Employer of Record in Romania

Employment Laws and Regulations in Romania

Employment Contracts

The governing statute is the Romanian Labour Code (Law No. 53/2003), which was republished in the Official Gazette No. 345 of 18 May 2011 and has been amended multiple times since, most recently through the fiscal and employment package contained in Law 239/2025. The lead regulator is the Ministry of Labour, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity, with enforcement by the Labour Inspectorate (Inspecția Muncii).

Under Article 17 of the Labour Code, every individual employment contract must be concluded in writing in Romanian and must record the place of work, job function, job description, specific occupational risks, start date, duration, annual leave entitlement, notice periods, remuneration and working time. Contracts are concluded for indefinite duration by default. Fixed-term contracts are capped at 36 months and cannot be renewed more than twice between the same parties. Part-time, temporary agency, apprenticeship and teleworking contracts are recognised as separate contract types under the Labour Code and Law 81/2018. The contract must be registered in the REGES-Online electronic register operated by the Labour Inspectorate before the first working day.

Working Hours and Overtime

The statutory working week in Romania is 40 hours, with a daily cap of 8 hours, set by Articles 112 and 115 of the Labour Code. Including overtime, working time may not exceed an average of 48 hours per seven-day period over a four-month reference period. Rest periods are at least 12 consecutive hours per day and 48 consecutive hours per week, normally on Saturday and Sunday. Managers and employees with autonomous working time may be subject to modified arrangements under collective labour agreements.

Overtime must be requested by the employer, and employees under 18 or pregnant women are expressly excluded. Under Article 122 of the Labour Code, overtime is compensated primarily with paid time off within 60 calendar days following performance. Where compensatory rest cannot be granted within that window, Article 123 requires a cash premium of at least 75% of base salary on top of the regular hourly rate. The premium multipliers applied by most Romanian employers are set out below.

Overtime worked is normally settled with paid time off rather than cash, so the 1.75× minimum premium only applies if the employer cannot grant compensatory rest within 60 days. Maximum sustained working time, including overtime, is 48 hours per week averaged over four months. Overtime is excluded from Pillar II pension calculations because Pillar II is based on gross salary declared in Form 112, and it does not generate a statutory 13th-month right since Romania has no mandatory 13th-month regime.

Minimum Wage

The national gross minimum wage in Romania is RON 4,050 per month for full-time employees, in force from 1 January 2026 to 30 June 2026. Starting 1 July 2026, the minimum wage rises to RON 4,325 per month, a 6.8% increase approved by Government Decision 146/2026 (L&E Global). The construction sector retains a separate statutory minimum wage of RON 4,582 gross per month under Article 71 of Emergency Ordinance 114/2018.

The minimum wage applies to the 165.33 monthly working hours that make up the 40-hour statutory week. Work classified as skilled under the employee’s job description must be paid above the minimum. Collective agreements at sector level may set higher floors, notably in construction, transport and healthcare, and must be registered with the Labour Inspectorate to be enforceable.

Probation Period

Probation is optional and must be recorded in the employment contract under Article 31 of the Labour Code. The maximum probation period is 90 calendar days for non-managerial positions on indefinite-term contracts, rising to 120 calendar days for management positions and limited to 30 calendar days for employees with disabilities (Accace: Romania Labour Law 2026 Guide). For fixed-term contracts shorter than three months, the probation period is capped at five working days; for contracts of three to six months, it is capped at 15 working days. During probation, either party may terminate the contract with simple written notice, without the standard 20 working days’ notice and without stating grounds (Article 31(3)). Annual leave accrues from the first day of employment, including the probation period, so a dismissal during probation still triggers a prorated leave payout.

Leave Entitlements

Romania’s statutory leave framework is set out in Chapter III of Title III of the Labour Code and in specific statutes on sickness and maternity insurance. Most leave benefits outside annual leave are funded by the social insurance budget (CNAS or the state budget) rather than by the employer, which keeps the direct payroll cost of absence moderate for Romanian employers.

Annual Leave

Employees are entitled to a minimum of 20 working days of paid annual leave per calendar year under Article 145 of the Labour Code. The entitlement is prorated for the first year of employment based on actual working time. Employees working in difficult, hazardous or special conditions, employees with disabilities and young workers under 18 are entitled to at least three additional working days. Leave accrues from the first day of employment, including during probation. Unused leave must be taken by 30 June of the following year or, if not, compensated in cash only on termination of the employment contract.

