Iohannis calling for review of Law amending the Labour Code on overtime penalties

President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday submitted to Parliament for review a law amending the Labour Code in terms of penalties in the form of fines of between 1,500 lei and 3,000 lei, for non-compliance with overtime provisions. 

Under the current regulations, Article 260 (1)(i) in the Labour Code says non-observance of the provisions regarding overtime is a fineable offence of between 1,500 lei and 3,000 lei. 

"Considering that the purpose of the regulation is to tighten penalties only for overtime beyond the legal limit provided for under Article 114 (1) in the Labour Code - 48 hours a week, including overtime, or, in exceptional cases, more than 48 hours a week - but with the conditions established at Article 114 (2) in the Labour Code being simultaneously met, we believe that, for the sake of clarity in the law circumstances should be added expressly indicating the overtime instances in which they trigger a fine," reads the request sent to the Parliament, according to a statement of the Presidential Administration released on Thursday. 

At the same time, Iohannis points out that under Articles 120 - 124 of the Labour Code, there are other possible overtime violations such as carrying out overtime without the employees' agreement; non-payment of overtime or failure to register accordingly; the payment of the bonus provided for by the law for carrying out overtime work in breach of compensation paid by free time in 60 calendar days of the carrying out of the additional work. 

In the president's opinion, Parliament should clarify whether the tightening the penalties for the violation of the overtime provisions only applies to instance considered by the initiators - that of overtime beyond the legal limit provided for at Article 114 of the Labour Code - it also applies to other instances. 

Iohannis also argues that the phrase "for each person identified as on overtime" should be understood as meaning persons in which cases the provisions in the field have not been followed, otherwise it may be understood that the fine would apply to all persons who performs additional work in a company, although the provisions of the law apply only to some employees.