Romania is a southeastern European country known for the forested region of Transylvania, ringed by the Carpathian Mountains. The Romanian landscape is approximately one-third mountainous and one-third forested, with the remainder made up of hills and plains. The climate is temperate and marked by four distinct seasons. Romania is bounded by Ukraine to the north, Moldova to the northeast, the Black Sea to the southeast, Bulgaria to the south, Serbia to the southwest, and Hungary to the west.
The most important sectors of Romania’s economy are industry, wholesale and retail trade, transport, accommodation, food services, public administration, defense, education, human health, and social work activities.
*Please note that the official currency is the currency of remuneration when employed through WorkMotion in Romania.
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Fast-track your talent onboarding while ensuring 100% compliance with local regulations. using an Employer of Record in Romania
Calculate net salary post deductions and compare it with the salary in other countries instantly.
Receive process support by an experienced team of experts & pay your talent on time and in their local currency, ideal for companies looking to hire employees or contractors in Romania
Easily onboard your remote talent in Romania through our Employer of Record (EOR) solution. Our subsidiaries and network partners make this process fast and 100% compliant.
Romania is a southeastern European country known for the forested region of Transylvania, ringed by the Carpathian Mountains. The Romanian landscape is approximately one-third mountainous and one-third forested, with the remainder made up of hills and plains. The climate is temperate and marked by four distinct seasons. Romania is bounded by Ukraine to the north, Moldova to the northeast, the Black Sea to the southeast, Bulgaria to the south, Serbia to the southwest, and Hungary to the west.
The most important sectors of Romania’s economy are industry, wholesale and retail trade, transport, accommodation, food services, public administration, defense, education, human health, and social work activities.
*Please note that the official currency is the currency of remuneration when employed through WorkMotion in Romania.
The national holidays mentioned below are valid for the year 2026 and are critical for hiring in Romania planning:
The national holidays mentioned below are valid for the year 2026. Understanding statutory holidays in Romania is essential when planning working hours in Romania and payroll in Romania.
| January 1 | New Year`s Day | |
| January 2 | New Year Holiday | |
| January 7 | Synaxis of St. John the Baptist | |
| January 24 | Unification Day | |
| April 18 | Orthodox Good Friday | Movable |
| April 20 | Orthodox Easter Sunday | Movable |
| April 21 | Othodox Easter Monday | Movable |
| May 1 | Labor Day | |
| June 1 | Children’s Day | |
| June 8 | Orthodox Whit Sunday | Movable |
| June 9 | Orthodox Whit Monday | Movable |
| August 15 | Assumption Day | |
| November 30 | Feast of St. Andrew | |
| December 1 | Great Union Day | |
| December 25 | Christmas Day | |
| December 26 | Second Day of Christmas |
The approximate time for sharing the contract with an employee in Romania is 3 business days assuming no special requests or changes to our standard employment contract. Any such requests or changes would need to undergo internal or external review, directly leading to a time delay.
NOTE: This number is subject to change and is only an estimation of the Contract Sharing Time. The estimated Contract Sharing Time begins from the moment that WorkMotion has received all required information from both the client and the employee
Remote work is governed by Law 81/2018 and failure by employers to abide by the provisions of this law attracts fines.
In Romania, a person can only be employed based on a medical certificate, which finds that the person in question is fit to perform that work.
The social security system in Romania finances several benefits in the country such as:
| Benefits | Employer Contribution |
| Social insurance |
|
| Labor insurance |
|
Full-time working hours are eight hours per day and 40 hours per week. Understanding Romania’s working hours is crucial when hiring employees or contractors in Romania and planning payroll in Romania. Should the daily length of the working time exceed six hours, the employees have the right to a meal break and other breaks, under the terms provided for in the applicable collective labor agreement or in the rules of procedure.
Working hours, including overtime, may exceptionally exceed 48 hours per week, provided that the average number of working hours, calculated for a reference period of three calendar months, does not exceed 48 hours per week.