Sick Leave

Sickness benefit in Romania is regulated by Emergency Ordinance 158/2005. The first five calendar days of sick leave are paid by the employer. Effective 1 August 2025 under the reform implemented by CNAS, the replacement rate for ordinary illness was reduced for short certificates, with medical certificates of up to seven days paid at 55% of the calculation base. From the sixth calendar day onward, and for longer certificates, benefits are paid by the National Health Insurance Fund (CNAS) at 75% of the calculation base for ordinary illness and 100% for serious conditions, work-related accidents and occupational diseases (CNAS). The calculation base is the average gross salary over the six months preceding the month of the certificate. Eligibility requires at least six months of sickness insurance within the previous 12 months, and a medical certificate issued by an accredited physician through the CNAS electronic system.

Maternity Leave

Maternity leave is 126 calendar days, split equally as 63 days before birth and 63 days after birth, under Emergency Ordinance 158/2005. The maternity benefit is paid by CNAS at 85% of the calculation base, using the average gross salary over the six months preceding the month of leave. The leave may be redistributed between the antenatal and postnatal periods based on a doctor’s recommendation, subject to a minimum of 42 postnatal days. Dismissal during pregnancy, maternity leave and the first six months after return to work is prohibited except in cases of employer insolvency or dismissal for serious disciplinary reasons (PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries: Romania).

Paternity Leave

Fathers are entitled to 10 working days of paid paternity leave under Law 210/1999, extended by five additional working days if the father has completed a recognised childcare course. The leave must be taken within the first eight weeks of the child’s birth. Paternity leave is paid at 100% of the father’s base salary and funded directly by the employer, who may then recover part of the cost through the sickness and maternity insurance system. Paternity leave is non-transferable to the mother and is independent of the parental childcare leave that follows.

Parental Childcare Leave

Either parent can take parental childcare leave until the child is two years old, or three years for a child with a disability, under Emergency Ordinance 111/2010. The monthly benefit is paid by the state budget at 85% of the calculation base, subject to a floor of RON 1,495 and a ceiling of RON 8,500. At least two months of the leave are reserved on a use-or-lose basis for the parent who did not request the main entitlement. Job protection is absolute during parental leave, and dismissal is only permitted in cases of employer liquidation.

Other Statutory Leave

Additional paid and unpaid leave entitlements round out the Romanian leave framework and are set out in Article 152 of the Labour Code together with specific collective agreements and employer internal regulations.

• Bereavement leave: Three working days of paid leave on the death of a spouse, parent, child, parent-in-law, grandparent, sibling or in-law.
• Marriage leave: Five working days of paid leave for the employee’s own marriage, taken at the time of the ceremony.
• Child marriage leave: Two working days of paid leave on the marriage of the employee’s child.
• Child birth leave for fathers: Five working days in addition to the 10-working-day paternity leave entitlement.
• Blood donation leave: One paid day off on the day of donation.
• Study leave: Paid leave of up to 10 working days per year for exams in state-recognised programmes, provided the studies are relevant to the employer’s activity.
• Carer’s leave: Up to five working days per year to care for a seriously ill family member, under Law 283/2022 transposing EU Directive 2019/1158.

Under the Labour Code and related statutes, the full suite of statutory leave entitlements available to Romanian employees is summarised in the table below. Most benefits are funded by CNAS or the state budget rather than the employer, which limits the direct payroll cost of absences to the first five sick days and the 10-day paternity leave. The most important takeaway for foreign employers is that annual leave accrues from the first day of employment, so a dismissal during probation still produces a small prorated payout.

Statutory Employee Benefits

Beyond leave and the contributions declared in Form 112, Romanian employers must provide or administer the following statutory benefits. Contribution rates are detailed in the Payroll, Taxes and Social Security section further down; the list below covers coverage and structural obligations.

