Romanian Government Publishes Draft Legislation Implementing The EU Pay Transparency Directive

Angajatorii pot păstra contractele individuale de muncă în format electronic, dar nu orice copie digitală este acceptabilă. Descoperă cerințele legale specifice pentru semnătura electronică și certificarea conformității cu originalul, precum și cine are autoritatea de a efectua această certificare.

Employers must maintain individual employment contracts at the workplace, but electronic storage is now permitted under specific conditions. The electronic copy requires more than simple scanning—it must be electronically signed and certified as a true copy by the employer's legal representative or authorized person. This requirement establishes clear standards for digital record-keeping compliance in employment documentation.

The EU Pay Transparency Directive introduces new obligations for employers regarding salary disclosure and confidentiality clauses. While individual salaries won't be made public, employers must justify pay differences through objective criteria and may need to revise internal confidentiality policies. The directive limits the use of confidentiality clauses that prevent employees from discussing their own remuneration for the purpose of verifying equal pay rights.

Starting July 1, 2026, Romania will implement significant changes to its minimum wage policy, raising the gross minimum salary while simultaneously reducing tax exemption benefits. These adjustments will impact both employers and employees across the country, affecting payroll calculations and net income for minimum wage workers.

Ministerul Muncii a stabilit noi criterii pentru includerea ocupațiilor deficitare pe lista folosită la recrutarea lucrătorilor din afara UE, relaxând pragurile minime de la 20 la 10 contracte active și avize de angajare. Ocupațiile eligibile trebuie să înregistreze posturi vacante greu de ocupat și un nivel minim de angajări de lucrători străini, iar angajatorii pot transmite propuneri motivate prin platforma WorkinRomania.gov.ro.

Starting July 1, 2026, Romania introduces a new calculation method for medical leave benefits that extend across multiple months. When sick leave crosses into a new month and exceeds the 7-day or 8-14 day thresholds, the resulting benefit differences will be included in the income of the month they are determined, rather than being declared retroactively.

The Pay Transparency Directive introduces new requirements for employers regarding pay confidentiality clauses while stopping short of mandating full disclosure of individual salaries. Employers must now prepare to justify pay differences using objective criteria and review their internal policies on pay confidentiality once the directive is transposed into national law.

Romania's Ministry of Labour has established new criteria for determining which occupations qualify as shortage occupations for recruiting workers from outside the EU. The updated rules lower minimum thresholds and introduce multiple pathways for occupations to be added to the list, including employer-submitted proposals through a dedicated platform.

The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled on a critical aspect of employment law concerning business transfers, determining whether unpaid salary obligations automatically transfer to the new employer and whether employee consent can block this transfer. This decision clarifies the scope of transferred obligations under EU law and the relationship between special transfer rules and general civil code provisions on debt assumption.

Starting July 2026, employers must handle sick pay recalculations differently when employee illness spans multiple months and exceeds certain day thresholds. The new regulation eliminates retroactive declaration requirements and applies to both new cases and illnesses that began before the implementation date.

The Court of Appeal has confirmed that vicarious liability owed to third parties does not transfer under TUPE. We explore the impact for both transferors and transferees.

A Hong Kong director was sentenced to 120 hours of community service and ordered to pay HK$93,000 in outstanding wages after her companies failed to pay employees on time. The case demonstrates that corporate officers can face serious criminal liability, including fines up to HK$350,000 and three years' imprisonment, when employment law breaches occur with their consent, connivance, or neglect.

The UK remains without comprehensive AI legislation despite years of debate and promises. Now, a Private Member's Bill proposing to prohibit artificial superintelligence development has been introduced in Parliament, marking the most significant legislative move on AI safety to date. With recent incidents of AI agents breaking containment and warnings from AI researchers about extinction risks, pressure is mounting on the government to act.

The Employment Rights Act introduces sweeping changes to UK employment law, from day-one unfair dismissal rights to restrictions on zero-hours contracts and fire-and-rehire practices. This comprehensive dashboard tracks implementation timelines, explains current versus future legal positions, and clarifies how these reforms will transform workplace rights across England, Wales and Scotland.

Privilege rules vary significantly across jurisdictions, so it’s important not to assume your home country position “travels”.

UK and EU regulators are intensifying enforcement of online safety rules, with Ofcom issuing its first major fine and the European Commission expanding platform designations. How should businesses coordinate their compliance strategies across child safety, age assurance, and data protection to meet these evolving regulatory expectations?

The Government's draft legislation for a new Securities Transfer Tax (STT), published on 13 July 2026, was a bit of a landmark. Tax advisers will tell you, with a mix of shame and pride, that we still occasionally have to refer to nineteenth century legislation. The Stamp Act 1891 remains the foundation of stamp duty payable on share sales. The whole law in this area is a patchwork of bits of legislation spanning more than a century.

The General Court dismissed an action brought by Rose Bikes GmbH against the EUIPO, raising important questions about word marks that denote colours. This case provides crucial guidance for brand owners seeking trademark protection for colour-related terms, particularly regarding whether such marks are inherently descriptive of the goods they represent.

At the opening session of Lewis Silkin's Managing an International Workforce conference, employment law experts explored major workplace reforms across the UK, India, and EU, examining how regulatory changes, pay transparency requirements, and AI integration are fundamentally reshaping global employment practices. The discussion highlighted how organizations can leverage technology, including AI-powered platforms, to navigate the complex landscape of international employment law across multiple jurisdiction

Employment law and immigration law intersect with discrimination protections in complex ways, particularly around right to work requirements and recruitment policies. This article examines how Irish employers can navigate these overlapping legal frameworks while managing the practical challenges of hiring non-EEA nationals who require employment permits.