A total of 200,000 labour contracts have already been suspended in Romania due to the new coronavirus crisis, labor minister Violeta Alexandru said on Friday, quoting data available in the Electronic Register of Employees (REVISAL) as of March 20, local Mediafax reported.  “This is surely a serious situation,” she added.

According to data from the Labor Inspection, the number of active employment contracts in Romania was 5.62 million at the end of February 2020.

The Government anticipated that some 300,000-400,000 labour contracts would be suspended as an effect of the new coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. Based on this estimation, the Executive has adopted an emergency ordinance that provisions the payment from the state budget of technical unemployment benefits for the employees in troubled private enterprises.

“We are constantly monitoring the developments and new decisions will follow accordingly," the minister of labor said.

The emergency ordinance published on March 21 includes more restrictive measures on the payment of unemployment benefits than previously stated. Thus, the Government will cover the technical unemployment costs for only 75% of the employees of a firm facing difficulties due to the current situation.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Facebook/Violeta Alexandru)