Employers criticize a draft law

The IMM Romania Employers’ Confederation believes that the emergency ordinance on the registration and the obligations of foreign employers, the authorization and operation of foreign employment agencies on the Romanian labour market renders more difficult the process of recruiting foreign labour. Romulus Badea, president of the Employers’ Confederation of Labour Importers, a member of IMM Romania, has mentioned that the provisions of the ordinance will lead to a significant increase in costs, which will ultimately be borne by SMEs, which runs the risk of blocking legal recruitment and impacting economic activity.

IMM Romania believes the draft law makes the process of recruiting foreign labour more difficult, the more so as Romanian SMEs really need this workforce which they cannot find on the domestic market. SMEs should benefit from predictability, including by guaranteeing the maintenance of the employment relationship with the employee for two years, according to IMM Romania. The organization calls for the elimination of the List of Deficit Occupations and the shortening of the processing time of single applications for foreign workers, as well as the elimination of obligations according to which SMEs in Romania cover travel expenses for the foreign workers, as well as any commissions charged by agencies in the countries of residence.

According to the aforementioned source, SMEs should cover exclusively the reasonable costs of the recruitment process. IMM Romania also calls for the extension of the implementation period of the new legislation by establishing a transition period to allow for the processing of all files submitted under the legislation in force, in order to avoid administrative deadlocks and financial losses and considers that the one-month period provided for by the project is insufficient for the resolution of the submitted files.

Also, the organization calls for the elimination of the 200,000 Euro guarantee deposit, a measure that indirectly transfers additional costs to SMEs and leads to the elimination from the market of small and medium-sized agencies, that cannot afford paying the guarantee. IMM Romania also calls for the establishment of a guarantee fund within the National Credit Guarantee Fund for SMEs, which would be an initial fund and a contribution for each worker who arrives in Romania.

The organization draws attention to the fact that the sanctioning system provided for by the draft law is very tough and disproportionate in relation to the punishable acts and shows the authorities’ lack of trust in the private sector.