What Are the Lesser-Known Rights of Employees in Romania?

Dr. Radu Pavel, Managing Partner of the Romanian Law Firm Pavel, Mărgărit and Associates, highlights that although most employees are familiar with their fundamental rights, such as the right to receive a salary or to take annual leave, Romanian employment legislation provides for a number of rights that are less widely known or insufficiently exercised.

Nevertheless, Romanian labour legislation provides for a number of lesser-known rights that can have a significant impact on employees’ professional and personal lives.

These include entitlement to various types of leave and days off granted depending on family circumstances or specific personal needs, as well as the possibility of requesting a transfer to another available position with the same employer, subject to the conditions established by law. Although often overlooked, these rights can provide employees with important protections and benefits, making awareness of them essential.

The Romanian Law Firm Pavel, Mărgărit and Associates provides legal advice and assistance in employment law through lawyers specialising in the management of employment relationships. An employment lawyer in Romania can provide legal support both in preventing and resolving disputes between employers and employees, including situations involving breaches of rights and obligations arising from employment relationships.

Four Days of Remote Work per Month for Parents in Romania

Upon request, employees who have dependent children aged up to 11 are entitled to four days per month of working from home or teleworking, except where the nature or type of work does not allow the activity to be carried out under such arrangements.

The granting of this right is conditional upon only one parent benefiting from these days during the same period. The employee must submit a statutory declaration made by the other parent confirming that they have not simultaneously requested the same benefit. For employees with dependent children with disabilities aged up to 18, the number of days of working from home or teleworking increases to eight days per month, with an additional two days granted for each additional dependent child with a disability.

Can You Request a Vacant Position with More Favourable Working Conditions?

Among the rights recognised to employees under Article 39(1) of the Romanian Labour Code is the right to request a transfer to a vacant position offering more favourable working conditions, provided that the employee has completed their probationary period and has at least six months of service with the same employer.

However, exercising this right does not oblige the employer to approve the request, but rather to examine it and provide the employee with a reasoned written response within 30 days of receipt, pursuant to Article 40(2)(j) of the Romanian Labour Code. Consequently, meeting the statutory requirements does not guarantee a transfer to the requested position. Nevertheless, the employer cannot disregard the request or refuse it without providing reasons for the decision.

Where a refusal is insufficiently justified or a dispute arises between the employee and the employer, consulting an employment lawyer in Romania may help assess the lawfulness of the decision and identify appropriate legal remedies to protect the employee’s rights.

Are You Still Entitled to Annual Leave If You Have Been on Sick Leave for an Entire Year?

An employee may be on sick leave for an entire year due to temporary incapacity for work. However, under Romanian employment law, this period is treated as a period of employment for the purpose of calculating annual leave entitlement. Therefore, annual leave days remain unused, this being one of the situations covered by Article 145(6) of the Romanian Labour Code. According to the law, unused annual leave days are carried forward and must be granted within a period of 18 months starting from the year following that in which the entitlement arose, while the employee also retains their annual leave entitlement for the subsequent year.

Additional Annual Leave in Romania: Who Is Entitled to at Least Three Extra Working Days?

Certain categories of employees, including those working in difficult, dangerous or harmful conditions, employees who are blind, other employees with disabilities, and young workers under the age of 18, are entitled to at least three additional days of annual leave, on top of the statutory minimum of 20 days of annual leave per year.

Split Annual Leave: The Right to at Least Ten Consecutive Working Days

Where annual leave is scheduled in separate periods throughout the year, the employer is required to organise the leave schedule so that each employee benefits from at least 10 consecutive working days of annual leave in a calendar year, in accordance with Article 148(5) of the Romanian Labour Code.

Unused Annual Leave upon Termination of the Employment Contract

Unused annual leave days are not automatically forfeited at the end of the year. Where, for justified reasons, an employee has been unable to take their full annual leave entitlement, the employer must grant the remaining days within 18 months, calculated from the year following the year in which the right to annual leave arose.

Payment in lieu of unused annual leave is permitted exclusively upon termination of the individual employment contract, regardless of the reason for termination.

Accordingly, while the employment relationship remains in force, the general rule is that annual leave must actually be taken rather than replaced with a monetary payment. The purpose of this legal provision is to safeguard the employee’s right to rest and recover their capacity to work.

Through Decision No. 40/2026 of the High Court of Cassation and Justice of Romania, it was established that the right to payment in lieu of unused annual leave may subsist even after the expiry of the 18-month period where the employer has not effectively provided the employee with the opportunity to exercise their right to annual leave.