• Public health insurance: Mandatory coverage through the National Health Insurance Fund (CNAS). Employees contribute 10% CASS from gross salary, which the EOR withholds and remits via Form 112. There is no additional direct employer CASS charge in the standard regime.
• State pension (Pillar I): 25% of gross salary is withheld from the employee as CAS and paid to the National House of Public Pensions (CNPP). Employers with employees in difficult or special working conditions pay an additional 4% or 8% CAS on top of this.
• Private mandatory pension (Pillar II): For employees born after 1 July 1971, the Pillar II contribution is redirected from the employee’s 25% CAS into a privately administered pension fund. The rate rose to 5.25% from 1 January 2026 under the 2025 pension reform and will rise again to 6.00% in 2027 (KR Group: Romania Social Contributions 2026).
• Labour insurance contribution (CAM): A single 2.25% employer contribution that funds work accident, unemployment, medical leave and wage guarantee benefits.
• Occupational medicine: Employers must contract with an authorised occupational health provider for pre-employment, periodic and return-to-work medical examinations under Law 418/2004.
• Meal vouchers (optional but common): Not mandatory, but very common: the maximum value is RON 45 per working day in 2026, under Law 201/2025. Meal vouchers are exempt from CAS and CAM and attract the 10% income tax and 10% CASS (Pluxee Romania: meal voucher taxation 2026).
• Private supplementary health insurance: Not mandatory but commonly offered; premiums up to EUR 400 per year per employee are tax-deductible under Article 76 of the Fiscal Code.

Recent Regulatory Updates (2026)

The biggest employment-related change in force in 2026 is the fiscal and budgetary package adopted as Law 239/2025, published in the Official Gazette on 18 December 2025. The law increased the Pillar II mandatory private pension contribution from 4.75% to 5.25% effective 1 January 2026, raised the CASS ceiling for self-employed income from 60 to 72 minimum wages, and converted the dividend tax from 10% to 16% for distributions from 2026 profits (EY Global: Romanian tax changes 2026).

In parallel, the minimum wage was frozen at RON 4,050 for the first six months of 2026 and raised to RON 4,325 from 1 July 2026 under Government Decision 146/2026, ending the earlier practice of annual increases each January. The CNAS reform that took effect on 1 August 2025 reduced the sickness-benefit replacement rate for short medical certificates (up to seven days) from 75% to 55% of the calculation base and kept the first five days as an employer cost, so short absences are now measurably cheaper to fund for the social insurance system and marginally more expensive for employees.

Separately, the sectoral income-tax exemption for IT, construction and agri-food workers (which previously shielded monthly gross salary up to RON 10,000 from the 10% PIT) was fully abolished for income earned from January 2025. IT salaries are now fully taxed at the same rates as any other employment income, and Pillar II contributions are now paid on the entire gross salary rather than the portion above RON 10,000.

Work Permits and Visas in Romania

Work Permit Requirements

Who Needs a Work Permit

Citizens of the European Union, European Economic Area countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) and Switzerland do not need a work permit to work in Romania and enjoy free movement of labour under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. They register their residence with the Romanian Immigration Authority if staying longer than 90 days. All other nationals, including UK, US, Canadian, Australian, Turkish, Serbian and Moldovan citizens, require a Single Permit (permis unic) issued by the General Inspectorate for Immigration (IGI) before starting work. Short-term business visits of up to 90 days in any 180-day period do not require a work permit but do not allow salaried activity. Annual quotas for non-EU work permits are set each year by Government Decision, with 100,000 permits allocated for 2026.

Eligibility and Required Documents

The employer, rather than the employee, files the Single Permit application with IGI. The standard documentation is extensive and the list below is not exhaustive.

• Passport valid for at least six months beyond the permit expiry date.
• Valid employment offer or signed individual employment contract on an IGI-approved template.
• Proof of recognised qualifications for the position, including degree certificates and professional experience.
• Criminal record certificate from the country of residence, legalised or apostilled.
• Medical certificate confirming fitness for the proposed role.
• Proof of Romanian-accommodation arrangement for the initial period of stay.
• Company documentation showing the employer’s legal standing and financial capacity.
• Proof of payment of the state fee, currently RON 100 for the Single Permit and RON 500 for the EU Blue Card.

Processing Time and Validity

The General Inspectorate for Immigration has a statutory processing time of 30 calendar days for Single Permit applications, extendable by a further 15 days where additional documentation is requested. In practice, processing takes four to eight weeks once the file is complete. After approval, the employee must apply for a long-stay visa for employment (D/AM) at a Romanian consulate, with additional processing of two to four weeks. After arrival in Romania, the IGI issues a temporary residence permit valid for up to 12 months for standard employment, or for the duration of the employment contract up to a maximum of two years for the EU Blue Card.

