“Keep the facts in mind.” Prime Minister Bolojan's explanation for the non-payment of the first day of sick leave
Medical leave, illustrative image. Photo: Dreamstime, Shutterstock. Collage: Ion Mateș / HotNews
Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan claims that the government's decision that the first day of sick leave will no longer be paid “takes into account the realities”. The decision was adopted at the proposal of the Ministry of Health and is transitory, the head of the government said on Wednesday.
“It takes into account the realities: last year the payment for medical leaves amounted to 6 billion lei, almost 8% of the budget of the Health Insurance Company. As such, the health budgets are very large and have increased year by year. Because the amount for medical leaves could remain in the system to cover the cost of medicines and medical services – knowing that in certain periods the leaves are excluded from any normal data package – we adopted a first plan. This led to savings of approx. 10% of this amount,” said the prime minister, in a press conference at the Victoria Palace.
“The Ministry of Health came up with the proposal to supplement the budgets for outpatient treatment, an additional billion lei allocated. In this context, the discussion was to make savings in the area of medical leave. Other countries also have this measure, including to cover the costs of treatments. (…) We need money for oncological treatments, for example,” added the head of government.
Asked if the government is currently looking for solutions to exempt cancer patients or patients with chronic conditions from this measure, Bolojan answered: “I have all the compassion for cancer patients, I also have family members in this situation, and we will make an evaluation after a month or a day of this measure, which is transitory anyway.”
“It is important that, when you grant sick leave, as a doctor you should be aware that we are dissipating expenses instead of supporting those who are really sick,” said the prime minister.
“It is a transitory solution until we put in place the mechanisms that do not allow the unjustified granting of vacations,” the prime minister insisted.
Non-payment of the first day of sick leave also affects the pension contribution period, says a PNL senator
The measure that the first day of sick leave is no longer paid also affects the pension contribution period, PNL senator Nicoleta Pauliuc said on Wednesday, who also submitted an amendment that provides for the exemption of patients with chronic conditions from this regulation.
“We did an evaluation of this legal text – GEO 91/2025 – and we saw that, in fact, we do not sanction those who take sick leave only by not paying the first day. We also sanction them by the fact that their pension is affected”, says Nicoleta Pauliuc, PNL parliamentarian, party that is part of the Government coalition and that gives the prime minister.
“If a person has 20 unpaid days of sick leave per year, the retirement age is postponed accordingly by the number of days of unpaid sick leave, and the amount of the pension also decreases accordingly. A person who has an unpaid day of sick leave does not have any pension contribution period for that day,” explained Nicoleta Pauliuc on Wednesday, at an event dedicated to the World Cancer Day.
Non-payment of the first day of sick leave also affects the pension contribution period. The warning given by an MP from the governing coalition
The PNL senator, who is a cancer survivor, announced that she submitted, on Wednesday morning, to the Parliament, an amendment that provides for the exemption of people suffering from chronic conditions from the non-payment of the first day of medical leave – a measure adopted by the Government at the end of last year, which came into force on February 1.
“I submitted today, with the thought of the almost 100,000 Romanians who received this diagnosis last year and the 500,000 undergoing treatment, an amendment that comes to correct an error, from my point of view, namely that the first day of medical leave is unpaid.”
Nicoleta Pauliuc also says that “In any country in the European Union, when we talk about chronic diseases – diseases that are about a long duration in the health system – these days are paid.”
At this moment, the Emergency Ordinance regulating the payment of medical leaves provides that:
(1) For the medical leave certificates issued between February 1, 2026 and December 31, 2027, the social health insurance allowances provided for by Government Emergency Ordinance no. 158/2005 on holidays and social health insurance allowances (…) are calculated and paid by subtracting one day.
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Medical leave, illustrative image. Photo: Dreamstime, Shutterstock. Collage: Ion Mateș / HotNews