The probationary period depends on the type of employment agreement. Employees hired based on an individual labor contract for a definite period may be subjected to a probation period according to the following guidelines.
|
Duration of the Fixed Employment Contract |
Probation Period |
|---|---|
|
Not exceeding 1 month |
2 working days |
|
Between 1 and 3 months |
5 working days |
|
Between 3 and 6 months |
15 working days |
|
Exceeding 6 months |
20 working days |
|
In the case of employees holding management positions, for employment contracts exceeding 6 months |
30 working days |
Notice periods are stipulated by the parties to individual employment contracts or applicable collective labor agreements, as appropriate. They cannot exceed 20 calendar days for employees in operational positions and 45 days for employees in management positions. The notice period starts within two days of submitting one’s resignation.
Full-time working hours are eight hours per day and 40 hours per week. Understanding Romania’s working hours is crucial when hiring employees or contractors in Romania and planning payroll in Romania. Should the daily length of the working time exceed six hours, the employees have the right to a meal break and other breaks, under the terms provided for in the applicable collective labor agreement or in the rules of procedure.
Working hours, including overtime, may exceptionally exceed 48 hours per week, provided that the average number of working hours, calculated for a reference period of three calendar months, does not exceed 48 hours per week.
The probationary period depends on the type of employment agreement. Employees hired based on an individual labor contract for a definite period may be subjected to a probation period according to the following guidelines.
|
Duration of the Fixed Employment Contract |
Probation Period |
|---|---|
|
Not exceeding 1 month |
2 working days |
|
Between 1 and 3 months |
5 working days |
|
Between 3 and 6 months |
15 working days |
|
Exceeding 6 months |
20 working days |
|
In the case of employees holding management positions, for employment contracts exceeding 6 months |
30 working days |
Notice periods are stipulated by the parties to individual employment contracts or applicable collective labor agreements, as appropriate. They cannot exceed 20 calendar days for employees in operational positions and 45 days for employees in management positions. The notice period starts within two days of submitting one’s resignation.
The social security system in Romania finances several benefits in the country such as:
| Benefits | Employer Contribution |
| Social insurance |
|
| Labor insurance |
|
WorkMotion operates through its own entity in Romania, acting as the legal employer for your hires.
Here is what that process looks like in practice.
WorkMotion generates an employment contract in Romanian, as required by Romanian law.
The contract reflects the specific terms of the role:
The main source of employment law in Romania is Law No. 53/2003, the Romanian Labour Code, which was most recently consolidated through republication in November 2024.
WorkMotion’s locally reviewed contract templates allow for fast turnaround without requiring your legal team to interpret Romanian employment law from scratch.
Before your new hire starts work, WorkMotion registers the employment contract in REGES-Online – Romania’s mandatory national employee registry.
As of April 2025, REVISAL, which was used by all Romanian employers to report main employment terms to the labour authorities, has been replaced by a new platform called REGES-ONLINE.
Employers must submit data on new employees no later than the day before they start work. WorkMotion handles this registration on your behalf, including all subsequent reporting obligations — such as contract changes, sick leave suspensions, and role updates — each of which carries its own statutory deadline under the new framework.
WorkMotion configures payroll in Romanian Leu (RON) and manages all statutory withholdings from the first pay cycle.
As an employer in Romania, you’ll need to navigate several types of mandatory contributions, including:
Income tax and social security contributions are typically reported and remitted monthly through the electronic D112 declaration.
WorkMotion handles this filing on your behalf, ensuring contributions are calculated correctly and submitted on time each month.
WorkMotion enrols your hire in Romania’s statutory benefits system as part of the onboarding process. Statutory benefits include at least 20 days of paid annual leave, separate public holidays, sick leave, maternity/paternity leave, and mandatory insurance via social contributions handled in payroll.
WorkMotion also manages the nuances that catch foreign employers off guard. For example, statutory annual leave in Romania cannot be forfeited. If it is not taken in the year it is earned, it must be carried over and used within 18 months, and unused leave must be paid out on termination.
Each month, WorkMotion processes gross-to-net payroll, applies the correct statutory deductions, issues compliant payslips, and remits all contributions to the relevant Romanian authorities:
Payment of social security contributions and income tax must be made within 25 days after the end of the working month in question.