Renewal Process

Applications for renewal must be filed with IGI at least 30 days before the current permit expires. Renewal requires a continuing valid employment contract, up-to-date social security and tax payments declared via Form 112, and a fresh medical certificate. The employee may continue working during the renewal process provided the application was filed in time. The Single Permit leads to long-term residence after five years of continuous legal stay, and EU Blue Card holders benefit from reduced intra-EU mobility requirements.

Common Visa Types for Foreign Workers

Romania’s work permit framework is governed by Government Emergency Ordinance 194/2002 on the regime of aliens and is administered by the General Inspectorate for Immigration within the Ministry of Internal Affairs. An EOR can sponsor most standard employment-based categories because it is a Romanian employer registered at ONRC with active tax and social security accounts. The principal categories for non-EU hires are summarised below.

• Short-stay Schengen visa (C): Up to 90 days in any 180-day period for tourism, business meetings or conferences. Does not permit salaried employment.
• Student visa (D/SD): Allows study at a Romanian university, with limited part-time work up to four hours per day for EU and non-EU students alike.
• Family reunification visa (D/VF): For family members of Romanian citizens or permit holders. Work authorisation is granted automatically with most categories.

How an EOR Handles Work Permits

The EOR is the Romanian sponsor of record for every non-EU permit it files. It prepares and submits the Single Permit or EU Blue Card application to IGI, pays the state fees and monitors the statutory 30-day review period. The EOR also coordinates the long-stay visa step at the Romanian consulate once the work permit is approved, issues the IGI-compliant employment contract, and handles the REGES-Online and ANAF registrations as soon as the employee arrives. The employee remains responsible for personal documents such as the criminal-record certificate, notarised translations and medical check-ups, and for the in-country biometric appointment. A work permit extends the onboarding timeline set out earlier in this guide from one to two weeks to a realistic six to ten weeks, because the IGI processing window is the binding constraint.

Payroll, Taxes, and Social Security in Romania

Employer Contributions

Romanian employer contributions are lower than in most Western European markets because the bulk of social security is funded from the 25% CAS and 10% CASS withheld from the employee’s gross salary. The only standard employer-side contribution is the 2.25% Labour Insurance Contribution (CAM), with supplements for difficult or special working conditions. The table below reflects the rates in force for 2026 under Law 239/2025.

Employee Contributions

Employee contributions are withheld from gross salary by the employer each month and remitted through Form 112. The employee bears the pension (CAS), health (CASS) and income tax load; the 2026 rates are shown below.

Income Tax

Romania applies a flat personal income tax rate on employment income, which makes the calculation of net take-home pay considerably simpler than in progressive-tax systems such as France or Germany. The 2026 rate structure for employment income is shown below. Non-employment income categories (dividends, capital gains, cryptocurrency) are now taxed at 16% under Law 239/2025, but the rates below are those that matter for payroll.

Payroll Cycle

Romanian payroll runs on a monthly cycle. Salaries must be paid at least once a month in Romanian leu by bank transfer to the employee’s IBAN, following the prohibition on cash wage payments introduced by Law 12/2015. The employer is responsible for producing and archiving a payslip for each payment, showing gross salary, CAS, CASS, PIT, net salary and any other deductions. Payslips may be issued electronically if the employee gives written consent.

Form 112, the consolidated monthly return for employer contributions, employee withholdings and declared workforce, is filed with ANAF by the 25th of the month following the reference month. Payment of the amounts declared is due on the same date. The REGES-Online register must be updated each time a contract is concluded, modified or terminated. Corporate income tax returns (D101) are filed annually by 25 March.

13th Month Salary and Bonus Pay

A 13th-month salary is not mandatory in Romania. The Labour Code does not require either an annual extra month’s pay or a statutory vacation bonus. Many Romanian employers, particularly in IT services, banking and manufacturing, choose to pay a 13th or even 14th month as a contractual bonus to remain competitive, either as a fixed percentage of base salary or as a performance-linked payment. Where an employer commits to a 13th-month payment through the individual employment contract, internal regulation or collective agreement, the commitment becomes legally enforceable. Any discretionary or contractual bonus is subject to full CAS (25%), CASS (10%) and PIT (10%) at the moment of payment, on the same terms as regular salary.

