More than 5,000 employees at Damen Mangalia, Liberty Galati and Romaero Bucharest will benefit from expanded wage-protection measures if their employers enter insolvency or preventive concordat, the Labor Ministry announced on Thursday.
The government has approved an emergency ordinance amending Law 200/2006 on the Guarantee Fund for the Payment of Salary Claims, extending protection for workers whose companies face financial distress. The new rules also apply to employers entering preventive concordat and introduce higher compensation caps for employees of strategic-interest companies: up to 12 average gross salaries per employee in the case of insolvency and up to 6 in the case of preventive concordat.
Under current law, the fund covers up to five months of wages, capped at five average gross salaries, only in insolvency cases, and with no differentiation according to the employer's economic or strategic role. This provision remains in place. The new ordinance also defines strategic-interest economic operators as those essential to national defense, economic, energy, food or social security, or to the functioning of critical infrastructure and defense-industry capacities. The government will approve the list of such operators, the Labor Ministry said.
"It is essential that people know their work is protected, even in the most difficult moments for employers. No one should lose the income they earned honestly," Labour Minister Florin Manole said. He noted that the measure directly supports more than 5,000 employees at major companies such as Damen Mangalia, Liberty Galati and Romaero.
The ordinance also clarifies the tax mechanism for payments made from the Guarantee Fund: employees receive net amounts, while local employment agencies transfer income tax and social contributions directly. Transitional provisions apply to cases already under review.
According to the Ministry, these measures will help prevent labor disputes, reduce the risk of social exclusion and maintain cohesion in communities dependent on strategic-sector employers.
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