New Medical Leave Conditions Might Be Enforced Starting May 15 – Romania’s Health Minister

Cseke said people tasked with checking if employees on medical leave are at the address mentioned in their affidavits are forbidden to enter employees' homes. The minister said that, in 2006, 3% of the Health Ministry's budget was allotted to pay social security benefits for the leave period, adding that, in 2009, the ratio hit 9% and is currently on the rise.

The minister said Romania spent 220 million lei (EUR1=RON4.1380) on medical leave benefits in the first half of 2009 and RON255 million in the same period this year. Cseke highlighted that authorities believe many of the medical leave certificates have no medical grounds.

The Romanian Government decided recently to tighten conditions for employees who can request a medical leave and will introduce a verification system and a higher penalty for people demanding such leaves without reason.

Late March, Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc called on the Health Ministry to hurry work on a bill regulating medical leaves and introduce fines for people taking leave without being ill. Boc also mentioned at the time that 100 employees of the country's privatization authority AVAS took medical leave to avoid a salary cut.

In February, Boc said that over 100 AVAS employees demanded and received medical leave, trying to avoid the country's new unitary wage law which stated a cut in their wages from RON17,000 to RON 2,500. Following the prime minister's statements, the Health Ministry put forth a bill allowing authorities to check whether employees on the medical leave are indeed ill at home or in the hospital.

Under the bill, employees taking medical leave without being ill would lose their social security benefits for the leave period and fines would double for doctors issuing groundless medical leave certificates.

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