Law No. 52/2023 on the supplement of para. (1) of Art. 139 of Law no. 53/2003 – Labour Code (“Law 52/2023“) was published in the Official Gazette of Romania on 6 March 2023 and entered into force as of 9 March 2023, having an impact on employment relationships.
Article 139 of the Labour Code regulates the days for legal holidays when employees do not work. Until this change, employees were granted 15 legal non-working days, which were mainly public holidays and days of national historical importance.
The reasons for the adoption of law 52/2023
The Romanian Parliament adopted Law 52/2023 in order to properly ensure freedom of religion, which is regulated both by Acts with an impact in Europe such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and by national acts such as the Romanian Constitution and Law 489/2006 on religious freedom and the general regime of religious groups (in Romanian, regimul general al cultelor).
In Romania, following the last recession, it was found that 86.45% of the country’s population are Orthodox Christian citizens. In view of the special religious importance of 6th and 7th of January, these days have been declared legal holidays when employees do not work, thus allowing them to participate in religious ceremonies.
The 6th and/or 7th of January are regulated as legal non-working holidays in many European countries such as Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Italy, Finland, etc.
New non-working days for employees
As of 2024, employees will benefit from 2 extra non-working days in addition to those regulated by the Labour Code, i.e. 6th and 7th of January.
