financial support in the amount of 2,500 lei is granted, once, to the employers for each telemarketer in order to purchase packages of technological goods and services, within the limits of the funds allocated for this purpose.

Receiving at work, including teleworking or work at home outside the established work schedule, constitutes a contravention and the employer is sanctioned with a fine of 20,000 lei for each person, without exceeding the cumulative value of 200,000 lei.