Maternity leave is granted to pregnant women or women who have given birth during the last 6 to 8 weeks (postpartum women), for a total of 126 calendar days.
The employer cannot dismiss an employee during maternity leave.
Entitlement
The Romanian legislation provides for a period of 126 mandatory maternity leave days, of which 63 days can be granted before the due date (Prenatal leave) and 63 days after the due date (Postnatal leave)
The time periods offered for prenatal leave (before birth) and postnatal (after birth) leave can be compensated with each other, with the permission of the doctor. The only condition is that the time period for postnatal leave should not be less than 42 days
As the maternity leave is considered a medical leave, the employee’s physician being the deciding factor in how the days are divided between the two periods.
Payment
Maternity pay (allowance) for the 126 days is fully paid by the social security funds and paid at 85% of the average of net income earned in the last 12 months, however this amount is calculated by the vendor and paid through the payroll first and then we refund this amount.
In order to be able to refund the maternity allowance, the employee should send the original medical certificate in order to WM be able to refund the covered amount by social security funds.
Required documents and process
The employee should request from WM a certificate to prove the employment and paying the contributions over the last 12 months and in case the employee needs to cover the time before their starting date with WM, they will need the same certificate from their former employer.
After providing this certificate to the employee, the employee should send us a soft copy of the medical certificate for her maternity leave in order to be processed in the payroll.
This certificate should be provided each month as long as the maternity leave is still on. (I.e. in case the maternity leave from 01/01/2024 till 06/05/2024, the employee will need to provide a medical certificate for each month, In January 24 from 01/01/2024 to 31/01/2024 then in February 24 from 01/02/2024 to 29/02/2024 and so on till the end of the leave)
Each of the original medical certificate should be sent within the same month of providing the soft copy to the following address - valid starting September 1st, 2024 - Accace Romania, Victoria Center building, on Calea Victoriei, no. 145, 1st floor, District 1, Bucharest. The envelope should be to the attention of Safta Georgiana
Submitter: Ghada Shaaban
Sources: GPA - Country insights Romania 2024 - European Commission - Romania - Maternity