Legal solutions on employment relationships during a state of emergency.
COVID19 vs. Your business
Episode 1 – What do we do with our employees?
After the state of emergency was declared under the provisions issued by the National Commission for Exceptional Situations (CSE) and the Extraordinary National Commission for Public Health (CESP), many commercial and non-commercial entities were forced to stop their activities.
Some employers have approved temporary measures in relation to employees, others are still looking for a solution.
For the latter, we will further analyze the legal solutions for employment relations with employees during the state of emergency.
- Granting of annual rest leave (pursuant to Art. 77 lit. a and 120 of the CM of RM) and unused annual rest leave (pursuant to Art. 119 paragraph 3 of the CM of RM). It may be granted at the request and with the consent of the employee with the payment of the holiday allowance (pursuant to Art. 117 of the CM of RM)
- Modification of the employee’s work regime:
- Determination of part-time working time (under Art. 97 of the CM of RM.)
- Establishment of individualized work schedule, with a flexible regime (on the basis of art. 100 paragraph 7 of the CM of RM).
- Home work (under 290 of the CM of the RM);
In the cases listed above, the employer and the employee shall negotiate the modification of the Individual Employment Contract (IIC) and sign an appendix to it. The employer will remunerate the employee in proportion to the time worked.
3. Suspension of the CIM and the employment relationship with the employee on the grounds of:
- Quarantine (under Art. 76 letter d of the CM of RM). It is a ground for suspension if the employer is working in the territories where quarantine is instituted (e.g. Soroca, Stefan Voda) and/or if the employee is to self-isolate for the reasons and period established by the CESP.
- Force majeure duly confirmed (under Art. 76 lit. f of the CM of RM). If the employer’s activity is prohibited under the Provisions and Decisions of the CSE and CESP, no further confirmation is required, as these are public and imperative acts and do not need to be proven by additional documents.
- Unsatisfactory working conditions from the point of view of safety and health at work (pursuant to Art. 78 lit. e of the CM of RM). This provision may be invoked by all persons who, by virtue of their duties, are to work in life-threatening conditions. An example is medical and auxiliary staff who are not provided with sufficient protective equipment against Covid-19 Coronavirus. The employee is obliged to notify the employer of the suspension in written form, and to resume work within 3 days of the removal of the hazard (in this case the assignment of the protective equipment).
- Stand-by time (pursuant to art. 801 of the CM of RM) for reasons that do not depend on the will of the parties, which may be instituted for the entire unit or a subdivision thereof. The remuneration for stand-by time shall be paid in the amount of at least 2/3 of the basic salary per time unit established for the employee, but not less than the amount of a minimum salary per time unit, established by the legislation in force, for each hour of stand-by time.
Under the above-mentioned grounds the CIM shall be suspended in the absence of a common agreement of the parties, except that the party invoking the ground for suspension shall notify the other party.
- granting leave without pay (on the basis of Art. 77 lit. a and 120 of the CM of RM) for up to 120 calendar days. It may be granted only at the request and with the consent of the employee.
- Technical unemployment – according to the CM of the Republic of Moldova there are two forms of triggering technical unemployment which produce different legal effects.
- Technical unemployment declared on the basis of a joint agreement between the employer and the employee signed in written form pursuant to Art. 77 lit. c of the CM of the RM, which is not limited in time and does not impose any reciprocal obligations between the parties during its duration.
- Technical unemployment triggered by the employer on the basis of the employer’s provision according to art. 80 of the CM of the RM for the entire establishment or for an internal subdivision of it for objective economic reasons. Its duration may not exceed 4 calendar months during a calendar year, and the employer is obliged to pay the employee an indemnity of not less than 50% of his/her basic salary.
Pursuant to art. 1 of the draft law for which the Government assumed responsibility, approved by H.G. no. 213 of 1.04.2020, enterprises and non-commercial organizations resident in the Republic of Moldova that instituted technical unemployment/stationary unemployment according to art. 80 and 801 of the CM will benefit from subsidies.
We will analyze which businesses are entitled to claim 100% or 60% of the subsidies and the criteria for establishing them in a future material.
Inna SOCCHI
Lawyer, Associate Expert
The information in this material is of a general nature and does not refer to the particular situation of a person or entity, is informative and does not constitute professional or legal advice.
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