The Government Decision no. 449/2016 for the amendment and supplementing of the Methodological Norms for the applicability of the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 111/2010 on parental leave and child care monthly allowance was published in the Official Gazette no. 473 of 22 June 2016.
The Order No. 1099/2016 of the Ministry of Labor, Family, Social Protection and Older People regarding the approval of the Instruction for the applicability of the provisions of art. III paragraph (1) of Law no. 66/2016 for the amendment and supplementing of the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 111/2010 on parental leave and child care monthly allowance was published in the Official Gazette no. 474 of 24 June 2016.
The new pieces of legislation clarify the way in which the recent amendments brought by Law 66/2016 to the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 111/2010 on parental leave and monthly allowance for child care will be applied.
According to the methodological norms and the instructions, the following persons will benefit from the new legal provisions as of 1st of July 2016:
1. The persons that currently benefit from parental leave for child care aged up to one year old or that currently benefit from return incentive as well as the ones that currently benefit from non-paid leave for raising the children of up to two years old, if such persons want to amend their option and request the prolongation or the reinstatement of the parental leave for child care aged up to 2 years old, respectively 3 years old, for the children with disabilities.
The interested persons can change their options by applying to the competent regional payment and social inspection agency and by submitting the documents evidencing that they have suspended their activity that generated income which was subject to income tax for the period remaining until the child ages 2 years old, respectively 3 years old, for children with disabilities. The persons who already benefit from the return to work incentive and from unpaid leave must submit their applications by the 1st of August 2016 (this date included). Otherwise, their option shall become effective only as of the submission date and not as of the 1st of July 2016. Parents who already benefit from parental leave for children aged up to one year old must submit their application with at least 30 days before the child is one year old, but not earlier then the 1st of July 2016. The child care allowance is of 85% of the average net income obtained within the last 12 months of the last 2 years prior to the date when the child was born, but not less than 85% of the national minimum gross monthly salary.
2. The persons that currently benefit from parental leave for children aged up to 2 years old.
For this category, the child care monthly allowance shall be amended ex officio based on the information that are already available to the territorial agencies, by applying 85% to the amount already taken into consideration as of the date the right to the allowance was granted before the entering into force of Law no. 66/2016. Thus, the monthly allowance will be recomputed, as the case may be, by eliminating the threshold of RON 1,200 and it shall be calculated by applying 85% the average net income obtained within the previous 12 months of the last 2 years before the child was born, but not, less than 85% of the national minimum gross monthly salary.
3. The persons that already benefit of the return to work incentive, regardless of their option concerning the length of the parental leave initially expressed, and that do not request the reinstatement of the parental leave for children aged up to 2 years old.
This category will benefit ex officio from the extension of the period of time within which they are granted the return to work incentive for children up to 3 years old, or 4 years old, in case of children with disabilities. In addition, the new pieces of legislation remove certain restrictions which used to refrain people from being granted the social benefits regulated by GEO 111/2010 and provide for new rules meant to simplify the procedure of granting the child care allowance, such as: (i) the obligation to pay local taxes for the owned goods in order to benefit from the child care allowance was removed; (ii) the obligation of submitting notarized copies of the justifying documents was removed, simple copies together with the presentation of the original documents being sufficient; (iii) the possibility to submit documents in electronic format as well as documents certified by applying the electronic signature.