Where employees’ rights to receive payment in lieu of outstanding annual leave upon termination of their employment contract are not respected, an employment litigation lawyer in Romania can provide legal assistance and representation before the competent authorities, facilitating the recovery of amounts owed by the employer.

Paid Leave for In Vitro Fertilisation in Romania

Female employees undergoing in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment are entitled to three days of additional paid leave per year, granted as follows:

– 1 day on the date of the ovarian puncture procedure;

– 2 days starting from the date of the embryo transfer procedure.

The request for additional paid leave must be accompanied by a medical letter issued by the specialist physician.

Recall from Annual Leave: Who Bears the Costs?

Pursuant to Article 151(2) of the Romanian Labour Code, in cases of force majeure or urgent interests requiring the employee’s physical presence at work, the employer may recall the employee from annual leave. In such circumstances, the employer is required to cover in full the expenses incurred by the employee and their family that are necessary for the employee’s return to work, as well as any losses suffered as a result of the interruption of the leave. Therefore, if you are required to return to work earlier than initially planned, you are entitled to request reimbursement of the necessary return expenses from your employer.

An employment lawyer in Romania can provide legal advice and assistance in pursuing the necessary steps to recover expenses incurred as a result of being recalled from annual leave, as well as in obtaining compensation owed by the employer in these circumstances.

Carer’s Leave in Romania: When Can You Request Five Paid Working Days?

A lesser-known form of leave regulated by Article 152¹ of the Romanian Labour Code is carer’s leave, which entitles an employee to five working days per year to provide care or support to a relative or a person living in the same household who requires assistance due to a serious medical condition.

The list of qualifying medical conditions can be consulted here.

Individualised Working Schedules in Romania

Pursuant to Article 118 of the Romanian Labour Code, employees may request an individualised working schedule allowing them to adjust the start and end times of their working day according to their personal needs, without changing their daily working hours. Specifically, such an arrangement includes a fixed period during which employees must be present at work and a flexible period during which they may choose their arrival and departure times. For example, an employer may establish mandatory working hours between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., allowing employees to organise the remainder of their working day around this period, while complying with the required number of daily working hours.

This form of work organisation can be particularly useful for employees with family or caring responsibilities, including those who have previously taken carer’s leave and continue to require flexibility to support a person close to them. However, the employer is not obliged to approve the request, but in the event of a refusal, the employer must communicate the reasons for the decision to the employee in writing within five working days of receiving the request.

Leave to Accompany a Cancer Patient for Treatment in Romania

A lesser-known right, which is not regulated by the Romanian Labour Code but by Government Emergency Ordinance No. 158/2005, is the employee’s right to take leave to accompany an adult cancer patient to medical treatments and surgical procedures. The annual limit for this type of paid leave is 45 calendar days. The same ordinance also grants both the accompanying employee and the cancer patient the right to attend at least one psychological assessment session and five psychological counselling sessions. The leave allowance amounts to 85% of the applicable calculation base.

Do You Work at a Computer? Your Employer Must Provide a Free Eye Examination

Employees in Romania who regularly perform their work in front of a display screen benefit from specific measures designed to protect their eye health and eyesight, as regulated by Government Decision No. 1028/2006. Accordingly, they are entitled to periodic eyesight tests, as well as an ophthalmological examination where the results of those tests indicate that one is necessary, without having to bear the associated costs.

Furthermore, the employer is required to organise work activities so that prolonged screen use is periodically interrupted, either through breaks or by alternating screen-based activities with other tasks, in order to prevent visual strain.

In conclusion, as an employee in Romania, you have considerably more rights than you may realise. Employee rights must be understood by both employees and employers, as certain situations, such as additional leave entitlements or employee protection measures, may give rise to misunderstandings and disputes if the applicable legal provisions are not fully understood.

The Romanian Law Firm Pavel, Mărgărit and Associates is one of the leading law firms in Romania, providing legal services of the highest quality. The firm’s clients include major multinational and domestic companies. In 2026, the firm’s successful track record earned it international recognition from some of the most prestigious international legal directories and publications. Accordingly, Pavel, Mărgărit and Associates ranked third in Romania in the ranking of business law firms with the most relevant expertise, published by Legal 500. The law firm is also internationally recognised by the IFLR1000 Financial and Corporate 2026 guide. Furthermore, Pavel, Mărgărit and Associates is the only law firm in Romania recommended by the London-based international directory Global Law Experts in the practice area of Dispute Resolution. All relevant information about the Romanian Law Firm Pavel, Mărgărit and Associates is available on its website, www.avocatpavel.ro.