On December 31, 2020, GEO no. 220/2020 regarding the application of social protection measures after January 1, 2021 in the context of the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, as well as for the modification of some normative acts (“GEO no. 220/2020“), and on January 7, 2021, the Procedure for awarding the amounts provided by GEO no. 220/2020.
1. Benefits provided by GEO no. 220/2020
According to GEO no. 220/2020, employers who, between January 1 and September 1, 2021, employ, for an indefinite period, full-time the following categories of people:
- persons aged over 50 whose employment relationships have ceased for reasons beyond their control, during the state of emergency or alert;
- persons between the ages of 16 and 29 registered as unemployed in the records of the county employment agencies, respectively of the Bucharest municipality; as well as
- cetăţeni români, încadraţi în aceleaşi categorii de vârstă, cărora în anul 2020 le-au încetat raporturile de muncă cu angajatorii străini de pe teritoriul altor state, din motive neimputabile lor, prin concediere
Romanian citizens, included in the same age categories, whose employment relations with foreign employers from the territory of other states ended in 2020, for reasons not attributable to them, through dismissal
2. Obligations of the employer to benefit from the amounts provided by GEO no. 220/2020
In order to benefit from these amounts, employers have the following obligations:
- to maintain the employment contract concluded with these persons for at least 1 year after the completion of the 12-month period provided above. Practically, the employment contract must remain in force for at least 2 years from the date of its conclusion;
- to pay the employee salary rights;
- to conclude an agreement with the county employment agencies, as well as with the Bucharest municipality within the radius of which they have their headquarters, and to submit a settlement request from the unemployment insurance budget, by electronic means to these agencies. The convention model and the rest of the documents required for settlement are provided in the Procedure for awarding the amounts provided for in art. I line. (1) from GEO no. 220/2020.
3. Sanctions for failure to fulfill the obligations imposed on employers
If the employer terminates the employment contract prior to the 2-year period, he is obliged to fully return to the employment agencies the sums collected for each person for whom the employment relationship terminated prior to the mentioned term.
In addition, the employer is obliged to return the reference interest of the National Bank of Romania in force on the date of termination of the individual employment contracts, if their termination occurred for the following reasons: (i) by dismissal for reasons not related to the employee; (ii) following the agreement of the parties, on the date agreed by them; (iii) as a result of establishing the absolute nullity of the individual employment contract, from the date on which the nullity was established by the agreement of the parties or by a final court decision; (iv) as a result of the admission of the request for reinstatement in the position occupied by an employee of a person fired illegally or for unfounded reasons, from the date of the final stay of the court decision on reinstatement.