Cost of Hiring Through an EOR in Romania

EOR Service Fees

Employer of record service fees in Romania typically range from $300 to $600 per employee per month, charged as a flat fee on top of the employee’s gross salary and employer contributions. The fee covers contract drafting, payroll processing, ANAF and REGES-Online filings, benefits administration, and ongoing compliance. Some providers charge a percentage of payroll, typically 10%–15%, but flat fees are more predictable and are what Remote People uses. Volume discounts apply for teams of five or more employees. Fees do not include statutory employer contributions (the 2.25% CAM), mandatory occupational medicine costs, or optional benefits such as private health insurance and meal vouchers, which pass through at cost.

Total Employment Cost Breakdown

The example below sets out the monthly employer cost of hiring a mid-level professional in Romania at a gross salary of USD 3,000 per month (approximately RON 13,800 at 2026 exchange rates). Because Romania’s employer social security burden is unusually low for the EU, the total loaded cost stays close to gross salary.

Figures converted at 1 USD ≈ RON 4.60, April 2026. Exchange rates fluctuate; confirm current rates at the time of hire.

In this example the employer’s loaded cost is 17.5% above the employee’s gross salary, unusually low by EU standards, because the bulk of social security funding sits on the employee side. Meal vouchers at RON 45 per working day would add approximately $200 per month at no additional CAS or CAM cost but with 10% CASS and 10% PIT applied at the employee level. Private supplementary health insurance is typically another $30–$60 per month depending on the plan.

Ready to hire in Romania? Get started with Remote People, we handle employment contracts, payroll, tax withholding and full Romania compliance. No local entity needed. Talk to us.

Benefits of Using an EOR in Romania

An employer of record in Romania lets a foreign company hire without setting up an SRL, running a monthly Form 112 filing, or carrying the fixed cost of a Romanian accountant. The seven benefits below are the ones buyers consistently cite when they choose the EOR model over incorporation, and they apply specifically to the Romanian regulatory environment.

• Speed to market: An EOR can have a Romanian individual employment contract signed, registered in REGES-Online and ready to onboard within five to ten working days. Incorporating a Romanian SRL through ONRC typically takes three to six weeks before payroll can start, and every additional work permit adds another four to eight weeks at IGI.
• Compliance assurance: The EOR bears primary responsibility for the monthly Form 112 declaration to ANAF, the annual D100 and D112 reconciliations, occupational medicine coverage, and full Labour Code compliance including Articles 17, 31, 75 and 122. Any inspection by the Labour Inspectorate or ANAF lands on the EOR first.
• Cost efficiency vs a local entity: Romania’s employer-side contribution is only 2.25% CAM, which keeps the EOR premium over direct employment modest, typically $300–$600 per employee per month, much lower than the $1,500–$3,000 monthly run-rate of a Romanian SRL with one accountant, one HR advisor and one corporate-law adviser.
• Local expertise: A Romanian EOR has current working knowledge of Law 239/2025, the 2026 Pillar II rate increase, the CNAS sick-pay reform that took effect on 1 August 2025 and the new IGI quotas for non-EU workers. Foreign HR teams rarely have that depth on a country where they have only one or two employees.
• Flexibility to scale up or down: Adding the fourth, fifth or sixth employee through an EOR takes a week; unwinding a three-person team takes another. A Romanian SRL carries a multi-month liquidation process through ONRC and ANAF, plus corporate income tax and VAT close-out obligations.
• Risk mitigation: The EOR shoulders misclassification risk, wage-guarantee obligations under Law 200/2006, and the administrative burden of defending a Labour Inspectorate audit. For a foreign buyer used to common-law at-will employment, the Romanian Labour Code’s strict dismissal regime is the single biggest source of operational risk, and outsourcing it is genuinely valuable.
• Employee experience: Romanian employees join on a local-format contract in Romanian, receive a proper Romanian payslip, accrue to the national pension system, and get access to CNAS healthcare from day one. That is very different from being engaged as a contractor on a foreign-law services agreement and helps with retention in the Romanian market.

For companies hiring one to fifteen employees in Romania, an EOR typically produces a lower total cost of ownership than incorporation for at least the first 18–24 months. Remote People handles the contracts, filings and benefits so your team can focus on the work.

Termination and Offboarding in Romania

Notice Periods

Termination rules are tightly regulated in Romania, and employers must follow both procedural and substantive requirements set out in Articles 55–81 of the Labour Code. The statutory floor is 20 working days’ notice for dismissal of a non-managerial employee without fault (for example on redundancy or medical incapacity grounds), with no statutory upper limit and no distinction between tenure tiers below the managerial level. Employee-initiated resignations carry the same 20-working-day notice for non-managerial roles and 45 working days for managerial roles. Notice can be paid in lieu by written agreement between the parties. The 20-day floor is the minimum, and longer periods set in the individual contract or collective agreement are enforceable provided they do not exceed the statutory ceiling for resignations.

