The Ministry of Labor extends the protection of the employees offered by the Guarantee Fund
The Ministry of Labor intends to increase the average salary ceiling guaranteed by the guarantee fund in the case of insolvency companies, specifying that the measure concerns the strategic areas.
The Ministry of Labor wants to increase the average salary ceiling guaranteed by the Guarantee Fund
The Ministry of Labor, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity (MMFSS) has put into public debate the draft Emergency Ordinance for amending and completing Law no. 200/2006 regarding the establishment and use of the Guarantee Fund for the payment of salary debts.
The guarantee fund aims to ensure the payment of salary debts for employees whose companies fall into the insolvency procedure. In the current form, the law provides for the coverage of salaries for a maximum of 5 calendar months, within the limit of 5 average gross salaries on the economy for each employee, without taking into account the strategic importance of the employer.
In the context of the present economic and energy risks, taking into account the requests of the unions in Romania, MMFSS proposes additional measures to protect employees from strategic companies for the functioning of the economy and for national security.
“In a period of economic challenges, we must protect the strategic sectors of the economy as best as possible, because they are vital for the stability of the country and for national security.
I listened to the proposal coming from the unions and considered it correct: we extend the protection offered by the fund for the guarantee of the wage debts. Thus, we increase the ceiling, from 5 to maximum 12 average gross salaries on the economy, for insolvency companies, in the strategic fields.
By government decision, we can intervene where the vulnerability of a company could affect the entire economy. It is important not to lose the qualified workforce and to protect it from any difficulties of the companies with strategic role ”stressed the Minister of Labor, Petre-Florin Manole.
The main proposed changes are:
– increasing the ceiling of the salary debts supported from the guarantee fund, from 5 to maximum 12 average gross salaries on the economy;
– extension of the period covered by the background, from 5 months to 12 months from the last 24 months prior to the opening of the insolvency procedure;
– the introduction of a transitional norm for the applications submitted before the entry into force of this emergency ordinance, which will be solved according to the legislation in force at the time of submission.
Through this initiative, MMFTS reaffirms its commitment to protect the rights of employees and to ensure economic stability in our country's strategic sectors.
How it is now
Law no. 200/2006 regulates the constitution and use of the guarantee fund for the payment of the salary debts, which aims to pay the salary debts of the employees whose employers have entered the insolvency procedure.
In the current form, the law stipulates:
– Supporting wage debts for a maximum period of 5 calendar months,
– Within the limit of a ceiling of 5 average gross salary on the economy for each employee,
– regardless of the employer's economic or strategic importance.
In the current context, characterized by increased economic and energy vulnerabilities, the dependence on critical infrastructures (energy, transport, defense, communications, nutrition), but also of industrial restructuring processes, it has been found that these limits no longer offer sufficient protection to the employees of the companies whose activity is essential for the functioning of the national economy.
At the same time, certain companies with a strategic role for the Romanian state, including operators in the fields of energy, defense, transport, communications and food production are facing temporary liquidity that can lead to the impossibility of paying wages and, implicitly, to block some critical industrial capacities.
Operators in the fields of energy, defense industry, transport, communications and food production are experiencing temporary liquidity difficulties that can lead to the impossibility of paying wages and, implicitly, to block some critical industrial capabilities.
