Gov't reimburses to companies 41.5 pct of salary of employees returning from furlough

The Government will reimburse employers, for a period of 3 months, a percentage of 41.5 pct of the monthly gross wage of each worker that has his/her previously suspended work contract reactivated, a release sent on Friday to AGERPRES by the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, reads. "The Government has approved a series of active measures for employees and employers in view of supporting them to resume work relations. Thus, the Executive has established that the employees that have been furloughed in the context of the pandemic (...) and the work relations of whom are maintained following the resumption of activity by the employers, will benefit, for a period of three months, through the employer, from reimbursement of 41.5 pct of the base salary regarding the job occupied, but no more than 41.5 pct of the median gross wage mentioned by the Law on the Budget for State Social Insurance No. 6/2020," the MMPS release mentions. On the other hand, the Government has also decided to stimulate the employment of persons aged over 50 the work relations of whom ceased due to reasons that are not their fault in the period of the state of emergency or state of alert and which are recorded as unemployed in the records of territorial employment agencies. Thus, for each person in this category, hired for a non-determinate period and full time in the period June 1 - December 31, 2020, the employers receive, monthly, for a period of 12 months, 50 pct of the employee's salary, but no more than 2,500 RON. The Government has decided the same facility will be available to employers who hire, until the end of the year, for non-determinate periods and full time, youths between 16 and 29 years old. The support measure mentioned is applied, in the same conditions, also for the employment of Romanian citizens that had their work relations with foreign employers in other countries cease, for reasons not of their fault, by firing. The employers that opt for support in view of employing the above-mentioned categories will be obligated to maintain work relations for a period of another 12 months after the 12 months for which support is granted. The employers that cease the work relations of the employees, prior to the periods they are obligated to maintain them, will give back to the agencies for employment, in full, the sums received for each person that is not an employee anymore, plus the reference interest of the National Bank of Romania in force at the date of cessation of work relations.AGERPRES(RO - author: George Coman, editor: Andreea Marinescu; EN - author: Razvan-Adrian Pandea, editor: Maria Voican)