Despite public pressure in recent years, no political party has amended the wage law in such a way as to regulate the allowances that civil servants receive in addition to their basic wages. Initially, the allowances were introduced into the law in order to increase the allowances of state employees, which were small. Over time, governments replaced each other, the administrative apparatus grew significantly, as did the monetary allowances of civil servants.

According to the analysis of the Fiscal Council, in 2021, wages in the budget system reached an average of more than 7,000 lei, which is more than 1,500 lei higher than wages in the private sector.

• Fiscal Council: the average gross salary in the public system was almost 30% higher than in the private sector / We have the highest ratio of expenses to salaries of state employees and total income received in Europe

In 2020, the then Minister of Labor, Violeta Alexandru, tried to accommodate the increase and intended to amend the law on state wages. It noted that promotions in the state system, with a few exceptions, “looked like special pensions, and whoever managed to catch a favorable moment and was close to the decision-maker received a promotion.”

According to the information centralized by it, there are more than 50 types of allowances, from allowances for a state of stress or nervous and mental overload to allowances for shift work, allowances for the management of classified information and preservation of confidentiality.

Not much has changed since 2020 when it comes to budget increases. HotNews.ro asked all ministries to provide information on the number of promotions granted to employees. Essence? Almost all state employees working in ministries receive promotions.

The most given are allowances for dangerous and harmful working conditions (an allowance for an old computer), which is 15% of the official salary, an allowance for European projects, for the complexity of work, and nervous and mental overload. Practically the same ones that Violeta Alexandru made in 2020.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs (124,000 employees) ranks first in terms of number of employees, followed by the Ministry of National Defense (86,149 employees) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2,188 employees). According to official information, all of them are getting a promotion.

Note that the two ministries did not respond to HotNews.ro’s request. The Ministry of Education did not send any response, instead, the Ministry of Internal Affairs gave an official response that it does not keep records of information regarding employee promotions.

Ministry of Internal AffairsAccording to the official response provided, e has approximately 124,000 employees. Instead, representatives of the ministry clarify “I do not have a record of the requested data and information, since the record form does not allow selecting relevant information according to the specified criteria, and a document that meets these requirements requires individual processing of each individual act. / document, activity that goes beyond the scope of Law No. 544/2001 on free access to information of public interest, as amended and supplemented”.

In addition, the representatives of the ministry refer to the decision of the Bucharest Court of Appeal, which states:

• “Law No. 544/2001 does not require any institution to process stored information in order to provide interested parties with certain statistics ‹‹ a la carte ››, but only concerns the provision of information in the form in which it is stored by the institution. A contrary interpretation would make the activity of providing information too burdensome for a public institution, without any justification of the purpose with which the free access of citizens to information of public interest was regulated, since it would lead to the fact that any person could ask government institutions that conduct more or less sophisticated research on the information they keep in raw form.”

Ministry of Defence it has 86,149 employees, all of whom are getting promotions.

• promotion for difficult, harmful or dangerous working conditions – 81 thousand workers
• allowance for risk and nervous and mental overload – 889 employees
• allowance for insulation – 510 workers
• increase for confidentiality – 167 employees
• promotion to the scientific rank of doctor or assistant – 1084 employees
• increase for particularly dangerous diseases, such as tuberculosis, brucellosis, bird flu, foot and mouth disease – 2,901 employees
• increase of the staff working with the state code – 727 employees

The Foreign Office says it has 2,188 employees, all of whom are enjoying various promotions.

• increase in difficult, harmful or dangerous working conditions – 764 workers
• staff increase – 201 employees
• increase for non-working wife/husband while she/he is permanently dependent abroad, we clarify that currently – 519 employees
• promotion to the scientific title of doctor – 157 employees
• promotion for performance of duties of the first employee – 51 employees

Ministry of Finance has 1,556 employees, 1,551 of whom are receiving promotions. In the response sent to HotNews.ro, Finance skillfully avoids providing information about the allowances given under harmful conditions. More specifically, Finance refers to Article 23 of Framework Law 153/2017, which provides general provisions on allowances and allowances.

• increase for harmful or dangerous working conditions – 1,551 employees (*Reply of the Ministry of Finance “The total number of employees who received an allowance for working conditions in accordance with the provisions of Article 23 of the Framework Law No. 153/2017 on personnel remuneration paid from state funds is 1,551 “)
• increase in the management of projects financed from European funds – 104 employees
• promotion for holding the academic title of doctor – 56 employees

The Ministry of Finance also refers to Art. 7 of the Annex to Government Resolution No. 569/2017, which states: “The amount of the increase is set as a percentage of the basic salary in the corresponding month for the time actually worked at workplaces…”.

