What is remote work in Romania?

“Remote work” is a useful business expression, but it is not a single legal category. The first step is to identify how, where and with what technology the work is performed. The classification affects the contract, the employer’s control methods, working-time records, occupational safety, data security and, in some cases, tax, social-security and immigration obligations.

Romania’s Law no. 81/2018 regulates telework. In broad terms, telework is a form of work organisation in which an employee regularly and voluntarily performs duties in a place other than the employer’s premises, using information and communications technology, under conditions agreed with the employer. The statutory definition refers to activity performed at least one day per month in such a location.

Telework is different from a general flexible-hours arrangement. A flexible schedule changes when the employee works. Telework changes, at least in part, where the employee works and how the employer manages the activity. The two arrangements can coexist, but they should not be treated as interchangeable.

Which legal route fits the arrangement?

Select the closest description to see the main legal question. The selector is a practical classification aid, not a substitute for reviewing the contract and actual working pattern.

When must telework be included in the employment contract?

Under Law no. 81/2018, telework is based on the agreement of the parties and is expressly provided in the individual employment contract for a new employee or by an amendment for an existing employee. The employer should complete this step before the employee begins working under the telework arrangement.

A general remote-work policy may be useful, but it does not replace an express contractual provision where the statutory telework regime applies. The policy can explain approval workflows, equipment, security, availability and office attendance. The contract or amendment should still contain the legally relevant terms for the individual arrangement.

Any later change to an essential contractual element should be reviewed before implementation. For example, a material change to the place of work, the number of remote days, the schedule, the applicable reporting method or the employee’s cross-border location may require an updated contract, amendment, employee-register transmission or separate legal analysis.

What should a Romanian telework clause contain?

The contract should be drafted for the actual arrangement, not copied from a generic remote-work policy. Law no. 81/2018 identifies specific matters to be included in the individual employment contract or amendment. The drafting should also remain consistent with the Labour Code, internal regulations, occupational safety documents and data-protection information.

Depending on the role and arrangement, the clause should address the days or periods when the employee works at the employer’s premises, the place or places from which telework may be performed, how the employer checks activity and how the employee reports, the method for recording the beginning and end of working time, the responsibilities for occupational safety, the equipment and maintenance arrangements, data-protection requirements and measures designed to prevent professional isolation.

The agreement should be sufficiently practical. If the employer expects attendance at meetings, access to confidential information, use of specific devices, availability during fixed hours or periodic office attendance, the clause and related policy should say so clearly. Vagueness can create disputes about supervision, performance, overtime, expenses and whether an employee was authorised to work from a particular location.

Employer obligations for equipment, health and safety and data

Remote work does not remove the employer’s responsibility to organise work lawfully. The employer should identify the equipment needed for the role, define who provides and maintains it, establish a secure method for access to company systems and communicate rules for confidential information, personal data and incident reporting.

Occupational safety measures should reflect the place and manner in which the work is performed. The employer should provide the information and training required by the applicable health and safety rules, establish how compliance is checked within the legal limits and document the employee’s responsibilities. A remote arrangement should not be approved without considering ergonomics, electrical safety, working conditions, emergency reporting and the practical limits of inspecting a private home.

Data protection requires more than telling employees to use a password. The organisation should apply appropriate technical and organisational measures, including access control, device security, authentication, secure connections, rules for printing or storing documents, restrictions on family or third-party access, incident reporting and secure return or deletion of company data. Monitoring should be necessary, proportionate, transparent and consistent with employment and data-protection requirements.

Working time, availability and the right to disconnect

A remote employee remains protected by the applicable working-time rules. The employer should define the schedule or availability windows, the method for recording the start and end of work, the approval process for overtime and the arrangements for rest breaks and daily and weekly rest. Remote work is not a waiver of these protections.

The employer should also avoid confusing performance measurement with permanent availability. Clear objectives, deliverables, communication windows and escalation channels are usually more defensible than constant surveillance. If the company expects an employee to answer messages outside working hours, it should assess whether this creates overtime, rest-period or health concerns.

Flexible schedules may be agreed alongside telework. They should be documented in a way that makes the employee’s actual working time capable of being recorded. The contract, internal rules and remote-work policy should not contradict each other, particularly where one document promises flexibility and another imposes fixed availability without explaining the relationship.

Employees with children and special remote-work requests

Article 118^1 of the Labour Code currently provides that, on request, employees who have children in their care up to the statutory age may benefit from four days per month of work at home or telework, except where the nature or type of work does not permit it. The provision should be checked against the current wording and the facts of the individual role before an employer accepts or rejects a request.

