Although 2021 has not ended, the legal public holidays for next year are a major topic of interest. An overview of the legal public holidays is extremely useful for both employers and employees in planning vacation days for the following year. According to the Labor Code, this planning needs to be done by the end of the current calendar year for the upcoming year.

In 2022, employers will be required to grant employees 9 days off because, out of the total legal holidays next year, 9 will fall during the week, and the remaining 6 on weekends. Consequently, next year, Romanians will have 2 additional legal public holidays compared to this year, when 7 legal holidays fell during the week, and the remaining 8 on weekends.

Legal Public Holidays During Which Work is Prohibited

According to the Labor Code, the legal public holidays on which work is not performed are:

– January 1st and 2nd;
– January 24th – Union of the Romanian Principalities Day;
– Good Friday, the last Friday before Easter;
– The first and second days of Easter;
– May 1st;
– June 1st;
– The first and second days of Pentecost;
– Assumption of Mary;
– November 30th – Saint Andrew the First-Called, Protector of Romania;
– December 1st;
– The first and second days of Christmas.

Legal Public Holidays in 2022

In 2022, out of the aforementioned legal holidays, 9 will be during the week, and 6 on weekends, which means Romanians will have 9 legal days off.

Legal Holidays During the Week:

– January 24th – Union of the Romanian Principalities Day (Little Union) – Monday;
– April 22nd – Good Friday – Friday;
– April 25th – Second day of Easter – Monday;
– June 1st – Children’s Day – Wednesday;
– June 13th – Second day of Pentecost – Monday;
– August 15th – Assumption of Mary – Monday;
– November 30th – Saint Andrew – Wednesday;
– December 1st – National Day of Romania – Thursday;
– December 26th – Second day of Christmas – Monday.

Legal Holidays During the Weekend:

– January 1st – New Year’s Day – Saturday;
– January 2nd – Second day after New Year’s Day – Sunday;
– April 24th – Easter 2022 – Sunday;
– May 1st – Labor Day – Sunday;
– June 12th – Pentecost – Sunday;
– December 25th – Christmas – Sunday.

By January 15th of each year, the Government determines the working days for which days off will be granted for public sector employees, which precede and/or follow the legal public holidays on which work is not performed, as well as the days on which the unworked hours are to be recovered.

Days Off for Other Religious Cults

According to Article 139 of the Labor Code, for employees who belong to a legally recognized Christian religious cult, the days off for Good Friday, the first and second days of Easter, and the first and second days of Pentecost are granted according to the dates on which they are celebrated by that cult. The days off established by the Labor Code for individuals belonging to legally recognized religious cults other than Christian are granted by the employer on different days than the legal public holidays established by law or as part of the annual leave.

Employees who have taken days off for Good Friday, the first and second days of Easter, and the first and second days of Pentecost, both on the dates set for the legally recognized Christian cult to which they belong and for another Christian cult, will recover the additional days off based on a schedule established by the employer.

What Happens to Employees Who Do Not Receive Legal Public Holidays Off

In workplaces where the activity cannot be interrupted due to the nature of the production process or the specific activity, employees are provided with compensatory time off within the next 30 days.

If, for justified reasons, days off are not granted, employees are entitled to a bonus to their base salary for the work performed on legal public holidays, which cannot be less than 100% of the base salary corresponding to the work performed during normal working hours.

Additional Days Off

It should be noted that, according to the Labor Code, the applicable collective labor agreement may also establish other days off.

For example, collective labor agreements may stipulate that employees are entitled to paid days off for special family events or other situations, such as:

– For the employee’s wedding – 5 days;
– For a child’s wedding – 2 days;
– For the death of a spouse, child, parents, or in-laws – 3 days;
– For the death of grandparents, siblings – 1 day;
– For blood donors – according to the law;
– When changing the workplace within the same company, with relocation to another locality – 5 days.