by Raluca Mihai, Partner Voicu & Filipescu SCA

New amendments to art. 139 of the Labour Code

Law no. 37/2020 for the amendment of art. 139 of Law no. 53/2003 – Labor Code and art. 94 of the National Education Law no. 1/2011 (“Law 37/2020“) was published in the Official Gazette of Romania no. 280/03.04.2020, and is in force starting with 06.04.2020.

Thus, it is established that, for the employees belonging to a Christian legal religious cult (Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics, Protestants), the free days for Good Friday, the first and second Easter day, the first and second day of Pentecost are granted according to the date when they are celebrated by that cult (paragraph 2¹of art. 139 of the Labour Code).

Also, the employees who benefited from the free days for Good Friday, the first and second day of Easter, the first and second day of Pentecost, both at the dates established for the Christian legal religious cult they belong to, as well as for another Christian cult,they will recover the extra days based on a schedule established by the employer(paragraph 3¹of art. 139 of the Labour Code).

The reasons that led to the amendment of art. 139 of the Labour Code

Art. 139 of the Labour Code includes, among the legal holidays days in which the work is not performed, three Christian religious holidays (Easter, Pentecost and Christmas). As for Christmas, it is celebrated on the same calendar date, while Easter, and implicitly, Pentecost, are not celebrated on a fixed date.

For this reason, the Romanian law maker considered it appropriate to amend the Labour Code as mentioned above, so that the employees could benefit from the free days according to the Christian legal cult of which they belong, without affecting the activity of the employer.

Moreover, over time, in the specialized literature was mentioned the idea that, in order not to violate the rights recognized by the law to the employees, the employer should either offer them the opportunity to perform their duties in the days that do not represent a legal holiday according to the liturgical calendar of the Christian cult to which the respective employees belong, either to grant them free days also on the occasion of holidays provided by the liturgical calendar of the dominant cult.

According to the new legal provisions, in the event that the employer grants, for example, holidays for both Orthodox and Catholic Easter, employees who have benefited from such “doubled” days (for both holidays belonging to different Christian religious cults) will have to recover the extra days thus granted, according to the schedule established by the employer in this regard.

Granting of free days to the employees belonging to a religious cult other than a Christian one

As for the employees belonging to other legal religious cults than the Christian ones (Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist), they benefit from 2 free days for each of the 3 annual religious holidays such declared (6 days/year).

According to para. (3) of art. 139 of the Labour Code, the free days established according to para. (1) for persons belonging to legal religious cults, other than Christian ones, is granted by the employer on days other than the legal holidays established according to the law or of annual rest holidays.

Therefore, from the analysis of these legal provisions, it results that the 6 free days granted to the employees belonging to other legal religious cults than the Christian ones are granted in addition to the non-working days established by para. (1) of art. 139 of the Labour Code.

What are the legal religious cults recognized in Romania?

At national level, there are 18 recognized religious cults, provided in the annex to Law no. 486/2006 on religious freedom and the general regime of the cults, namely: Romanian Orthodox Church, Serbian Orthodox Bishopric of Timișoara, Roman Catholic Church, Romanian United Church with Rome, Greek Catholic Church, Archdiocese of Armenian Church, Old Rit Orthodox Church of Romania, the Reformed Church in Romania, the Evangelical Church CA from Romania, Evangelical Lutheran Church from Romania, Unitarian Church from Transylvania, Christian Baptist Church – Union of Baptist Christian Churches from Romania, Christian Church After the Gospel from Romania, Romanian Evangelical Church, Pentecostal Christian Church – Church of the Apostolic Adventist Church in Romania, Seventh Day Adventist Church from Romania, Federation of Jewish Communities of Romania – Mosaic Cult, Muslim Cult, Religious Organization “Jehovah’s Witnesses”.