Shift planning guide: the 12-hour daily rest and the 48-hour weekly one, night shifts, uneven schedules, the 4-month reference period and the rules on communicating the roster.
Translated from Romanian. This article covers Romanian labour and tax law; the Romanian version is canonical and is updated first.
In a company that runs shifts, planning is not a logistics problem but a compliance one. A roster that “works” operationally can breach three rules of the Labour Code (Codul Muncii) at the same time — and the consequences only show up at an inspection or after an accident. Here are the constraints any plan has to respect.
1. Normal working time: 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week. Beyond that, the time becomes overtime, with the rules that go with it.
2. A maximum of 48 hours a week, including overtime — calculated as an average over a reference period (in principle 4 months). This means that a 52-hour week is acceptable only if it is balanced by shorter ones, so that the average stays below the threshold.
3. Daily rest: at least 12 consecutive hours between two working days. This is where the most frequent planning error occurs: a shift that ends at 22:00 and one that starts at 06:00 leave only 8 hours — below the legal minimum.
4. Weekly rest: at least 48 consecutive hours, as a rule on Saturday and Sunday. For activities that cannot be interrupted, the law allows other arrangements, with compensation.
The common rule: the arrangement chosen must be documented (contract, addendum — act adițional — or internal rules of procedure) and observed in the time records.
Night work is work performed in the 22:00–06:00 window. An employee is a “night worker” if they perform at least 3 hours of night work out of their daily schedule, or a significant proportion of their monthly working time within that window.
Compensation takes one of two forms:
Night workers are entitled to a periodic medical examination, and certain categories — pregnant women, women who have recently given birth, breastfeeding women, young people under 18 — face restrictions or prohibitions on night work. A roster that includes them is a serious problem, not an administrative slip.
The working schedule must be known to employees. In practice, that means a roster displayed or communicated with reasonable notice, not announced the evening before. Repeated last-minute changes can be read as a unilateral change to the contract.
For companies running shifts, good practice is to publish the monthly roster at least a few days before the period starts and to keep the versions — so that you can prove what was communicated and when.
How many hours of rest are required between two shifts? At least 12 consecutive hours. A shift that ends at 22:00 cannot be followed by one starting before 10:00 the next day.
Can you work 12 hours a day? Yes, in 12/24 arrangements (12 hours worked, 24 hours of rest), provided you observe the average of 48 hours a week over the reference period and the other rest periods.
What premium applies to the night shift? Either a schedule shortened by one hour with no reduction in pay, or a premium of at least 25% of the base salary, for work performed between 22:00 and 06:00.
How far in advance must the shift roster be communicated? The law does not set a single deadline, but the schedule must be known to employees. Sound practice is to publish the monthly roster a few days in advance and to keep the versions communicated.
Who cannot work the night shift? Pregnant women, women who have recently given birth and breastfeeding women, as well as young people under 18, face legal restrictions or prohibitions on night work.
See also working time in Romania, overtime and electronic time tracking for factories.
The rules above are easy to state and hard to follow by hand across 80 people and three shifts. The work schedules module in Workly lets you build shift rosters and checks the constraints automatically as you plan: the 12-hour rest between shifts, weekly rest and the cumulative hours measured against the 48h/week average over the reference period. In practice, the problem appears on screen before it reaches the roster, not after an inspection.
The roster communicated stays versioned, so you can prove which schedule was announced and when. The hours actually worked are recorded through a kiosk with a rotating QR code or an NFC card — suited to factory floors and shifts with many people — and differences from the plan are visible immediately. Night shifts, weekends and public holidays are identified automatically in the time records and carried through as such into payroll, with export in SAGA format to your accountant; the night premium is calculated automatically, while the weekend and public holiday ones are for now handled as an adjustment. And the daily record stays the one required by art. 119, ready to present to ITM.
Informational article, accurate at the date of publication. Not legal advice. The rules on working time and rest periods may change and depend on the applicable collective agreement — always check the framework in force (the Labour Code) or consult a specialist.
Night work guide: the 22:00–06:00 window, the 3-hour test, the choice between a schedule shortened by one hour and the 25% premium, medical examinations and protected categories.
Overtime calculation step by step: the hourly rate, the minimum 75% premium, compensation with time off within 90 days, combining with the night premium and public holidays.
A practical guide to digitalising time tracking: why Excel becomes a risk, which check-in methods exist (rotating QR, NFC, GPS), how to make the transition and what you gain.
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