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New conditions in Romania for the recruitment of foreign workers: Necessary reform or overregulation?
On 27 April 2026, Government Emergency Ordinance No. 32/2026 (“the Ordinance”) regarding the access of foreign nationals to the Romanian labour market entered into force. I. Preliminary considerations The Ordinance regulates the registration and obligations of employers of foreign nationals, as well as the authorisation and operation of foreign placement agencies in the Romanian labour market. Compared to existing regulations, it marks a significant shift in legislative approach, aimed at more rigorous oversight of the recruitment of foreign nationals. The Ordinance introduces a significantly stricter and more extensive system of authorisation, monitoring, and control, applicable both to placement agencies
Kinstellar announces new series of promotions across multiple service lines in the Bucharest office
Kinstellar is proud to announce its promotions in the Bucharest office, highlighting the achievements of colleagues who have made significant contributions to the firm and its clients. The promotions reinforce the firm’s strategic focus on recognising excellence, supporting professional growth, and further strengthening its expertise on the local market across Tax and Financial Advisory, Employment, Banking and Finance, Corporate/M&A, and Real Estate. We are delighted to highlight the following: Promotions to Partner and Counsel Theodor Artenie has been promoted to Partner. He is a Tax Advisor and the co-head of the firm-wide Tax Service Line. He is a well-known and highly ranked tax professional who
Kinstellar announces new Partner and Counsel promotions
Kinstellar is pleased to announce the promotions to Partner of Pavel Kornilov (Almaty), Yerlan Akhmetov (Almaty), Olga Šipka (Belgrade), Dominika Bajzáthová (Bratislava), Theodor Artenie (Bucharest), Maksym Tesliar (Kyiv), Mladen Minev (Sofia), and Svilen Issaev (Sofia), and to Counsel of Katarina Živković (Belgrade), Lukáš Mrázik (Bratislava), Lidia Zarnescu (Bucharest), Razvan Constantinescu (Bucharest), Dániel Péter (Budapest), Adam Němec (Prague), and Radim Kotrba (Prague). Partners Pavel Kornilov, Astana/Almaty Pavel is recognised as a top-tier lawyer with extensive experience in capital markets, debt finance, banking, and M&A matters. He advises clients on equity and debt capital markets
Romania Case Law Highlights #2: Latest decisions regarding compensation for working hours and annual leave
Compensation for working hours and annual leave are topics that often spark controversy in Romania. Existing legislation leaves many questions unanswered, and differing interpretations can lead to confusion in practice. In this context, the recent intervention of the High Court of Cassation and Justice (HCCJ), through a series of landmark decisions, provides welcome clarification on matters of utmost importance, such as: compensation for work performed on weekly rest days; payment in lieu of unused annual leave. These rulings are binding and will change the way employers and employees manage working time and annual leave. Below we briefly analyse the main conclusions drawn from
Romania Case Law Highlights #1: Recent decisions on dismissal and suspension of employment contracts in cases of maternity risk leave
In a legal landscape marked by inconsistencies and uneven practices in labour law, the correct application of legal rules is becoming an increasingly difficult goal to achieve. However, Romania’s High Court of Cassation and Justice (“ICCJ”) has recently intervened with a series of key decisions that not only provide important clarifications but also reconfigure principles of Romanian labour law, addressing issues of utmost importance, such as: prohibition of dismissal during sick leave; the procedure for reinstating an employee who has been unlawfully dismissed; suspension of individual employment contracts in cases of leave of absence for maternity risk. These decisions
Guidance notes on the new General Register of Employee Records in Romania
Starting 1 October 2025, the use of the REGES-Online platform will become mandatory for all employers in Romania. This obligation is provided for in Government Decision No. 295/2025, which establishes a transition period until 30 September 2025, during which employers can choose to use either REGES-Online or the old Revisal system. The new digital portal will ensure the electronic management of individual employment contracts by employers and authorised service providers through a digital platform managed by the Labour Inspectorate. As the transition process involves creating accounts, accessing registers, and filling in the necessary data, we recommend that employers implement the new system as soon as possible.
New obligations for employers in Romania: Fair wages and enhanced prevention and management of workplace discrimination and harassment
In recent years, we have seen several new obligations imposed on employers in Romania, and 2025 will be no different. Starting from January 2025, certain amendments to Romanian labour legislation entered into force, impacting employers significantly. In a nutshell, the new amendments aim to: ensure adequate minimum wages; introduce stricter rules for employers on handling workplace harassment cases; introduce new requirements to ensure gender balance in the management of companies traded on a regulated market; and adopt new measures to protect people with disabilities. Details of the new legal obligations of employers are outlined below. I. Ensuring adequate minimum
Navigating workplace challenges and litigation trends: dismissals and workplace harassment
As we move into 2025, we want to highlight some of the key developments in the Romanian employment dispute landscape over the past year. You can read our summaries of these key trends below, along with our thoughts on where we expect to see more employment litigation activity in the year ahead. I. Romanian market insights Two key drivers in Romania this year concerning the increased risk of employment litigation are economic uncertainty, which could lead company restructurings and related dismissals, as well as the many changes in Romanian legislation relating to whistleblowing and the prevention of discrimination and harassment at the workplace. Specifically, there are two types of employee lawsuits we expect
New legislative changes promote flexicurity in employment relations in Romania
The first part of 2023 continued last year's trend of substantial changes to Romanian labour legislation, which is of real interest to both employers and employees. As such, both Law no. 53/2003 on the Labour Code (“Labour Code”) and Law no. 367/2022 on social dialogue (“Law on Social Dialogue”) have undergone several changes, some aimed at clarifying legal issues identified in practice and others at promoting flexibility at work and work-life balance. In this article, we present the latest legislative changes, as well as our recommendations for their implementation. I. Amendments to the Labour Code The latest legislative amendments continue the European and national policies implemented in recent
Top hiring and training incentives for employers in Romania
In order to stimulate employment, the Romanian state offers employers a number of relatively easily accessible job incentive programmes. Job incentive programmes imply accessing state aid, within the limits of budgetary funds, with the aim of creating new jobs and, respectively, of stimulating the employment of categories of people considered vulnerable.As these programmes are not well known or used in practice, this article aims to present the main incentives available to employers for hiring or training new employees. Click on this link or the image below to read an overview prepared by our employment law experts.
The relaunch of social dialogue in Romania and its impact on employers
A new law on social dialogue has recently been adopted in Romania, Law No 367/2022 on social dialogue 1 ("Law No. 367/2022"), repealing the previous regulation, Law No. 62/2011. The new law on social dialogue is a true game changer and brings four significant reforms, respectively: the obligation to perform collective bargaining at both the unit (if it has at least 10 employees) and at the bargaining sector level; the possibility to perform collective bargaining at the national level; new obligations for employers to inform and consult employees' representatives/trade union representatives; extension of the range of cases triggering collective labour disputes. We expect
Legislative updates on employee salary rights in Romania
This year’s first issue of our newsletter, put together by our Bucharest Employment and Labour law team, provides an overview of the new updates on employee salary rights, namely: the new level of the minimum gross basic salary in Romania; various fiscal facilities for employers and employees; the regulation of tips in the hotel and restaurant (“HORECA”) sector; the reflection of salary rights in the new framework model of the individual employment agreement; the EU Directive on adequate minimum wages in the European Union; the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) ruling on the rights of workers to receive or to be reimbursed the value of eyeglasses for