Turning and Returning – the Recent Legislative Changes of the Romanian Labour and Social Security Law (original) (raw)

How Will the Future Be? The Transformation of Romanian Labour Legislation in a Global Context

Over the past two decades, it has become increasingly common to hear the verdict that labour law is in crisis, finding it increasingly difficult to fulfil its main task of protecting workers. This is happening first and foremost because since classical labour law rules were established, society as a whole has undergone a profound change, with the labour market shifting towards production and the economy, globalisation, digitalisation and flexible work. Following the 4.0 industrial revolution, the aim is to achieve a 5.0 society, and this is the direction artificial intelligence, digitalisation and robotisation point to as well. In our short study, we ask to what extent labour law is ready for this, and what are the main problems and obstacles that may arise. We do this by taking the example of Romania's legal development, and starting from the premise that the labour law measures introduced in the wake of the current pandemic are a valuable experience, as they have acted as a catalyst to bring to the fore dilemmas that labour law has been struggling with for some time. We can therefore experiment with the effects of some of the measures introduced in the context of the pandemic on the labour market and the situation of workers, and it would be wise to learn from these experiences.

Romanian Labour Market–Vulnerable Persons and Vulnerabilities

2011

Romanian economy's transition process began suddenly and was accompanied by disintegration of former political and economic system. In terms of GDP per capita, Romania has been one of the poorest countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Also, the Romanian economy was one of the most agrarian economies in Europe. Completely isolated from the informational point of view, Romania had a fully centralized economic system. Beginning of transition was completely chaotic, especially because of the complexity of integrating the fundamentals of democracy and market economy. Internal problems, instability, political corruption or lack of appropriate reforms have led to a diffi cult restructuring and privatization process. In this paper we present and analyze the tendencies and vulnerabilities on Romanian labor market between 19991 and 2009 versus EU member states. There were identifi ed three shocks with major social impact on Romanian economy: the revolution in December 1989; the EU accession in January 2007 and the world economic crisis began in 2007. These three structural shocks have deeply infl uenced and still do the evolution of Romanian labor market.

Protection of skills in employment relationships and in the labour market

Zbornik Pravnog Fakulteta Sveučilišta u Rijeci, 2019

is the sole author of section 1 of the paper. Caterina Mazzanti is the sole author of sections 2, 3 and 4. Both authors have contributed to the analysis presented in the concluding remarks. This work has been supported in part by the Croatian Science Foundation-Project UIP-2014-09-9377 "Flexicurity and New Forms of Employment (Challenges regarding Modernization of Croatian Labour Law)".

Worrying Labour Market Tendencies in the European Union. Romanian Journal of European Affairs 18:(1) pp. 71-92, 2018

The authors examine the developments that have characterized the European Union labour market in the past decades, relying mainly on Eurostat data. They focus on the tendencies of employment and unemployment in general, the changing conditions of work, the development of " atypical " forms of employment, the associated fluctuations of the social situation reflected in the different measures of poverty and social exclusion, and the distribution of incomes. The researchers touch upon the question of migration from the viewpoint of the European labour market and provide an overview of the community policies of the EU that have aimed at alleviating the problems of employment since 1970. The authors conclude that the EU labour market has been significantly differentiated during the past few decades and the precarious forms of " atypical employment " have grown in weight. The common policies have not been able to prevent the deteriorating tendencies of employment and they do not seem to be more successful in the near future either.

Non-standard employment relations or the erosion of workers' rights

2010

An assessment of the “exit” strategies that are proclaimed to get out of the crisis leads to serious concerns that the welfare state will be further demolished and labour laws and social security systems watered down, all in the name of economic recovery. Although several opinion makers and politicians expressed that the crisis could create a chance to reverse the disastrous economic policy agenda that still threatens the financial stability of the European monetary union the main message is nowadays to cut deficits, expenditure and wages. The effect is a continuation of the policy of unequal redistribution of income and profits. Neoclassical thoughts remain to challenge the welfare state.

Research Area: Labour Market and Employment

1998

This paper starts off by briefly considering some of the problems of future studies; it discusses how the origins and principles of the systems of regulation and security have generated different employment systems in Europe. The concept of employment systems allows us to identify how the future of work may well be managed in different ways according to the capacity and constraints of national and European actors. The paper focuses on the characteristics and changes in European regulatory systems of labour and social welfare. Two key developments are identified in these areas. First there are trends to decentralise collective bargaining and to encourage a trade off between labour flexibility and employment security. Second, there have been trends towards a decentralisation and outsourcing of state monopolies and attempts to develop new forms of caring. The prospects these trends imply for regulating the work of the future are discussed in relation to the development of a new social and gender contract.

From Unemployment to Flexicurity

European Journal of Social Quality, 2003

This special issue of the Journal, which gathers a number of papers produced in the context of a research project recently conducted by the European Foundation on Social Quality, is again devoted to the crucial policy-field of employment. Indeed, at national and European Union levels, employment continues to be the most difficult and conflict-ridden part of the social and economic policy agenda, as it has for the best part of the last three decades. There has been very limited policy success in this field, and this is clearly illustrated by the fact that the most intractable problem, that of mass unemployment, has not been solved to any significant extent. During the last few years, some emphasis has been put on trying to define tools that would resolve the apparently irreconcilable strategies and objectives of employers and workers, confronted by new, competitive, international market imperatives-on the one side workers seek security of employment in an age when, increasingly, jobs are temporary activities which come and go according to market evolution. On the other side employers seek greater, or total, flexibility on the part of their employeesthat is, the maximum opportunities to adapt their workforce to market requirements, including the ability to hire and fire, and set working hours, deployment and conditions of work freed from so-called 'red tape'. At the same time, the situation is much more complex as employees, too, seek forms of flexibility in their working lives, in order to reconcile fastevolving patterns of personal and family lives (with new requirements in terms of time constraints and family care) with constraints of their working life. Furthermore, it can be argued that businesses themselves seek continuity, up to a certain point, in one of their main assets: that is, the skills and deployment of a trained workforce, which indicate that some form of employment security is required in order to guarantee this continuity. In this context, the idea of the conjunction of various forms of flexibility and security in a new employment paradigm, for which the neologism