Disciplinary dismissal under Article 61(a) does not require notice but must follow a formal disciplinary investigation under Article 251, including a written summons, a hearing, and a reasoned decision issued within 30 days. Mutual agreement under Article 55(b) can end the contract on any agreed date and is frequently used in place of formal dismissal. Fixed-term contracts end automatically on the agreed date and do not trigger the 20-day notice.

Severance Pay

There is no statutory severance pay obligation under the Labour Code for standard dismissals in Romania. Unlike France, Germany or Spain, Romanian law does not require a minimum payment on termination for either redundancy or unfair-dismissal risk management. Severance becomes payable only where it is contractually promised in the individual employment contract, internal regulation or applicable collective agreement. Many multinational employers voluntarily offer one to three months of gross salary as a redundancy package, but this is a commercial decision, not a legal obligation.

Calculation Method

Romania does not operate a per-year-of-service severance formula under the Labour Code. Where a contractual or collective obligation exists, the calculation is whatever the relevant document specifies, most commonly expressed as X months of gross base salary. “Base salary” normally means the contractually stated gross monthly salary excluding bonuses and overtime, unless the contract specifies otherwise. The figures shown above are typical commercial examples, not statutory entitlements, and should be read together with the contract or collective agreement that governs the particular employment relationship.

Caps and Exceptions

Because there is no statutory severance, there is no statutory cap either. Contractual packages are the product of negotiation and are subject to the standard tax treatment, severance paid on termination is generally subject to 25% CAS, 10% CASS and 10% PIT in the month of payment, unless it qualifies for a specific exemption under the Fiscal Code. Disciplinary dismissal under Article 61(a) normally extinguishes any contractual severance unless the contract explicitly provides otherwise. Fixed-term contracts that end on their agreed expiry date do not trigger severance.

Grounds for Termination

Romanian employment contracts can only be terminated on the grounds listed in the Labour Code. Employer-initiated dismissals fall into two broad categories: dismissal for reasons related to the employee (Articles 61–64), which includes disciplinary dismissal, medical incapacity and professional inadequacy, and dismissal for reasons not related to the employee (Articles 65–67), which covers redundancy, restructuring and economic necessity. Collective redundancies of 10 or more employees (or 10% of the workforce for employers of 100–300 staff) trigger additional consultation, notification and selection-criteria obligations under Articles 68–72. Protected categories include pregnant employees, employees on maternity or parental leave, employees on annual leave, trade union representatives acting in their official capacity, and employees on military service leave. Dismissal of a protected employee outside the narrow statutory exceptions can be overturned by the labour courts with reinstatement and full back pay.

EOR vs. Other Hiring Models in Romania

EOR vs. Setting Up a Local Entity

For companies choosing between an EOR and a Romanian SRL, the decision usually comes down to team size and time horizon. The table below summarises the two models across the dimensions that matter most for a one-to-fifteen-person Romanian team.

The EOR model wins on speed and flexibility: a client who signs a proposal on Monday can typically have an employee on payroll by Friday of the following week, without opening a bank account, renting office space or engaging a local administrator. It also wins on ongoing predictability, with a single monthly invoice replacing a corporate tax return, an annual financial statement at ONRC and a monthly Form 112 reconciliation.

Setting up a Romanian SRL is the stronger option past roughly 15 employees, when the fixed cost of local accounting becomes proportionally smaller and when the business needs its own VAT number, its own cash-pooled balance sheet, or direct access to Romanian public tenders. The break-even calculation depends heavily on the composition of the team and the weight of the sector-specific minimums that apply, particularly in construction and IT.

EOR vs. Hiring Independent Contractors

Romania has a well-developed self-employment regime (Persoană Fizică Autorizată, or PFA) and many foreign buyers consider engaging Romanian contractors instead of hiring employees. The table below compares the two models on the compliance dimensions that matter most.

