A new regulation, in force from January 28, 2025 establishes additional obligations and reporting requirements on Romanian companies with 50 or more employees in respect of hiring disabled people.
Under Law No. 448/2006, companies with at least 50 employees have long been required to ensure that at least 4 percent of their workforce consists of persons with disabilities or, if not met, the employers were to pay a monthly contribution to the country’s Disability Fund.
However, in January 2025, the legal framework was revised through Emergency Ordinance No. 127/2024, introducing additional obligations for employers. To implement these requirements, Order No. 28/2025, in force from January 28, 2025, establishes the methodology for compliance. Below, we have prepared a brief summary of the new obligations.
1. Proof of recruitment efforts
Employers must demonstrate that they have actively sought to recruit persons with disabilities by submitting a written request to at least three nongovernmental organizations that, according to their statutes, includes providing services for persons with disabilities. This request, which must follow the standardized template set out in Annex 1 of Order No. 28/2025, is to be submitted within 10 days of meeting the legal threshold of 50 employees. The law presumes that these organizations can support employers in identifying suitable candidates to fill available positions.
Employers must then submit the request sent to the NGOs along with proof that the request was submitted to the NGOs to the National Authority for the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (ANPDPD) and the relevant county employment agencies (AJOFM) or the Bucharest employment agency, depending on their registered office.
The NGOs that receive these requests are then responsible for informing persons with disabilities about job opportunities, required qualifications, employment conditions and employer contact details, in order to facilitate a more effective recruitment process.
2. Annual Reporting Obligation
By January 31 of each year, companies with at least 50 employees must submit a report for the previous year to ANPDPD and the relevant employment agency that includes the following information:
- The number of approved/existing positions in the previous year
- The number of vacant positions in the previous year
- The titles of positions occupied by employed persons with disabilities
- The total number of positions occupied by persons with disabilities
- The employment requirements, for each such position
This report must be drafted in accordance with the model provided in Annex 2 of Order No. 28/2025.
Notably, there are no specific penalties for failing to comply with these new reporting obligations. However, the general legal requirements regarding the employment of persons with disabilities remain in place. Employers who do not meet the 4 percent quota must:
- Pay a monthly contribution to the state budget, equivalent to the gross minimum national salary multiplied by the number of unfilled positions allocated for persons with disabilities; or
- Pay at least 50 percent of the above amount to the state budget and use the remaining amount to purchase goods and/or services from authorized protected units that employ persons with disabilities.
By Tiberiu Csaki, Partner, Argentina Rafail, Counsel, and Simona Moisa, Senior Associate, Dentons
