How do you terminate an employee in Romania in 2026?

Romanian law under the Labour Code (Law 53/2003) sets out the following categories of lawful dismissal:

• Disciplinary dismissal: serious misconduct in a single incident, or repeated misconduct after prior warnings.
• Incapacity: physical or mental condition confirmed by a medical commission that prevents the employee from performing their role.
• Professional inadequacy: failure to meet the role requirements, confirmed through a documented assessment procedure.
• Abolition of the post: individual or collective redundancy where the role is eliminated for genuine economic, technological, or structural reasons. The abolition must be real and not a pretext.

Dismissals that are always unlawful regardless of ground include any termination linked to pregnancy, maternity or parental leave, trade union membership or activity, whistleblowing, disability, race, nationality, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or political opinion. A dismissal that cannot be shown to relate to a genuine ground is presumed unlawful and the courts will reinstate the employee or award back pay.

The disciplinary procedure

For any dismissal on disciplinary grounds you must follow the Labour Code's mandatory investigation process. Skip it and the dismissal is void. A preliminary investigation hearing is required, the employee must be summoned in writing, and the employee has the right to be accompanied by a union representative or a colleague. The dismissal decision must be issued in writing within 30 calendar days of the employer learning of the misconduct (and no later than six months from the date of the breach).

1. Choose and document the legal ground

   Confirm the dismissal fits one of the lawful categories: disciplinary, incapacity, professional inadequacy, or abolition of the post. Write down the facts that support it before you proceed.

2. Run the disciplinary investigation

   For misconduct dismissals, issue a written summons and hold a preliminary investigation hearing. The employee has the right to bring a representative. Document everything.

3. Issue the written dismissal decision

   The decision must be in writing, state the legal ground in full, and include the appeal procedure. Missing any element makes the dismissal legally vulnerable.

4. Serve the correct notice

   Calculate notice in working days against the minimum for the ground. Give written notice to the employee before or on the effective start of the notice period.

5. Settle final pay on time

   Pay out all accrued wages, unused annual leave, and any contractual or CBA severance by the next payroll run. File the required social contribution returns.

Notice is calculated in working days, not calendar days. The notice period cannot be reduced by mutual agreement or replaced with payment. The employee continues to work (and be paid) during the notice period unless the employer and employee mutually agree otherwise in writing.

Employee resignation notice

An employee resigning from a non-management role must give up to 20 days notice. Management roles carry up to 45 days. The employer may waive all or part of this. If the employee walks out without observing notice, the resignation still stands, but the employer can pursue a claim for proven damages.

Notice during probation

Either party may end the employment relationship during probation with a simple written notice of 5 days. No grounds need to be stated, but termination during probation cannot be for a discriminatory reason.

This is the feature of Romanian termination law that surprises most foreign employers. Most EU countries guarantee a severance payment that scales with tenure. Romania does not. Multiple authoritative sources confirm there is no minimum statutory rate.

What you may owe depends on three layers:

• Individual employment contract: any termination payment clause agreed at hire is binding.
• Collective bargaining agreement: sector or company-level CBAs commonly include severance formulas for redundancy. Check whether your company is covered by a CBA before agreeing final terms.
• Internal company policy: a documented redundancy or severance policy creates an expectation that is legally difficult to withdraw from unilaterally.

Accrued holiday pay is always owed on termination, regardless of grounds. Under the Labour Code, unused annual leave must be paid out at the daily rate calculated on the employee's average daily wage over the last three months. That is not optional.

Final pay timing

Romanian law requires final pay to be settled by the end of the last month or the next regular payroll run. No fixed number of calendar days is specified in the Labour Code, but the expectation is prompt settlement aligned with the existing payroll cycle. Delay exposes the employer to interest claims.

Once collective redundancy rules are triggered, the process is tightly regulated under Labour Code Articles 68 to 74:

• Notify ITM and ANOFM: you must inform the Territorial Labour Inspectorate (ITM) and the local employment agency (ANOFM) in writing at least 30 days before the first dismissal decision is issued.
• Consult employee representatives: genuine consultation with trade union representatives or elected employee representatives is mandatory. Representatives have a short window set by law to submit alternative proposals in writing.
• Written information package: employees must receive full written information on the reasons for redundancy, the number affected, the selection criteria, the calculation method for any payments, and the retraining or redeployment steps considered.
• Selection criteria: criteria must be objective and applied consistently. Last-in-first-out is common but not legally required; performance, skills, and family situation are also used.

Skipping or shortcutting the collective consultation process means the dismissal decisions can be annulled by the court. Employees can be reinstated with full back pay from the date of dismissal. There is no fixed protective award in RON per employee in the way some countries operate, but the liability from reinstatement plus back pay for a full workforce can be substantial.

ANOFM is required to seek alternative employment solutions for affected workers. Cooperation with ANOFM, including notifying affected employees of available retraining programmes, is part of the legal obligation.

Mutual termination by agreement (acordul partilor) is widely used in Romania and is recognised under the Labour Code as a distinct, valid method of ending an employment contract. Neither party needs to cite a ground. Both must consent freely.

Key elements of a valid mutual termination agreement:

• Written form: must be in writing and signed by both parties.
• Clear end date: a specific date on which employment ends.
• Payment terms: any agreed payment over and above accrued entitlements should be written in. Verbal commitments are not binding.
• No duress: if the employee later shows they signed under pressure, the agreement can be challenged. Document the negotiation trail.

Mutual termination is particularly useful where a performance issue exists but the disciplinary procedure has not been completed, where both sides want a quick and certain exit, or where the employment relationship has broken down and a contested dismissal would be damaging for both sides.

One important distinction: a mutual agreement does not automatically entitle the employee to unemployment benefit in Romania. If unemployment benefit is relevant to the employee, they may prefer a formal redundancy dismissal over a mutual exit. This is worth discussing if you want genuine agreement rather than a reluctant signature.

Real HR and legal experts handle your Romania hires, from the offer letter through every payroll run. An actual person, not a pooled queue. There is no setup fee and no exit fee, and employer cost passes through at cost, itemised on every invoice.

The split of responsibilities under EOR for Romania terminations:

Romania's day-one protection rule means the procedural risk is present from the first week of employment, not after a qualifying period. Teamed carries that procedural knowledge at scale across all your Romania hires, not just one. EOR payroll, contractor onboarding, and entity setup all live on one platform. A Romania contractor who converts to payroll keeps their record, and that same employee can graduate from EOR to your own Romanian entity without switching systems. Run the Crossover Calculator to see the month the model flips. EOR is the right structure for a first Romania hire, until it isn't. Start from the Romania hiring overview.

Key sources: L&E Global, Termination of employment contracts in Romania, CMS Law, Dismissals in Romania, and Iorgulescu Legal, Collective Redundancies in Romania.