Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1) - Romania (Ratification: 1921)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It is therefore bound to repeat its previous comments.

Repetition

Articles 2–5 and 6(1) of the Convention. Daily hours of work. Uneven distribution of weekly hours of work. Cases in which overtime is authorized. The Committee recalls its previous comments relating in particular to section 115 of the Labour Code, which allows daily hours of work to be increased to 12 hours and regarding which the Committee emphasized that the daily limit of eight hours established by the Convention may only be exceeded in the specific cases referred to in Articles 3–6 of the Convention. The Committee also referred to section 113(2) of the Labour Code which, combined with the national collective agreement, allows the uneven distribution of weekly hours of work, increasing daily working time to a maximum of ten hours on certain days. The Committee drew the Government’s attention to the fact that Article 2(b) of the Convention only authorizes the uneven distribution of weekly hours of work if daily working time does not exceed nine hours. Finally, the Committee referred to section 120(2) of the Labour Code, which does not provide a restrictive list of the situations in which overtime may be authorized, except for cases of force majeure or where the work needs to be done urgently. The Committee recalls once again that, except for the two abovementioned cases, Article 6(1)(b) of the Convention only authorizes overtime work to enable the employer to deal with exceptional cases of pressure of work. In view of the lack of new information on these points in the Government’s report, the Committee again asks the Government to take the necessary steps as soon as possible in order to give full effect to the provisions of the Convention and to inform the Office of any developments in this regard.

Article 6(2). Overtime pay. The Committee notes that the Government’s report does not contain any new information on measures taken or contemplated to ensure that overtime is paid at a rate at least 25 per cent higher than the normal rate, whether or not compensatory rest is granted, as required by Article 6(2) of the Convention. In fact, section 123(2) of the Labour Code only provides for a higher rate of pay when compensation in the form of paid time off is not possible within 60 days following the period of overtime. Recalling the December 2010 conclusions of the European Committee of Social Rights that went along similar lines, the Committee asks the Government once again to take the necessary measures as soon as possible to give full effect to this Article of the Convention.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the near future.