COVID-19. Procedure on grading the paid days off for monitoring children and partial settlement of the indemnity from the state budget

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Law no. 19/2020 on granting paid days off to parents for monitoring their children if the education institutions would temporarily close was completed and amended during this weekend by Decision no. 217 of March 18, 2020 and Government Emergency Ordinance no. 30 of March 18, 2020 for amending and completing some normative acts, as well as for setting out some approaches in the area of social protection, given the epidemiological situation caused by the spreading of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

1. EMPLOYEE CATEGORIES ENTITLED to paid days off according to a written petition:

All employees that have a child below 12 years of age (who is enrolled in an education institution, or that have disability children enrolled in an education institution), for whom work from home or telecommuting cannot be organized by their employer and that have the next status are entitled to paid days off during the entire period when the education institutions are closed:

1. biological parent, according to Law no. 287/2009 on the Civil Code, republished, as it was subsequently amended and completed;
2. adoptive parent;
3. person to whom one or several children were entrusted with the aim of adoption;
4. foster parent or person that is legal guardian for a child;
5. person designated according to article 104 paragraph (2) of Law no. 272/2004 on the protection and promotion of children’s rights;
6. parent or legal representative of an adult that has disabilities, who is enrolled in an education institution;
7. parent or legal representative of the child that has severe disabilities and cannot attend school, who chose to receive an indemnity according to the provisions of Law no.  448/2006  on protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities, only if the activity of his/her day-time job is suspended as consequence of unfavorable weather conditions or other extreme situations, which were indicated as such by the competent authorities having attributions in this area;
8. parent or legal representative that cares for, monitors and financially supports severely disabled adults or severely disabled adults for whom personal assistant was ordered, for whom he/she has chosen to receive an indemnity according to the provisions of Law no. 448/2006, if he/she benefits of day-time services, which were was suspended as consequence of unfavorable weather conditions or other extreme situations and were indicated as such by the competent authorities having attributions in this area.

One of the parents or a single parent can benefit of this right.

2. EMPLOYEE CATEGORIES NOT ENTITLED to paid days off:

The employees that have a child up to 12 years of age (who is enrolled in an education institution, or that have disabled children enrolled in an education institution), who are in one of the situations below are not entitled to paid days off during the entire period when the education institutions are closed:

1. the employee that is taking a maternity / paternity leave of absence, which is provisioned by the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 111/2010 on leave of absence and monthly indemnity for raising children;
2. the employee taking a leave of absence;
3. the employee taking an unpaid leave of absence;
4. the employee whose employment agreement was suspended as consequence of the temporary interruption of the employer’s activity (article 52 paragraph (1) letter c) of Law no. 53/2003)
5. the employee that acts as personal assistant of one of his/her dependent children.

There are no derogations from this provision, even if the other parent has no salary and no income similar to salaries, independent activity income, and intellectual property income, or income from agriculture, forestry and fish farming activities.

3. EMPLOYEE CATEGORIES THAT ARE ENTITLED TO PAID DAYS OFF WITH THE CONSENT OF THEIR EMPLOYER: 

The employees of healthcare facilities and social work institutions, those providing around the clock services, telecommunications, public TV stations, garbage removal and other public utility services can receive paid days but only while having the consent of their employer.

4. VALUE OF THE GROSS INDEMNITY FOR PAID DAYS OFF TO WHICH THE EMPLOYEES ARE ENTITLED

The gross indemnity for each paid day off must be paid by the employer from its own budget. The GROSS indemnity amounts to 75% of the basic salary that is granted for 1 business day, but it is of maximum 75% of the gross average salary used for substantiating the state-owned social insurances budget (meaning it is of maximum 75% x Lei 5,429 = Lei 4,072/ month / employee).
The indemnity is the salary subject to taxation and payment of social insurance contributions. Given that, the net indemnity that the employees receive is Lei 2,382 / month / employee.

5. TOTAL AMOUNTS THAT THE COMPANIES CAN RECOVER FROM THE STATE SUBSEQUENTLY 

Subsequently, after the companies have paid to their employees the net indemnity, the income tax and the social insurance contributions corresponding to it, they can request to AJOFM  (County Employment Agency) ONLY that the NET indemnity be reimbursed, meaning that the amount Lei 2,382 / employee / month will be settled.
The amounts that were paid as indemnity will be reimbursed in 60 calendar days as of the date when AJOFM registered the petition concerning that.

6. PROCEDURE OF REQUESTING THE PARTIAL SETTLEMENT OF THE INDEMNITY TO AJOFM

In 30-day time of this law entering in force, the actual procedures for settling the amounts on paying the indemnity will be approved.
For benefitting of paid days off, the employees must make the next documents available to the company:

• written petition signed by the employee
• (standard) own responsibility declaration of the other parent indicating that he/she has not requested paid days off to his/her employer, according to Law no. 19/2020.  Petition and own responsibility declaration model documents can be downloaded from our internal secure servers, by going to this link:  https://gofile.me/2hGBu/8xHBgC04j

For the state reimbursing those amounts, the employer must submit a petition to AJOFM (by email or any other means of communication), while following a procedure that would be approved, and by attaching the next documents:

1. petition sent to AJOFM.  A model petition can be downloaded from our internal secure servers, by going to this link:  https://gofile.me/2hGBu/yAbVd6umE
2. list of employees that benefit of days off, as well as the indemnity granted for that period;
3. payrolls (indicating that the indemnity for the days off was granted);
4. own responsibility declaration of the legal representative of the employer, drafted by using the standard model document that would be approved;
5. proof of having paid the social insurance contributions and taxes for the month when the indemnity was paid.