Part I

Directive 97/81/EC has generally been correctly transposed into Romanian law through the provisions of the Labor Code. The only requirement of the Directive that has not been correctly transposed is the one stipulating that unemployed persons must provide workers’ representative bodies with information regarding part-time work within companies. Under Romanian law, workers are required to provide information only regarding their availability to work on a part-time or full-time basis, whereas the Directive is formulated in much broader terms.

From the way the provisions regarding part-time work were implemented in the Labor Code, it is evident that certain difficulties have arisen regarding: prohibitions on working beyond the legal limit; the methods for determining both the number of working hours per day and per week for part-time employees who do not work every day;calculating the duration of the contribution period for the social insurance system (pension insurance) as well as for the unemployment insurance system; and the duration of health and safety training for part-time employees.

The legislation should be amended and practices should be adapted to provide part-time employees with appropriate protection and ensure compliance with the principle of non-discrimination.