Engaging a PFA is only appropriate when the working relationship genuinely looks like self-employment. Article 7 of the Romanian Fiscal Code sets out seven criteria that ANAF uses to decide whether a contractor is in fact a disguised employee, looking at factors such as exclusivity, the contractor’s use of their own tools, the ability to set their own schedule and the right to subcontract. If the relationship fails at least four of the seven criteria, ANAF may requalify it as an employment contract, and the client company becomes liable for back CAS, CASS, CAM and PIT plus interest and penalties. This risk is meaningful for foreign buyers whose PFAs work exclusively for one client on a full-time basis.

The EOR path is typically the right choice for a long-term, full-time hire, because it eliminates the Article 7 risk entirely. The contractor path works well for specialist projects with a clearly defined scope, deliverable and duration, particularly when the contractor has multiple clients and operates through a stable PFA registration.

EOR vs. PEO (Professional Employer Organization)

The Professional Employer Organization (PEO) model is not formally recognised in Romanian law, and most providers marketed as PEOs in Romania are in practice either outsourced payroll bureaus or full EORs. The comparison below highlights the key structural differences between the two concepts for readers familiar with US terminology.

The simplest way to think about the difference is that an EOR means you do not need a Romanian company, while a PEO means you already have one and just want to outsource the payroll and HR administration. Romania has no statutory concept of co-employment, so US-style PEO arrangements do not map cleanly onto Romanian law. Most buyers choosing between the two options are really choosing between an EOR (no entity) and a Romanian payroll-outsourcing provider (already have an SRL).

For foreign buyers who have not yet opened a Romanian SRL, the EOR is almost always the right starting point. Once the Romanian team grows past roughly fifteen employees, many clients migrate to an SRL with an outsourced payroll provider, which is closer in shape to the US PEO model but without the legal co-employment overlay.

Public Holidays in Romania

Romania has 16 paid public holidays in 2026 under Article 139 of the Labour Code. Employees who work on a public holiday are entitled either to compensatory rest within 30 days or, where rest cannot be granted, to a cash premium of at least 100% of base salary on top of the regular pay for those hours. Orthodox Easter and Pentecost dates move each year; the 2026 dates follow the Julian calendar used by the Romanian Orthodox Church.

Payroll cycles should factor in the double public holidays at New Year (1 and 2 January), Pentecost weekend (31 May and 1 June) and Christmas (25 and 26 December), because each of those clusters produces a four-day weekend that shifts payroll cut-off dates and banking operations. Public holidays that fall on a weekend are not automatically rolled forward in Romania, so in 2026 Saturday 24 January, Saturday 15 August and Saturday 26 December are paid holidays but do not generate an additional day off.

How to Get Started with an EOR in Romania

Moving from a decision to a fully onboarded Romanian team is a five-step process when an EOR handles the execution.

• First, confirm the role and compensation: Agree the candidate’s job function, gross salary in Romanian leu, working hours, probation period and any planned benefits such as meal vouchers or private health insurance. Check the sector-specific minimum wage if hiring in construction.
• Second, sign the EOR services agreement: Remote People countersigns the master services agreement and issues a country-specific schedule for Romania. This step typically takes one to two working days.
• Third, issue the individual employment contract: The EOR drafts a Romanian-compliant individual employment contract containing the Article 17 mandatory terms, sends it to the employee for signature, and registers it in REGES-Online before the first working day.
• Fourth, complete registrations and payroll setup: The EOR registers the employee with ANAF, enrols them in the chosen Pillar II pension fund if they were born after 1 July 1971, arranges the pre-employment occupational medical check, and prepares a test payslip for the first month.
• Fifth, go live on day one: The employee starts work under the EOR’s Romanian contract while reporting to the client’s managers. The first monthly invoice covers gross salary, 2.25% CAM, any occupational medicine or voucher costs, and the flat EOR service fee.

Remote People can have your first Romanian employee onboarded within 1–2 weeks of kickoff. We handle the Labour Code compliance, REGES-Online and ANAF registrations, Pillar II pension setup, and the monthly Form 112 filings so you can focus on the work. Contact us to get started.

Where companies hiring in Romania expand next

Teams hiring in Romania commonly expand across Central and Eastern Europe, where competitive labor costs and EU market access anchor regional growth. Many companies add operations in the Czech Republic first, drawing on aligned compensation ranges and delivery speed. Hungary follows as matching cost-to-quality tier, while hiring in Slovakia offers similar cost profile and comparable hiring speed. An EOR partner in Poland is often the fourth step, valued for parallel labor-cost tier and talent supply.