In this issue:

• News in the field of the digitalization of the employment relationships. New paid day off for the employees

Law no. 208/2021 for the approval of the GEO 36/2021 was published in the Romanian Official Gazette no. 720 of 22 July 2021 and entered into force on 25 July 2021.

Law. no. 221/2021 supplementing the Law no. 55/2020 on some measures for preventing and combating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was published in the Romanian Official Gazette no. 732 of 26 July 2021 and entered into force on 29 July 2021.

The following is a summary of the main legislative changes.

Simplifying the process of signing the documents

The parties may choose to use the advanced electronic signature or the qualified electronic signature not only when concluding an agreement, but also when amending, suspending or, as the case may be, when terminating the individual employment agreement, without the electronic time stamp or the qualified electronic time stamp and the employer's qualified electronic seal being needed.

The employer may also choose to use the simple electronic signature, and not only the advanced or the qualified electronic signature, or the employer's electronic seal, in order to conclude all the acts/documents in the field of employment relationships resulting from concluding the individual employment agreement, from its execution or from the termination of the individual employment agreement, in compliance with the provisions of the internal regulation and/or collective bargaining agreement applicable, according to the law.

The obligation of the competent control bodies to accept, for verification and control, individual employment contracts, additional acts, as well as documents in the field of labor relations / occupational safety and health in electronic format (without the hard copy being requested) is specifically regulated.

Training in the field of occupational safety and health

The training in the field of occupational safety and health no longer has to be performed in consideration of the workplaces; therefore, the employer no longer has the obligation to ensure a new training of the teleworker whenever the workplace for telework changes.

As a novelty, the training in the field of occupational safety and health may also be carried out online.

Deductibility of expenses incurred for purchasing electronic signatures

Expenses incurred by the employer, for himself and his employees, for the purchase of advanced electronic signatures or qualified electronic signatures used for signing documents in the field of labor relations / occupational safety and health are deductible expenses for determining the tax result.

The right to a paid day off for each dose of the vaccine

Private sector employees will benefit from one paid day off, which is not included in their vacation, for each administered vaccine dose.

Parents or the legal representative of the child under the age of 18, as well as of a disabled person up to 26 years old will also benefit from this right on the vaccination day of the child or of the disabled person.

However, this right is not granted if the employees are vaccinated at their workplace through the care of the employer.