Trade union leaders consider the recently adopted changes to the Labor Code diminish the rights and guarantees of salary earners and strengthen the position of employers. Representatives of the business community believe yet that the adopted amendments ultimately institute a balance in the regulation of relations between the employer and employees and facilitate the administrative work of business entities, Radio Free Europe reports on its website, IPN reports.
Under the amendments, the reaching of retirement age became a reason that the employer can invoke to terminate the work contract. Sergiu Sainciuc, vice president of the National Trade Unions Confederation, said this “reason” is a hindrance to employees who want to work after they retire. “If the norm referred to a particular group, we could think that the state decided to protect a particular category of salary earners. In this case, the norm refers to all the persons and should be in principle declared unconstitutional as it will limit the right of elderly persons to work. On the one hand, we say the active persons should continue work. On the other hand, we must fire them,” he stated.
The persons fired after retirement can be reemployed later for a period of at most two years, but the law leaves this to the discretion of the employer. Executive director of the Foreign Investors Association Ana Groza said that even if the employers asked for such a possibility, the large companies do not easily part company with employees in whom they invested money.
Another norm that is welcomed by employers and criticized by trade unions refers to probation. The business entities were spared of the obligation to explain why a young specialist is rejected. Sergiu Sainciuc considers this norm leaves room for abuses, while Ana Groza said the simplification of the firing procedure after probation frees the employer from additional preoccupations and brings advantages to a future employee.
The executive director of the Foreign Investors Association noted all the changes made to the 36 articles of the Labor Code were discussed within a working group created on the initiative of Prime Minister Pavel Filip. The vote in Parliament is considered a success by the business community. Trade unions refuse to accept some of the amendments, but there is no way back.
The additional unpaid leave for looking after the child older than three will be provided until the child’s age of four not of six as until now. Ana Groza said there were sufficient reasons to explain this request by employers. “There were many cases when de jure the person was on leave for looking after the child, but this was actually doing business or was in Italy or was preparing the documents for emigrating. But we could not hire someone else instead. If a person was employed, this was employed for a definite period and didn’t enjoy guarantees,” stated Ana Groza.
Sergiu Sainciuc said this change was made in the absence of statistics about the number of women who go on leave to look after a child aged three to six. Experts of NGOs consider the measure should have been accompanied by rises in the child allowance for the first and second years of life and more options for the leave to care for the child.
The amendments to the 36 articles of the Labor Code were passed by Parliament in its last sitting of the spring-summer session. These regulate the signing of individual work contacts, probation for young specialists and firing of employees after retirement.
