Companies with minimum wage workers should be aware of the fiscal measure introduced in 2021 by the Train Ordinance (OG 130/2021): 24 months’ minimum wage.

The provision is as follows: “From January 1, 2022, the guaranteed minimum basic salary can be applied to an employee for a maximum period of 24 months from the moment of concluding an individual employment contract. At the end of this period, he will be paid a basic salary in excess of the guaranteed minimum gross basic salary.

The provisions apply to an employee who is paid the guaranteed minimum basic wage and who has already entered into an individual employment contract, the maximum term of which is 24 months, starting on January 1, 2022.”

So, in theory, this measure should reduce the number of people working for the minimum wage.

There is no mention of the minimum amount by which the employer can raise the wages of these employees. Theoretically, we can talk about several lei.

HotNews.ro asked the representatives of the Territorial Labor Inspection (in 2022) whether they will do anything in a situation where some employers decide to close these employment contracts and open new ones in the name of the employees, and from the answer sent, we understand that nothing: no may apply sanctions. So legally it will also be possible.

Maybe some employers will decide to raise salaries by 1-5-10-50 lei, as much as they want, but others will prefer to conclude contracts and open new ones. Even during the debate in the Economic and Social Council (when the draft amendments to GEO 130/2021 were to be approved), the human resources expert said that this is the decision that many companies have said they want to take: closing and reopening other contracts.

As a reminder, GEO 130/2021 (Train Ordinance 2021) was passed in December and provides, among other things, an obligation to increase the minimum wage for workers who have been paid for at least 24 months. Later, during the same December, the regulations were changed, as they were initially effective from December 18 due to an error by the authorities. It was also then struck down retroactively because it was constitutionally wrong.