The People’s Advocate recommends the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection to modify some provisions of art. 80 of the Labor Code regarding the indemnity for the period of layoff, for ensuring the right of social protection of employees during the period of layoff.       

In the proposal to improve the legislation, submitted to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection, the People’s Advocate mentioned that it was notified about the deficiencies related to the application of the legislation regarding the payment for reasoned absence from work, as a result of measures taken by employers to prevent the spread of COVID-19 virus.

The People’s Advocate notes that, although paragraph (4) of art. 80 of the Labor Code provides for an indemnity for employees during the period of layoff that cannot be less than 50 percent of the basic salary, by way of exception, this guarantee shall not be valid in the event of suspension of the individual employment contract. According to the provisions of art. 77 letter c) of the Labor Code, in case of layoff, the individual employment contract is suspended by the agreement of the parties, expressed in written form.

The Ombudsman claims that in such circumstances there are ambiguities regarding the manner in which the layoff benefit is granted, which may lead to the uneven and erroneous enforcement of the related provisions, which infringes the right to assistance and social protection of employees.

For the above reasons, the People’s Advocate pleads for the provisions of art. 80 of the Labor Code no. 154/2003 to be improved in terms of clarity and predictability of legal norms, but also for the social protection of employees during layoff. However, in order to reduce the negative impact on the standard of living of these persons and their families, it is imperative to ensure the right to social protection of persons who, due to circumstances not attributable to the employee, are forced to temporarily suspend their employment.

The Ombudsman considers that this proposal could be examined at the same time as the issue addressed in its previous endeavor, which aims to remove discrepancies in the regulatory framework for the granting of allowance for prevention of diseases (quarantine).

     2020/ 04 /28

Department for Promotion

of Human Rights and Communication

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Department for Public Policies and Law

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