Romanian employment law changes frequently.
As of August 2025, Romania introduced a new tiered system for calculating sick leave indemnities, replacing the previous flat 75% rate with a graduated structure based on duration of leave.
WorkMotion monitors regulatory updates and applies changes to contracts, payroll, and benefits automatically — so your team does not need to track Romanian legislative developments in real time.
Using an employer of record in Romania removes the legal and administrative overhead of establishing a local subsidiary. Here is how the two paths compare:
| Factor | WorkMotion EOR | Romania Entity Setup |
|---|---|---|
| Setup cost | Per-employee monthly fee — no upfront capital expenditure | Estimated €2,000–€6,000+ in registration, legal, and notarial fees before any operational spend |
| Time to first hire | Days from signed contract to payroll enrollment | Typically, several weeks to months, including fiscal and labour authority registration |
| Ongoing legal exposure | WorkMotion holds legal employer liability — contracts, payroll, and compliance are managed by WorkMotion’s local entity | Your entity is the legal employer — all labour law violations, payroll errors, and REGES-Online filing failures are your liability |
| Ongoing admin burden | WorkMotion handles REGES-Online filings, D112 declarations, payroll, and benefits administration | Requires dedicated in-country HR, payroll, and legal resources, or local vendor management |
| Exit flexibility | Scale up or down without entity overhead — offboard employees through WorkMotion’s structured process | Winding down a Romanian entity involves additional legal steps, regulatory filings, and time |
EOR in Romania fits best when you need to hire internationally quickly, want to test the market before committing to a permanent structure, or are hiring a small number of specialized roles.
If you’re building a large, permanent team in Romania and want direct employment under your own brand, WorkMotion’s Direct Hiring solution – which supports registration as a foreign employer in European markets – is worth evaluating alongside EOR.
To estimate the full employment cost for a specific role in Romania, use WorkMotion’s Employment Cost Calculator.
Romania’s employment framework is well-structured, but it contains several rules that regularly catch foreign employers by surprise. Getting these wrong creates legal exposure — fines, back-pay obligations, or invalid contracts.
Execution of the individual employment agreement in writing in Romanian is mandatory.
A contract drafted only in English — even if both parties understand it — does not satisfy this requirement.
WorkMotion generates contracts in Romanian as standard, including all required statutory terms.
Some employers may assume employee registration is an administrative step that can follow onboarding. It cannot.
Employers must submit data on new employees no later than the day before they start work. Employers who fail to register correctly risk fines ranging between 15,000 and 20,000 lei.
WorkMotion handles REGES-Online registration as part of the onboarding workflow — before the employee’s first day.
As of January 1, 2022, employees may be paid only the minimum gross base salary for up to 24 months.
When this period expires, employers are required to pay the respective employees a higher salary.
Employers who set salaries at the statutory minimum without tracking this timeline face mandatory pay increases they did not budget for. WorkMotion monitors this threshold and flags it before it becomes a compliance issue.
Statutory annual leave in Romania cannot be forfeited. If it is not taken in the year it is earned, it must be carried over and used within 18 months. A blanket “use-it-or-lose-it” policy is unlawful, and unused leave must be paid out upon termination.
Companies that apply their home-country leave policies to Romanian employees often discover this only at offboarding.
As of August 2025, Romania introduced a new tiered system for calculating sick leave indemnities, replacing the previous flat 75% rate.
The indemnity is now:
This is based on the employee’s average income over the past six months. Employers still applying the old flat rate are calculating sick pay incorrectly. WorkMotion applies the current rates as part of its ongoing compliance monitoring.
Compensation for overtime is mandatory, but there is a clear priority order: compensatory time off is the primary method, with monetary compensation being the secondary (backup) method.
Paid compensatory time off must be granted within 90 calendar days following the performance of the overtime work.
Defaulting to cash overtime payments without first offering compensatory time off does not comply with Romanian law. WorkMotion’s payroll and HR processes reflect this order of priority.
Germany and the Netherlands are among WorkMotion’s primary client markets, and Romania is one of the most common destinations for hiring for both.