The employer should examine the nature of the work, the employee’s role, the requested days, operational requirements and any contractual or internal rules. A request should not be rejected by simply stating that the company does not generally offer remote work if the statutory conditions are potentially met. Conversely, a role that requires physical presence, equipment, customer contact or secure on-site activity may need a documented assessment of why the arrangement is not workable.

This statutory right should also be distinguished from a general policy allowing occasional home working. The documents may overlap operationally, but the legal basis and the employer’s assessment are not necessarily identical.

Cross-border remote work from Romania

An employee who works remotely from Romania for an employer established elsewhere may trigger issues that do not arise in an ordinary domestic telework arrangement. The physical location of the work, the employee’s residence, the length and regularity of the presence, the employer’s business activity and the applicable international and EU rules all matter.

The review may involve Romanian employment law, social-security coordination, payroll withholding, tax residence, permanent-establishment risk, immigration status, data transfers and local registration or notification requirements. A foreign employer should not assume that a Romanian employee can work indefinitely from Romania merely because the work is performed online and the salary is paid from abroad.

Likewise, a Romanian employer sending an employee to work from another country should establish the country, duration, reporting line, employer instructions, local mandatory employment protections and social-security position before the arrangement begins. Article 18 of the Labour Code may require specific information where the employee is to perform work abroad, and separate rules may apply to posted workers or other assignments.

The digital nomad visa, where relevant, is an immigration route and does not automatically settle employment, payroll, tax or social-security questions. Immigration permission, employment-law compliance and tax treatment should be analysed separately and then reconciled.

Tax, social security and immigration checks

Remote work can change the compliance profile even where the employment contract remains unchanged. Tax treatment may depend on residence, the place where work is performed, treaty rules, employer obligations and the facts of the assignment. Social-security coverage may depend on the applicable EU coordination rules, certificates, posting status or another international instrument.

Immigration status is a separate question. A foreign national may have permission to stay in Romania without having an unrestricted right to work for a particular employer. A Romanian employee working abroad may also need local work authorisation or registration even if the employee remains on the Romanian payroll.

Employers should obtain advice before treating a remote arrangement as tax-neutral, payroll-neutral or immigration-neutral. The prudent approach is to prepare a short country-and-facts memo that records the proposed location, duration, employing entity, reporting line, customer contact, equipment, travel and intended end date.

Remote work policies and internal governance

A good remote-work policy translates the contract into an operating system. It should identify who approves remote work, which locations are permitted, how office attendance is scheduled, how equipment is used, who may access confidential information, how incidents are reported and what happens when the arrangement no longer works operationally.

The policy should also explain performance expectations, communication standards, working-time recording, overtime approval, absence reporting, leave, business travel, return of equipment and the procedure for changing or ending the remote arrangement. If monitoring is used, the employer should explain its purpose, scope, legal basis, retention and access in the appropriate privacy information and employment documents.

Managers should receive guidance as well. Inconsistent treatment between teams can create discrimination, equal-treatment or employee-relations risks. A manager should not impose an informal rule that conflicts with the contract, statutory working-time protections, a collective agreement or a documented company policy.

Common employer mistakes

Other recurring problems include failing to record the permitted work location, omitting the method for recording working time, not updating REGES-ONLINE where a reportable contractual change occurs, overlooking occupational safety training and allowing a remote arrangement to continue after its factual conditions have changed.

Practical checklist for Romanian employers

• Identify whether the arrangement is telework, work at home, mobile work, flexible scheduling or cross-border work.
• Confirm that the role can be performed safely and effectively from the proposed location.
• Check the employee’s contract, job description, collective rules and internal regulations.
• Include the telework arrangement expressly in the contract or amendment where Law no. 81/2018 applies.
• State permitted locations, office days, reporting lines, working-time records and availability windows.
• Define equipment, software, maintenance, expenses, security and return arrangements.
• Provide occupational safety information and training appropriate to the remote work model.
• Apply proportionate data-security controls and communicate the privacy and monitoring rules.
• Define how overtime, rest, leave, absence, incidents and business travel are handled.
• Check whether the change must be transmitted in REGES-ONLINE before it takes effect.
• For cross-border work, review tax, payroll, social security, immigration, data and permanent-establishment issues.
• Keep a record of approvals, amendments, training, equipment handover and later changes.