In just a few months, employers must assimilate and apply several important changes simultaneously, including occupational health and safety and the requirements to transpose a European directive that redefines how they communicate and justify pay decisions.
Major changes in labor law are coming in 2026. File photo
Two major law firms have reviewed the main changes in the order in which they come into effect.
Limiting the period of granting the minimum wage
Although it has been in force for some time, the provision introduced by Law no. 283/2024 regarding the limitation of the period for which the minimum wage can be granted to the same employee remains an important aspect to consider in practice. This establishes an express limitation of the period for which the minimum wage can be granted to the same employee: a maximum of 24 months, calculated from the date of conclusion of the individual employment contract. After the expiration of this interval, the employer has the legal obligation to grant a basic salary higher than the guaranteed minimum level in payment.
Companies that have employees with nearly two years of service at the minimum wage must undertake an immediate review of the contract portfolio and plan for wage adjustments before the deadlines expire. There is no contravention sanction expressly provided for non-compliance with this obligation, but risks of labor disputes and patrimonial consequences may arise, and depending on the concrete situation, the general sanctions provided for by the Labor Code may become incidents.
New occupational health and safety requirements
By Government Decision no. 40/2026, the regulatory framework on the protection of workers against the risks generated by exposure to carcinogens, mutagens and substances toxic to reproduction has been updated. The regulation is particularly relevant to employers in the industrial, chemical, pharmaceutical and research sectors, where exposure to such substances is documented, and requires review of risk assessments and internal protection procedures.
The new guaranteed minimum gross salary: 4,325 lei, from July 1, 2026
By Government Decision no. 146/2026, the minimum gross basic salary per country guaranteed in payment will be set at 4,325 lei per month — the equivalent of 25,949 lei per hour, for a normal work schedule of 166,667 hours per month —, with applicability from July 1, 2026. The increase of 275 lei gross compared to the current level of 4,050 lei represents an increase of 6.8%, which will translates, in the employee's pocket, into a net increase of approximately 125 lei per month.
More than 1.75 million employees in Romania will directly feel the effects of the increase, of which 831,382 people are currently at the level of the guaranteed minimum wage. For them, the net increase is about 5% of their current monthly earnings.
From the perspective of the employers' obligations, the updating of salaries must be carried out through additional documents to the individual employment contracts, prior to the effective date of the decision. Those who grant meal vouchers must also take into account that according to Law no. 201/2025, the face value of a ticket cannot exceed 45 lei.
European wage transparency, transposition 7 June 2026
The most comprehensive reform this year comes from European law. Directive (EU) 2023/970 on salary transparency must be transposed into national legislation by June 7, 2026, by which date Romania is obliged to adopt the implementing legislative framework. The first mandatory reports — on the gender pay gap — will have to be submitted by June 7, 2027, for the 2026 calendar year.
The directive requires employers to inform candidates of their starting salary or salary range before the interview or in the job advertisement and explicitly prohibits asking for information about their salary history. At the same time, employees acquire the right to request information about the average level of remuneration for similar positions and about the criteria used in setting salaries, which must be objective and gender-neutral.
Reporting obligations are calibrated according to company size. Employers with more than 250 employees report annually, those with 100–249 employees report every three years, and those with fewer than 100 employees are in principle exempt, although national authorities may set additional requirements through transposing law.
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The sanctioning mechanism is one of the most rigorous ever introduced in salary matters at the European level. If a difference in remuneration exceeds 5%, cannot be objectively justified and is not corrected within six months, the employer is obliged to carry out a joint remuneration assessment. The burden of proof is reversed: the employer must demonstrate compliance with the rules of equal pay, not the employee must prove discrimination. Affected employees are entitled to full compensation, including back pay and related benefits.
“The 2026 legislative changes require employers not only to make administrative adjustments, but to rethink the way salary policies are structured and communicated. Transparency becomes not only a legal requirement, but a tool to protect the company in the face of litigation“, conveys Gabriela Bunescu, the representative of an important law firm.
The accumulation of deadlines in 2026 requires a structured approach without delay. The immediate priority is to identify individual employment contracts where the minimum wage has been granted for periods close to 24 months, followed by planning the necessary wage adjustments. At the same time, companies must revise their recruitment procedures — including job postings — to include salary information and eliminate any practice of asking candidates for salary history.
Sanctions, compensation and enforcement mechanisms
The practical efficiency of the Pay Transparency Directive results from Chapter III, which strengthens remedies and enforcement mechanisms. Article 16 enshrines the right to full compensation and reparation for any worker who has suffered damage as a result of a breach of a right or obligation related to the principle of equal pay.
The compensation must be real and effective and include full recovery of overdue payments and related benefits in kind, compensation for lost opportunities, moral damages and late interest.
According to Article 17 of the Directive, the courts or the competent authorities are allowed to order the cessation of the violation and the adoption of the necessary measures to respect the rights, and Article 18 provides for the transfer of the burden of proof and, in a particularly relevant wording, establishes that non-compliance with salary transparency obligations can result in the transfer of the burden of proving the non-existence of discrimination to the employer. It also provides for the obligation for member states to provide for effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions, including fines, taking into account aggravating factors, repeated violations and the seriousness of the facts, according to art. 23 of the act. Consequently, non-compliance is no longer just an internal reputational issue, but a full legal risk with financial, evidentiary and litigation exposure.
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“EU Directive 2023/970 imposes stricter rules on salary transparency and equal pay, and non-compliance can lead to labor disputes, sanctions and claims based on workplace discrimination and gender discrimination.”, said Dr. Radu Pavel, representative of a well-known law firm.
In conclusion, the new European legal regime on salary transparency transforms equal pay from a general principle of labor law into a set of concrete obligations to inform, report, justify and remedy. For Romania, the domestic legal framework already provides the basis for equal treatment and combating discrimination, such as workplace discrimination and gender discrimination, but the transposition of Directive 2023/970 on salary transparency will impose additional mechanisms, especially in the matter of informing candidates, access to salary data, reporting for employers with 100 workers and above and the common assessment of remuneration at the 5% threshold. At the same time, breach of these obligations can fuel complex employment disputes, including related cases of workplace harassment, unfair dismissal or disciplinary dismissal.
