Guide to employee certificates: employment, income and length-of-service, what data they contain, the legal duty to issue them, the deadlines and how to automate the process.
Translated from Romanian. This article covers Romanian labour and tax law; the Romanian version is canonical and is updated first.
Statistically, requests for certificates (adeverințe) are the most frequent enquiry an HR department receives — and one of the biggest consumers of time, because they constantly interrupt other work. Here are the types that exist, what each one must contain and how to get the process out of the inbox.
It is not a favour. Art. 34 of the Labour Code (Codul muncii) provides that the employer is obliged to issue, at the employee’s request, a document attesting the activity carried out, the length of service in work, in the trade and in the speciality. The same obligation applies to the documents in the personnel file (certified copies).
Refusal or unjustified delay can be penalised — and for the employee the consequences are concrete: a loan refused, an unemployment file blocked, a pension calculated incorrectly.
1. The employment certificate (adeverința de salariat) The simplest one: it attests that the person is employed, the position and, as a rule, the type of contract. Requested by institutions, schools and various files.
2. The income certificate (adeverința de venit) It attests the income earned over a period. The most frequently requested version — for banks (loans, leasing), for courts (maintenance payments), for various forms of social assistance. Banks usually ask for their own format.
3. The length-of-service certificate (adeverința de vechime în muncă) It attests the periods worked, the positions held and, where applicable, the premiums and the special conditions. Essential for the pension file, especially for periods that do not appear in the electronic records.
4. The certificate for the family doctor / insured status It attests the person’s status as insured and, sometimes, the number of sick leave days over the last 12 months — needed in order to establish the qualifying period for a new certificate.
5. The certificate for the unemployment file It attests the length of service and the income, alongside the termination decision. Without it, the former employee cannot open a file with the employment agency.
Whatever the type, a correct certificate has:
For income certificates, state whether the amounts are gross or net and whether they include premiums — an ambiguity here leads to the file being rejected at the bank.
The law does not set a single deadline for all types, but it does require issuing on request, within a reasonable interval. For certain documents there are express deadlines — for example, certified copies of the documents in the personnel file are issued within a term of the order of 15 days from the request.
On termination of the contract, the length-of-service and income certificates are issued, as a rule, on the very date of termination — because the unemployment file depends on them.
The practical recommendation: set an internal deadline (for example 3 working days) and communicate it. Most of the frustration comes from not knowing the deadline, not from its length.
A certificate must contain strictly the data needed for the stated purpose. Do not include:
The certificate is issued to the employee, not to a third party, unless there is a power of attorney or a legal obligation.
Is the employer obliged to issue certificates? Yes. Art. 34 of the Codul muncii obliges the employer to issue, at the employee’s request, a document attesting the activity, the length of service in work, in the trade and in the speciality.
What does an income certificate for a bank contain? The employer’s and the employee’s details, the position, the type and duration of the contract, the income over the requested period (specifying gross/net), a registration number, a date and a signature. Many banks have their own format.
How quickly must a certificate be issued? Within a reasonable term from the request; for certified copies from the personnel file the law provides express deadlines. On termination of the contract, the length-of-service and income certificates are issued on the date of termination.
Can a former employee ask for a certificate? Yes. The obligation to issue documents attesting the activity carried out does not end when the contract does — which is why personnel documents are archived long term.
Can the certificate be issued in electronic form? Yes, if it is properly signed and the receiving institution accepts it. Many institutions accept electronically signed documents.
See also the documents due on termination of the contract, the pension file and how long you keep personnel documents.
This is where automation has the most visible effect on HR time. The documents module in Workly offers self-service certificates: the employee requests the certificate themselves from the application, and the document is generated from the platform’s real data — position, period, income from the payroll registers, consolidated length of service — with a registration number and a date, without anyone in HR having to search through files.
Requests go through a configurable approval flow, and every document issued stays in the employee’s history: you know at any time which certificate was issued, to whom and when. For former employees who come back years later for their pension file, the consolidated data (length of service, income, premiums) allows quick issuing instead of reconstructing a paper archive. Sensitive data stays encrypted, and certificates contain only the information needed for the purpose — exactly what the GDPR minimisation principle requires.
Informational article, accurate at the date of publication. Not legal advice. The requirements on issuing documents may change — always check the framework in force (Codul muncii) or consult a specialist.
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