Guide to the employee personnel file: the mandatory documents (HG 295/2025), the contract and its annexes, physical or digital storage rules, GDPR retention and the link with REGES.
Translated from Romanian. This article covers Romanian labour and tax law; the Romanian version is canonical and is updated first.
For every employee, the company must keep a complete personnel file, which the ITM (the Labour Inspectorate) can ask for at any time. Which documents are mandatory, how to keep them legally (physically or digitally) and what GDPR requires on retention — here is the guide.
The obligation to draw up and keep the personnel file is set out in art. 8 of HG 295/2025 (REGES-Online), read together with the GDPR rules on data protection. The rule is not new, but its legal basis has changed: it appeared in HG 500/2011 (art. 8), then in HG 905/2017 (art. 7) — which repealed the former — and HG 295/2025 took it over and repealed HG 905/2017 once the transition period, extended by OUG 46/2025 to 31 December 2025, had ended. As of the date this article was updated (30 September 2026), HG 295/2025 is, however, being challenged in court, and art. 8 is among the provisions targeted; from the public information available, the rulings so far are not final, and until a final decision the obligations remain in force (the current position is in the article on the court annulment of HG 295/2025). The file brings together the documents attesting the employment relationship and must be made available to inspectors on request.
The file starts from the documents gathered at hiring:
The core of the file is the contractual relationship:
While the employment lasts, the following are added:
The file also includes documents relating to compliance and data protection:
A criminal record certificate is kept in the file only when there is a legal basis for it; the rules are in criminal records at hiring.
The file can be kept physically or digitally, with the same value, provided the integrity and security requirements are met. GDPR requires personal data to be protected (restricted access, encryption where appropriate) and kept only for as long as necessary, with purging when the retention period expires. Keeping copies of identity documents indefinitely “just in case” is exactly the kind of practice GDPR discourages. What the inspector asks for from the file and the company’s other documents during a check is in the documents needed at an ITM inspection.
The employee has the right to receive, on request, certified copies of the documents in their file, within 15 working days of the request (art. 8(4) and (5) of HG 295/2025). Refusal or unjustified delay can attract penalties.
The personnel file is correlated with REGES (the General Register of Employee Records): the contract, the addenda and the termination in the file must have a counterpart in the register. Discrepancies between the file and REGES are among the first things visible in an inspection.
Workly keeps the digital personnel file: the documents sit in one place, with role-based access, and the personal ID number, ID document and IBAN are encrypted. Retention can be configured per document type, and automatic deletion at expiry is optional (an administrator switches it on; off by default). Addenda can be generated from the platform, from a template. That removes the incomplete physical file and the risk of a fine for missing or improperly kept documents.
Informational article, accurate at the date of publication. Not legal advice. The requirements on the personnel file and on data retention may change — always check the framework in force at the official source (the Labour Inspectorate, ANSPDCP, the Official Gazette) or consult a specialist before taking a decision.
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