Updates on the paternal leave law in Romania | News Flash

The Emergency Ordinance nr. 117/2022 for the amendment and completion of the Law on paternal leave no. 210/1999 was published in the Official Gazette, Part I, no. 845 on 29.08.2022.

This normative act was adopted as a result of the need to carry out the steps necessary to transpose the EU Directive no. 2019/1.158 on the balance between the professional and private life of parents and caretakers and to repeal Directive 2019/18/EU, which has as its general objective the adaptation and modernizing of the legal framework of the European Union, allowing parents and people with care responsibilities to reconcile professional life with family life.Among the most important changes brought by this ordinance, we mention the following:

• the number of days of paternity leave to which the father is entitled is changed, from 5 to 10 working days;
• if the father has completed a childcare course, the paternity leave is increased by an additional 5 working days;
• the 5 working days increase to the paternity leave will be granted for each newborn child, regardless of the date of completion of the
  course;
• the employer has the obligation to approve the additional 5 working days of leave and to inform the employees about this right. The failure to comply with this obligation constitutes a misdemeanor and is punishable by a fine ranging from 4.000 to 8.000 RON;
• the employer is forbidden to terminate
  the employment contract of the employee who is on paternity leave, with
  the exception of judicial reorganization or bankruptcy;
• the content of the normative act emphasizes the obligation not to disadvantage employees who benefit from paternity leave, before or after taking it, as well as the fact that the employer must grant the employee the rights that were acquired/were in the process of being acquired before, during or after taking the paternity leave. Failure to comply with this obligation constitutes a misdemeanor and may be punishable by a fine ranging from 4000 to 8000 RON.