Unpaid leave: the legal basis, the employer's right to refuse, the duration set by internal rules, and the effects on length of service, contribution history and insured status.
Translated from Romanian. This article covers Romanian labour and tax law; the Romanian version is canonical and is updated first.
Unpaid leave looks like the simplest type of leave — the employee is away, the company does not pay. In reality it has important effects on length of service, contribution history and insured status, which few people explain to the employee beforehand. Here is what both sides need to know.
The Labour Code (Codul Muncii) provides that employees are entitled to unpaid leave in order to deal with personal matters. The duration is set through the applicable collective labour agreement or through the internal rules (regulamentul intern).
Two immediate consequences:
The exception is unpaid leave for professional training, which has rules of its own and in respect of which the employer’s refusal is limited: it can be rejected only with the agreement of the employees’ representatives and only if the absence would seriously prejudice the running of the business.
This is the information that really matters for the employee.
On length of service. As a rule, a period of unpaid leave does not count as length of service, except in the cases expressly provided by law (for example unpaid leave for professional training, under the conditions of the law).
On contribution history. Because no contributions are paid, the period is not taken into account for pension contribution history. A few months of unpaid leave means, years later, a few months missing from the record.
On insured status. This is the practical trap. Without salary income, no CASS (the health insurance contribution) is withheld — and after the 2025 reform, insured status is tied more closely to the actual payment of the contribution. An employee on prolonged unpaid leave can end up without health insurance cover, unless they pay CASS individually.
This is exactly the kind of thing the employee finds out when they get to the doctor. It is worth saying before the request is approved.
On annual leave. Periods of unpaid leave are not periods of activity, so they can influence the proportional calculation of annual leave days for that year.
On the contract. The contract is suspended by agreement of the parties, and the suspension is reported in REGES (the General Register of Employee Records).
Because the law leaves the duration to the company’s discretion, the internal rules should provide for:
The last point protects you: if the information is documented, the employee cannot claim later that they did not know.
UNPAID LEAVE REQUEST
To: [Employer name] — Human Resources Department
The undersigned ______________________, holding the position of
______________ within the ______________ department,
hereby request your approval for unpaid leave
for the period:
From: [dd.mm.yyyy]
To: [dd.mm.yyyy]
Number of working days: [no.]
Reason for the request: ________________________________
I declare that I have been informed of the effects of
unpaid leave on length of service, contribution
history and insured status in the social health
insurance system.
Date: __________ Signature: ______________
Approved / Rejected (reason): _______________________
Signature of line manager / HR: _____________________A necessary clarification: unpaid leave is approved; unauthorised absence is not. The first lawfully suspends the contract; the second is a disciplinary offence and can attract sanctions, including termination of the contract in repeated cases.
In practice: an employee who is absent and then “takes unpaid days” retroactively, without approval, is in the second situation.
How many days of unpaid leave can I take? The law does not fix a number. The duration is set through the applicable collective agreement or through the company’s internal rules.
Can the employer refuse? Yes, as a rule. The exception is unpaid leave for professional training, where refusal is limited by law.
Does it affect my length of service? As a rule, the period does not count as length of service and does not enter the pension contribution history, subject to the exceptions provided by law.
Do I remain covered by health insurance? Not automatically. Without salary income no CASS is withheld, and after the 2025 reform insured status depends on payment of the contribution — for long periods, individual payment is needed.
Is it reported in REGES? Yes. Suspension of the contract through unpaid leave is submitted to the register, like any suspension.
See also how to calculate annual leave, CASS 10% and the internal rules of procedure.
Unpaid leave is easy to approve and easy to forget — until someone miscalculates length of service or the leave balance. The Leave module in Workly treats it as a distinct type of absence, with a configured effect on the annual leave balance and with the contract suspension flagged automatically, ready to be reported in REGES.
The request is submitted digitally, goes through the approval flow and keeps the proof that the employee was informed about the effects on length of service and on insured status. And on return, reactivation in time tracking and payroll is done from the same source, with no manual re-entry.
Informational article, accurate at the date of publication. Not legal advice. The effects of unpaid leave on length of service and on insured status depend on the specific case — consult a specialist for particular situations.
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