Ministry of Europrojects has 999 employees, of which 992 are receiving promotions.

• increase in harmful conditions – 992 employees
• increase for work with European funds – 977 employees
• promotion due to the complexity of work – 19 people
• promotion of the scientific title of doctor or doctor of pedagogical education – 36 employees

Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration has 797 employees, of which 732 are receiving promotions.

• allowance for harmful working conditions -732 employees
• increase in management of European funds – 495 employees
• food – 731 employees
• promotion for the complexity of work – 35 employees
• promotion to the scientific title of doctor – 35 employees
• promotion for the performance of responsibilities for the approval of PNDL – 65 employees
• Increase in the labor force – 16 employees
• disabled person – 2 employees

Ministry of Agriculture has 624 employees.

• promotion for dangerous or harmful conditions – 597 employees
• increase with European funds – 599 employees
• promotion to the scientific title of doctor – 66 employees

Ministry of Economy has 480 employees, 209 of whom are getting promotions.

• increase in dangerous or harmful working conditions – 209 employees
• increase for work with European funds – 18 employees
• promotion of the academic title of doctor or doctor of pedagogical sciences – 6 employees

Ministry of Transport has 446 employees, all of whom are getting promotions.

• promotion due to harmful working conditions: 446 people
• increase for work with European funds: 103 people
• promotion to the scientific title of doctor: 11 employees

The Ministry of Ecology has 392 employees, of which 386 receive promotions.

• allowance for harmful conditions – 386 workers
• promotion to the scientific title of doctor – 30 employees
• forestry allowance by profession – 12 workers

Department of Justice has 342 employees

• promotion for dangerous or harmful working conditions – 309 employees
• promotion for the complexity of work 152 people
• increase for the management of classified data and information of 38 employees
• allowance for risk and nervous and mental overloads of 169 employees
• promotion to the scientific title of doctor or assistant for 22 employees
• increase to work with European funds 44 employees

Ministry of Labor reports that 337 employees are receiving promotions

• promotion for dangerous or harmful conditions – 337 employees
• increase for European projects based on monthly activity – 96 employees
• Doctor’s promotion – 4 employees
• promotion for the disabled – 5 employees
• monthly assistance in foreign currency to an unemployed spouse/husband permanently dependent abroad – 3 employees

Ministry of Health has a total of 280 employees.

• increase in harmful, dangerous or harmful working conditions – 233 employees
• increase for the complexity of work 233 people
• promotion to the scientific title of doctor or assistant for 7 employees

Ministry of Energy has 272 employees

• promotion for dangerous or harmful working conditions is 272 employees
• the allowance for the academic title of doctor is 13 employees
• promotion to the management of projects financed from European funds is 41

The ministry notes that in accordance with the provisions of Art. I para. (5) from GEO No. 130/2021 in 2022, starting from January 1, the amounts of increases, allowances, compensations, bonuses and other elements of the labor remuneration system, which, according to the law, are included in the monthly total salary, the monthly salary paid staff payments from public funds are maintained at a maximum of the amount provided for December 2021, to the extent that staff occupy the same position and perform their activities under the same conditions.

Ministry of Research has 225 employees, all of whom are getting promotions.

• promotion due to harmful conditions – 225 employees
• promotion to the rank of doctor – 18 employees

Ministry of Culture according to the given answer, it has 145.5 employees

• increase in dangerous or harmful working conditions – 138.5 workers
• promotion to the scientific title of doctor or assistant – 7 employees

Ministry of Sports has 126 employees, 122 of whom are getting promotions.

• increase in harmful working conditions – 122 employees
• of increased risk and nervous and mental overload – 1 employee
• promotion to the scientific title of doctor – 5 employees

Ministry of the Family has 90 employees, of which the same number are receiving promotions. The Ministry clarifies that by concluding on 24.03.2022 between the Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities the Protocol on the acceptance and transfer of positions of related personnel and the corresponding legacy in the field of youth, the institution took over from the Ministry of Sports, starting from 01.04.2022, the positions and personnel related to the youth sphere, in the own apparatus of the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

• increase in dangerous or harmful working conditions – 90 employees