Romanian Ombudsman: Imposing Ten-Day Unpaid Vacation Mandatory Only If Set By Law

The institution of the ombudsman thinks it has the obligation to express a viewpoint concerning certain economic-financial measures estimated by the Government with regard to the employees of the state authorities, in order to fulfill its constitutional mission to defend the rights, the liberties and the legitimate interest of private individuals.

Muraru said the governmental authorities (particularly the Government of Romania, which according to article 102, paragraph (1) of the Constitution of Romania ensures the country’s internal policy and the general management of the public administration) must without no doubt at all assess the suitability of the economic and financial measures that regard the public sector employees.

The estimated measures can however obligate the public authority heads only to the extent in which they are set by imperious legal norms, set in accordance with the constitutional decisions and with the legislative technique rules, the quoted sources said.

“We consider that imposing a ten-days unpaid vacation for all state employees can be mandatory from the legal point of view only if it is set by a law adopted by the Parliament or by Government ordinance, issued within the conditions of article 115 of the Constitution,” Muraru said.

“This is because article 137 paragraph (1) of the Constitution established that forming, managing, using and controlling the financial resources of the state, of the administrative-territorial units and of the public institutions are regulated by law, and article 139 paragraph (1) of the Fundamental Law stipulates that “fees, taxes and other revenues to the state budget and to the budget of state social insurances are set by the law”, Muraru said.