The amendments to the contravention code aimed to discourage informal employment of employees

On 27 October, the changes in the Moldovan Contravention Code entered into force, not only the employers who benefit from the informal work, but also the employees, i.e. the persons, who provide the informal work, will be sanctioned.

The vice-president of CNSM, Sergiu Sainciuc, explains that, according to the new provisions of Art. 55 of the Contravention Code of the Republic of Moldova, the performance of work by a person, without having concluded an individual labour contract in written form, is considered a violation of labour law. According to this article, he warns that persons identified as working without a written labour contract will be fined from 3500 lei to 6000 lei.

The National Trade Union Confederation of Moldova considers that the amendments recently implemented in the Contravention Code of Moldova are meant to discourage workers from working without concluding an individual labour contract. The CNSM regards these changes as an expression of the accountability of both sides of the labour relations, worker and employer, for violation of labour law.

Although these changes have not been proposed by the trade unions, the CNSM considers them to be consistent and lasting measures necessary in the context in which a large part of the country’s labour market workers currently do not respect the legal conditions of employment. As a result, this category of people are affected in terms of unreasonable retention of salary, lack of benefits and guarantees, additional work on rest and non-working holidays, reaching retirement age by non-payment of social and medical insurance contributions, sickness, or more severely, of involvement in work accidents.

The CNSM hopes that these sanctions will achieve the aim pursued by the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova: the maximum possible diminution of the informal labour dimension in the country’s economy.

Department of Mass Media and International Relations