New steps for work-life balance – paternity leave

At a glance

On 29 August 2022, Romanian law on paternity leave was amended by Government Emergency Ordinance No. 117/2022 (GEO). This GEO is Romania's first step in implementing the EU Directive 2019/1158 of 20 June 2019 on work-life balance for parents and carers and repealing Council Directive 2010/18/EU. At this stage, it has only been partially implemented so further steps are expected.

Main changes

The main relevant changes covered by the GEO include:

• Duration: 10 working days, which can now be extended by 5 working days for each new-born child, provided the father obtains a certificate showing completion of a childcare course. This is an increase from the previous 5 working days of leave which could only be extended once by 10 working days, where a childcare course was completed. Paternity leave counts towards length of service and also counts for rights granted based on length of service;
• Beneficiaries: the father employee of the new-born child, provided he is a worker performing activities under an employment relationship, irrespective or whether he is insured in the public social insurance system (as opposed to the former provisions).  Other categories of worker individuals who are entitled to paternity leave are now also expressly regulated, for example, those performing activities based on (i) mandate; or (ii) management contracts.
• Employers' obligations: new obligations have been imposed on employers, such as:
  • to approve the paternity leave and inform employees about their paternity leave rights;
  • to ensure employee rights accrued, or in the course of being accrued, before the paternity leave is taken are maintained during the leave and are also applied afterwards;
  • to not apply less favourable treatment to a father who has requested, or taken, paternity leave.

Non-compliance with these obligations is now expressly sanctioned with administrative fines.

Next steps

The new rules on paternity leave apply to any paternity leave requests submitted on or after 29 August 2022 (regardless of whether the child was born before), as long as the requests are made within the legal deadline.

Employers should monitor for further legal developments on the topic of work-life balance for parents and carers – such as expected reforms on carers' leave and flexible working arrangements.