European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
Eurofound's ERM database on restructuring-related legal regulations provides information on regulations in the Member States of the European Union and Norway which are explicitly or implicitly linked to anticipating and managing change.
8, 10, 13 and 14 (Law no. 200/2006); 209–215 (Law no. 227/2015)
The Guarantee Fund for unpaid salaries is designed to ensure payment of outstanding claims arising from individual employment contracts and collective agreements concluded by employers who were given final judicial decision to open insolvency procedures and to which total or partial removal of the right of management was prepared (employers in the state of insolvency).
Employers are required to pay a monthly contribution to the Guarantee Fund, in the quota of 0.25% of the total monthly wages. They are also obliged to notify the fiscal administration, by day 25 of every month, about the amount of contribution to the Guarantee Fund. The fund is administrated by the National Agency for Employment (Agentia Nationala pentru Ocuparea Fortei de Munca, ANOFM), through its local agencies.
From the Guarantee Fund's resources outstanding wages or compensatory payments and indemnities for temporary interruption of activity may be paid. The fund cannot pay the outstanding social contributions of companies in insolvency.
From the Guarantee Fund, employees may claim the outstanding wages for a period of up to three calendar months in case their employer is in insolvency. Employees or organisations representing them may apply for payment from the territorial employment agency themselves, or the payment application may be filed by the legal administrator of the insolvent employer. Claims for the payment of overdue salaries are assessed by the local employment agencies, which also make the actual payments. Outstanding salaries are paid out of the Guarantee Fund regardless of whether the insolvent employer had paid the contribution to the Guarantee Fund in time. The total amount of the outstanding claims incurred by the Guarantee Fund may not exceed the amount of three monthly salaries at national level per employee.
Romanian legislation is in line with the EU Directive 2008/94/EC on the protection of employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer. It has also taken into account the ILO Convention no. C 173 on the protection of workers' claims from 1992, even though this has not yet been ratified by Romania.
Romanian law does not distinguish between different categories of workers; it applies to all employees, either on fixed-term or open-ended contracts, and regardless of their position in the company. However, employees working for public institutions will not benefit from the provisions of the law because these employers can not be subject to insolvency proceedings.
The annual laws of the state social security budget stipulate the amounts estimated to be collected from employers, respectively paid from the Guarantee Fund for debt salaries. There is a constant surplus set for each year: * for 2014 revenues 265.9 million lei (€57.8 million), expenses 43.6 million lei (€9.5 million) (Law No. 340/2013) * for 2015 revenues 245.6 million lei (€53.4 million), expenses 21.6 million lei (€4.7 million) (Law No. 187/2014) * for 2016 revenues 301.2 million lei (€65.5 million), expenses 22 million lei (€4.8 million) (Law No 340/2015) * for 2017 revenues 370.8 million lei (€80.6 million), expenses 23.5 million lei (€5.1 million) (Law No. 7/2017) * for 2018 revenues 839.0 milion lei (€174.4 million), expenses 23.7 million lei (€5.1 million) (Law No. 3/2018) * for 2019 revenues 905.2 milion lei (€191.0 million), expenses 18.2 million lei (€3.8 million) (Law No. 47/2019) * for 2020 revenues 1.25 bilion lei (€263.2 million), expenses 11.5 million lei (€2.4 million) (Law No. 6/2020) * for 2021 revenues 1.30 bilion lei (€267.7 million), expenses 110.3 million lei (€22.7 million) (Law No. 16/2021)
Emergency Ordinance 95/6 December 2017 issued by the Romanian Government modified article 8 of the law.
Eurofound (2015), Romania: Wage guarantee in case of insolvency, Restructuring legislation database, Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/legislationdb/wage-guarantee-in-case-of-insolvency/romania
Between the end of 2022 and the first half of 2023, almost 300,000 employees working for ‘big tech’ companies were laid off across the world, making headlines for months in global media. This development has been a shock, considering the high numbers of jobs in well-known tech corporations with a reputation for offering good working conditions and well-paid positions.
The retail banking sector is fertile ground for studying the impacts of digitalisation on work and employment. Financial services are increasingly provided online, without the intermediary of customer-facing institutions. Many banks in the sector have been undergoing serial restructuring since the global financial crisis, and it is one of the few service sectors with stagnant or declining employment.
Since 2011, the Restructuring support instruments database of the EU PolicyWatch has been collecting information on measures that assist companies and workers to anticipate and manage restructuring. This article looks at measures in the database aimed at supporting employees and employers during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022).
Eurofound’s European Restructuring Monitor database reveals the impact of the energy crisis on employment in the EU. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, energy prices have hit record highs. The European Commission imposed sanctions and limitations on the import of oil and gas from Russia, which has reacted by reneging on supply commitments to many Member States.
