MONETARY COMPENSATION FOR UNUSED VACATION LEAVE, PRESCRIPTION AND LOSS OF THE RIGHT TO COMPENSATION. MONETARY COMPENSATION FOR VACATION DAYS FOR STAFF EMPLOYED BY PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS, INCLUDING STAFF IN ACTIVITIES FINANCED FROM THEIR OWN INCOME
MONETARY COMPENSATION FOR UNUSED VACATION LEAVE, PRESCRIPTION AND LOSS OF THE RIGHT TO COMPENSATION. MONETARY COMPENSATION FOR VACATION DAYS FOR STAFF EMPLOYED BY PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS, INCLUDING STAFF IN ACTIVITIES FINANCED FROM THEIR OWN INCOME

Summary/Abstract: The right to annual leave is a fundamental right provided for by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. In domestic legislation, the right to annual leave is a main right derived from the fundamental right to rest, provided for by the Romanian Constitution (art. 41 paragraph (2) of the Romanian Constitution). The Labor Code lists the main rights of the employee, and among these is the right to paid annual leave (art. 144 paragraph (1) of the republished Labor Code. At the same time, according to Art. 146. Paragraph (3) of the republished Labor Code “compensation in money for unused vacation leave is allowed only in the event of termination of the individual employment contract”.The leave is usually taken in kind, each year, and if the employee, for justified reasons, cannot take, in whole or in part, the annual vacation leave to which he was entitled in the respective calendar year, with the consent of the person concerned, the employer is obliged to grant the unused vacation leave within a period of 18 months, starting with the year following the one in which the right to annual leave has arisen. Only in the event of termination of employment, in the event that the leave has not been taken, is the employee entitled to payment of an allowance. On the other hand, if the employee refuses or deliberately refrains from taking the leave within the legal period established by each legislation, and the employer can prove that he has fulfilled his obligation to ensure the taking of the leave, the latter will no longer be obliged to grant the employee either this right (exercise of it in kind) or the allowance upon termination of employment (exercise in equivalent) Court of Justice of the European Union, judgments delivered in cases C-619/16 and C-684/16 Sebastian W. Kreuziger/Land Berlin and Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften eV/Tetsuji Shimizu. In relation to the monetary compensation of the unused vacation leave upon termination of the individual employment contract, the High Court of Cassation and Justice - Panel for resolving legal issues, by Decision no. 40/09.03.2026 established that: in application of Art. 268 Par. (1) letter c) of the republished Labor Code: the 3-year limitation period for compensating for unused vacation days until the termination of employment/service relationships, arising from a current right, begins to run from the moment of termination of the employment relationship, and in relation to the application of the provisions of Art. 146 Par. (1) of the Code for: the interval exceeding the 18-month carry-over period, the right to obtain monetary compensation for the days of vacation leave subsists when the employer did not effectively offer the employee the opportunity to exercise this right and, respectively, does not exist when the employee refrained from taking his paid annual leave, although he was offered this opportunity

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