Recently, a new type of leave has been introduced in labor legislation – caregiver leave – allowing employees to benefit from a few days off in the event that close relatives suffer from serious illnesses.

According to the Labor Code, the employer will grant caregiver leave to employees when necessary so that they can provide personal care or support to a close relative or a person with whom they reside, and who requires care due to serious medical conditions.

Close relatives refers to the son, daughter, mother, father, or spouse of an employee.

In the case of providing care to a person residing in the household who is not related to the employee, the latter will need to provide supporting documents, such as the identity document of the person in need of care, indicating the same domicile or residence as the employee, the document indicating that the person has been taken into the household, a certificate from the homeowners’ association or tenants’ association, or the employee’s sworn statement indicating that the person to whom the employee provided care or support lives in the same household for at least the duration of the caregiver leave.

In order for the employee to benefit from this type of leave, they will need to provide the following documents:

• identity document, birth certificate, or marriage certificate, depending on the case, to prove the relationship with the person in need of care;
• medical document attesting to the serious medical condition of the person in need of care.

The leave is granted at the request of the employee and can have a duration of 5 working days in a calendar year.

By special laws or through the applicable collective labor agreement, a longer duration than 5 working days can be established for caregiver leave.

During the 5-day period, employees are entitled to paid days off, which are not included in the duration of the annual leave and count towards both seniority in employment and in the specific field.

For this type of leave, the law does not provide for any minimum length of service in the company or job, but it is mentioned that the labor contract cannot be suspended in this case.

Furthermore, according to the provisions of the Labor Code, an employee cannot be dismissed during the caregiver leave period.

According to the provisions of the Labor Code, the rights that an employee acquired prior to being granted caregiver leave will be maintained throughout the entire duration of the leave.

Employees who benefit from caregiver leave are covered by the social health insurance system during this period without paying contributions. The period of caregiver leave constitutes a contribution period for determining the right to unemployment benefits and temporary incapacity benefits, as provided by the current legislation.

According to Order no. 2.172/3.829/2022, employees can request caregiver leave for serious medical issues that fall under the following categories: ophthalmology conditions, nephrology conditions, endocrinology conditions, ENT (ear, nose, and throat) conditions, diabetes, nutrition and metabolic diseases, psychiatry, etc.

Employers cannot refuse to grant this right to employees who meet the criteria in this regard. Those who refuse to grant caregiver leave to employees as per the law will be fined an amount ranging from 4.000 lei to 8.000 lei.

Author: Atty. Felicia Cioflan