In addition to their basic salary, many Romanian employees also receive bonuses. These bonuses are granted either to employees who perform overtime work or to those who work at night, on weekends, or during holidays. Depending on the type of bonus, employees can even earn up to twice their base salary corresponding to the work performed during regular working hours.

Below are some bonuses provided in the Romanian Labor Code:

Overtime Bonus

According to the Labor Code, overtime work is compensated with paid time off within the following 90 calendar days after it is performed. If compensation with paid time off is not possible, the overtime work will be paid to the employee by adding a bonus to the salary corresponding to the duration of the overtime.

It should be noted that the overtime bonus is negotiated within the collective labor agreement or, where applicable, the individual labor contract, and cannot be less than 75% of the basic salary.

Night Work Bonus

According to legal provisions, work performed by an employee between 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM is considered night work. Thus, employees who work during this time interval for at least 3 hours of their daily working time, or those who perform night work for at least 30% of their monthly working time, are entitled, according to the Labor Code, either to a reduced work schedule by one hour compared to the normal working day, without reducing the base salary, or to a 25% bonus of the basic salary.

Weekly Rest Bonus

According to the Labor Code, the weekly rest period is 48 consecutive hours, usually on Saturday and Sunday. If resting on Saturday and Sunday would harm the public interest or the normal conduct of business, the weekly rest can be granted on other days as specified in the applicable collective labor agreement or internal regulations. In this case, employees will receive a bonus to their salary established by the collective labor agreement or, where applicable, by the individual labor contract.

For employees whose weekly rest period is granted cumulatively, after a continuous work period not exceeding 14 calendar days, with the authorization of the territorial labor inspectorate and with the agreement of the union or, where applicable, the employee representatives, they are entitled to double the due compensations. In this situation, the overtime bonus is negotiated within the collective labor agreement or, where applicable, the individual labor contract, and cannot be less than 75% of the basic salary.

Bonus for Work Performed on Public Holidays

According to Article 142 of the Labor Code, employees who work in healthcare and public food units to ensure health care and, respectively, the supply of essential food products to the population, as well as at workplaces where the activity cannot be interrupted due to the nature of the production process or the specifics of the activity, are compensated with equivalent time off within the next 30 days.

If, for justified reasons, days off cannot be granted, employees are entitled to a bonus of at least 100% of the basic salary for work performed on public holidays.

In addition to these bonuses provided by the Labor Code, there are several other bonuses outlined in Law 153/2017, regarding the remuneration of personnel paid from public funds, updated in 2021.