Romania’s tech sector is one of the fastest-growing in the EU, with cities like Cluj-Napoca, Bucharest, and Iași emerging as major hubs for software development, AI, and cybersecurity, and more than 150,000 IT professionals nationwide.
A B2B SaaS company based in Berlin or Amsterdam that cannot fill a senior backend or DevOps role domestically can hire in Romania through WorkMotion – compliant contract generated, payroll running in RON, onboarding completed in days. No Romanian entity required.
Teams in Bucharest, Cluj, or Timișoara share full working-hour overlap with Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia, and are just one hour ahead of the UK, which enables real-time collaboration with EU offices.
UK-based product and engineering teams use WorkMotion’s EOR service to hire two to ten developers without the complexity of setting up a Romanian subsidiary.
The alignment of time zones and the English proficiency of Romanian engineers make this a practical, low-friction expansion.
US-based companies entering European markets often hire their first EU-based employees in Romania — whether for engineering, customer success, or sales roles.
Without a European entity, they need an EOR to legally employ those people. WorkMotion’s own entity in Romania means the employment relationship is direct and fully compliant with Romanian labour law, with no third-party intermediary in the chain.
You have found the right candidate in Romania. The question is whether you can hire them compliantly, quickly, and without having to build local infrastructure from scratch.
WorkMotion’s own entity in Romania means you can — with locally compliant contracts generated in Romanian, payroll running in RON, REGES-Online registration handled before day one, and all statutory contributions managed on your behalf.
There is no entity to set up, no Romanian labour law to interpret internally, and no patchwork of local vendors to manage. If your company is an SME hiring in Europe and needs an employer of record in Romania, WorkMotion is built for exactly this.
WorkMotion operates through its own entity in Romania, meaning it acts as the direct legal employer for your hires — not through a subcontracted partner or intermediary.
This matters because it gives you a single point of legal accountability: WorkMotion’s Romanian entity holds the employment relationship, manages REGES-Online registration, runs payroll in RON, and remits all statutory contributions directly to the relevant Romanian authorities. For companies evaluating EOR in Romania on compliance grounds, the absence of a third-party intermediary in the employment chain reduces legal exposure significantly.
Romanian employer contributions are relatively low compared to other EU markets, which is part of what makes the country attractive for international hiring.
The primary employer-side obligation is the labourr insurance contribution (CAM), currently set at 2.25% of gross salary — a notably lighter burden than the combined employer social security and health contributions required in markets like France or Germany. Employees bear the majority of social contributions in Romania: 25% for social security (CAS) and 10% for health insurance (CASS), both deducted from gross salary.
Romania’s Labour Code permits probation periods, but the permitted length depends on the nature of the role. For standard positions, the maximum probation period is 90 calendar days; for senior management or specialist roles, it extends to 120 calendar days.
During probation, either party can terminate the contract without notice — but the termination must still be communicated in writing, and the employee must be registered in REGES-Online from day one regardless of probation status. WorkMotion’s contracts are drafted to reflect the correct probation terms for each role type under Romanian law.
Termination in Romania is regulated by the Labour Code and requires a documented, lawful reason — Romanian law does not permit at-will dismissal.
For employer-initiated terminations, the statutory minimum notice period is 20 working days for non-managerial roles, and the employer must follow a specific procedural sequence, including written notification and, in certain cases, a prior disciplinary investigation.
Severance is not automatically required for all termination types, but unused annual leave must always be paid out at the point of termination. WorkMotion manages the full offboarding process — including final payroll calculations, REGES-Online deregistration, and statutory documentation — to ensure the exit is legally clean.
Yes. WorkMotion supports both employment relationships in Romania.
For full-time employees, WorkMotion’s employer of record Romania service covers the complete employment lifecycle — contract generation, REGES-Online registration, payroll, statutory benefits, and ongoing compliance.
For project-based or freelance engagements, WorkMotion’s Contractor Management solution includes country-specific contract templates and a mandatory misclassification check before each onboarding — relevant in Romania, where the line between employment and independent contracting is scrutinized by the Labour Inspectorate (ITM).
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