Clerks at the courts and prosecutors' offices in Romania protested on Thursday, February 1, being unhappy with the social contributions transfer from employers to employees, which they say has a negative impact on their salaries.

Denisa Dindareanu, the president of the Association of Romanian Court Clerks, told local Agerpres that the salaries of those in execution and management positions with experience of over 15 years would drop due to the “bad” salary pay scale and the social contributions transfer.

"This is a protest, a Japanese strike, which means that the clerks don’t stop their activity but wear white armbands as a sign of protest against salary cuts,” Dindareanu said. According to her, the salaries are to drop by up to RON 500.

The protest was organized nationwide, including also the clerks who are not affected by these measures. Another protest may follow, but this time the clerks will stop work.

The social contributions transfer is one of the most important new rules that came into force on January 1, 2018, impacting both local businesses and employees. Companies should increase the employees’ gross salaries by at least 20% so that their net salaries remain the same. Some companies will grant the 20% difference in the form of bonuses until the transfer of social contributions is clear from a legal point of view.

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Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com