Supplementary Monthly Income for Miners in Jiu Valley

At the proposal of the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Business Environment, the Government of Romania approved the Emergency Ordinance under which the supplementary monthly income is ensured for miners who will be made redundant in the companies: Hunedoara Energy Complex and the National Company for Mine Closure.

The situation addressed by the Emergency Ordinance adopted on December 5 was unsolved for more than one year. Thus, the current Government allocated the amount of RON 91.497 million to cover the supplementary monthly income and it will be ensured for the period 2019-2024 from the unemployment insurance budget.

According to the Emergency Ordinance, the supplementary income for each person is equal to the difference between his/her net salary in the last 3 months of activity, but no more than the level of the national average net salary in January of the year when the employee is made redundant and the level of the unemployment benefit in the same year.

“The Government corrects an injustice that could have been solved by the previous Cabinet, a year ago: to ensure supplementary monthly income that their colleagues previously made redundant have benefited from. The Emergency Ordinance adopted today grants social protection to miners made redundant, legitimate rights given the specifics and importance of the activity carried out by miners,” Minister of Economy, Energy and Business Environment Virgil-Daniel Popescu said.

As regards the period when the miners in Jiu Valley from the two companies benefit from the supplementary monthly income, it will depend on their seniority, as follows:

• 12 months for persons with a length of service between 3 and up to 10 years;
• 20 months for employees with a length of service between 10 and 15 years;
• 24 months for employees with a length of service between 15 and 22 years.

Miners will benefit from both the supplementary monthly income and the unemployment benefit.

As regards persons who will be employed sooner than the expiry of the period of the supplementary monthly income, they will benefit from 50% of the payment, until the end of the period. Persons who request during the collection of the supplementary monthly income the retirement decision will no longer receive the monthly income once the first pension is received.

At the same time, the supplementary monthly income cannot be collected in parallel with the payment of the parental leave allowance, until the child fulfills the age of 2 years or 3 years respectively in the case of children with disabilities.

Persons previously made redundant from these companies have benefited from the supplementary monthly income. Therefore, the adoption of the Emergency Ordinance ensures equal treatment for all miners part of the redundancy plans approved by companies and the European Commission.