The employee announces that she is pregnant, which are the implications for the employer?

According to article 2 lett. c) from the Government Emergency Ordinance 96/2003 regarding the maternity protection at workplaces, ”the pregnant employee is the woman who informs in writing the employer of her physiological state of pregnancy and attaches a medical document issued by the family or specialised physician attesting that condition;"

 

Within 10 working days from the reception of the above-mentioned notification, the employer must inform the occupational physician and the territorial labour inspectorate within the area where the activity is performed. The penalty in case of failing to comply with this obligation is a fine from 2500 lei to 5000 lei.

 

The employer is bound to keep confidentiality about the employee’s pregnancy condition and he/she will not inform other employees except with her written consent and only in the interest of proper development of the working process, when the pregnancy is not visible.

 

The occupational physician issues a report identifying the safety and/or health risks of the pregnant employee, indicating the necessary measures for preventing them.

 

The employer will inform the employee in writing about the evaluation result regarding the risks she can be exposed to at the working places, about the measures to be taken and about her rights.

 

If adapting the working conditions and/or the working hours is not technically and/or objectively possible, or it cannot be requested on duly substantiated grounds, the employer will take the necessary measures to change the work place of the employee in question. If the employer, due to objectively justified reasons, is not able to assign the female employee to another workstation without risks, the pregnant employee will be entitled to maternity risk leave.

 

Based on the recommendation of the family physician, the pregnant employee who cannot fulfil her normal working duration on health grounds, hers or her unborn child’s, is entitled to a reduction of her normal working duration by 1/4, while the salary incomes are maintained and entirely borne by the employer's salary fund.

 

The employer is bound to grant pregnant employees a waiver for pre-natal examinations up to a maximum of 16 hours per month, based on the recommendation of a family or specialist physician, if the investigations can only be carried out during working hours, without reducing the salary rights.

 

The employer will also inform by displaying in visible places, for a period of 6 months, in each held units, the rights that the pregnant employees have in terms of maternity protection at workplace.

 

If the health of pregnant employees is affected by night work, the employer is obliged, based on a written request from the employee and a medical document stating the period during which her health is affected by that type of work, to transfer her to a day job, maintaining the monthly gross basic salary.

 

Upon request of the pregnant employee who is currently carrying out an insanitary or hard to bear activity, the employer is obliged to transfer her to another job, maintaining the monthly gross basic salary.