Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family
Republic of MOLDOVA
Report
to Recommendation no.135 (1970)
on Minimum wage fixing
The legislation of the Republic of Moldova defines the term “minimum wage” as follows.
Law no. 1432 – XIV of 28. 12.2000 on Fixing and reviewing of minimum wage:
“Article 2. Minimum wage
(1) The minimum wage is a minimum amount of retribution, in MDL, as fixed by the state
for a simple, unqualified work, under which threshold the employer is not entitled to pay,
for the work load/norm performed by the employee, established per month or per hour”.
Labor Code no.154 – XV of 28 March 2003:
“Article 131. Minimum Wage
(1) Each paid employee is entitled to a guaranteed minimum wage.
(2) The minimum wage is the minimum amount of retribution assessed in the national
currency, as fixed by the state for a simple, unqualified work, under which threshold the
employer is not entitled to pay, for the work load/norm performed by the employee,
established per month or per hour.
(3) The minimum wage does not include supplements, bonuses, incentive payments and
compensations”.
Paragraph 6 of Rec.135
In Republic of Moldova the minimum wage is established by Government Decision, in
consultation with Employers’ and Trade Unions’ organizations (art.132 (1) of the Labor Code).
The consultation on the amount of the minimum wage is done in the framework of the National
Commission for Consultation and Collective Bargaining, which is the social partnership body
represented at the national level.
Thus, the minimum wage established is binding for all employers, legal entities or individuals
using paid labor, regardless of type of ownership and legal form of organization. This amount
cannot be reduced, either by collective labor agreement or individual employment contract.
Paragraph 5 of R.135
The minimum wage system in the Republic of Moldova, beside the minimum wage of general
application, includes more minimum wage levels for different categories of employees:
Tariff salary for the 1-st wage category of unique tariff Network of employees in the budget
sector, which according to art. 14 of Law on Wages, no. 847 – XV of February 14, 2002, shall
be established in equal amount, or which exceeds the minimum quantum fixed in the country. It
is established by law. According to situation on January 1, 2013, the tariff salary for the I-st
wage category is 800 MDL per month, or by 200 MDL higher than the minimum wage per state;
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The tariff salary for the I-st wage category employees from public medical institutions,
under the compulsory health insurance system, it’s also determined in equal amount, or is
exceeding the minimum wage quantum established in the country, by Government decision in
consultation with social partners. According to situation on January 1, 2013, the tariff salary for
the I-st qualification category has been established in the amount of 825 MDL.
The minimum guaranteed quantum of wage in the real sector, which according to art. 2 of
Law on Wages no. 847- XV of 14 February 2002, is the minimum mandatory salary, guaranteed
by the state for the work performed by employees in the real sector (all units with financial
autonomy, including those covered by budgetary subsidies, regardless of branch subordination,
type of property and legal form of organization). It is established by Government after
consultations with social partners and is reviewed annually, in conformity with summary annual
increase of CPI (consume prices index) and the growth rate of labor productivity at the national
level. According to the situation on January 1, 2013 the minimum guaranteed wage quantum in
the real sector was established at 1300MDL per month.
Beside the indicated minimum wage levels, with national coverage, each branch of the real
sector is entitled to negotiate and set, in the collective agreements of branch level, the minimum
levels of payment, in equal amount, or to exceed the minimum guaranteed wage quantum fixed
in the real sector. The main reason for application of different minimum wage levels consists,
primarily, in the way of financing the public sector and the real sector. Thus, the state budget has
very reduced possibilities to ensure wage levels, equal to that of the real sector. At the same
time, the wage level in the real sector depends largely on the real costs of manpower on the labor
market.
Paragraph 7, 8 and 11 of R.135
The representative Employers’ organizations in Republic of Moldova are represented at national
level by the National Confederation of Employers of Moldova and the employees are represented
by the National Confederation of Trade Unions of Moldova.
These bodies are directly involved in the review of draft legal acts related to establishment and
review of minimum wage, or minimum guaranteed salary quantum in the real sector, after
bilateral consultations or negotiations on concerned issues. However, the need for reviewing the
size of the minimum wage, the rate of its increase and evaluating the possibilities and the
reviewing period, is discussed on the basis of equality principles, within the National
Commission for Consultations and Collective Bargaining.
Usually, for preparing these decisions are created working groups composed of competent
representatives of all parties involved.
Paragraph 1 and 13 of R.135
The National Bureau of Statistics quarterly performs researches on the households and the
availability of population revenues, including: monthly average income per person available;
average monthly consumption expenditure per person; average household size; household
endowment of households with goods of long term use; evolution of minimum subsistence
income and labor force investigation, which includes data on population employed by economic
activities, unemployment rate, the dimensions of the informal sector in the economy, labor
migration, etc. The data of Survey are occasionally and tangentially applied on assessing the
needs to increase the minimum wage.
Paragraph 9 of R.135
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The National Confederation of Employers of Moldova and National Confederation of Trade
Unions of Moldova, alongside with the Government representatives participate directly, on
equality and parity basis of the parties’ representation within the National Commission for
Consultations and Collective Bargaining.
Paragraph 3,11 and 12 of R.135
At determining the minimum wage level are taken into account the following:
-
Concrete economic conditions;
The average minimum wage per national economy;
The forecasted level of inflation rate.
However, it does not exist a formula by which the minimum salary quantum would be expressly
be dependent on these 3 indicators. In reality, the change of the size of the minimum wage,
mostly depends on the possibilities of the national public budget, because, if the minimum wage
is increased, it has to be fallowed by increase of wages of all employees in the public sector,
whereas, this fact requires additional budgetary coverage.
The minimum wage is reviewed from time to time and there is no an annual indexation
mechanism. The minimum wage dynamics over the past 10 years is characterized by the
following data:
-
since 01.04.2001 – 100 MDL
-
since 01.01. 2005 – 200 MDL
-
since 01.04.2007 – 400 MDL
-
since 01.01.2009 - 600 MDL
In comparison with the minimum wage, the minimum guaranteed quantum of the salary in the
real sector is indexed yearly, related to the size of increase of the annual summary CPI and the
growth rate of labor productivity at national level.
Paragraph 12 of R.135
Yearly by September, accordingly to the situation, the National Bureau of Statistics is carrying
out a survey on employees’ staff distribution, according to wages, calculated on size of
installments, expressed in minimum wage. The table of investigation results for September 20092012, is attached.
Quarterly, is estimated the amount of minimum existence subsistence and the dynamic of CPI is
monthly assessed. Special surveys in order to adjust the minimum wage quantum are not carried
out.
Paragraph 14 of R.135
Mandatory application of minimum salary and minimum guaranteed wage quantum in the real
sector is expressly established in the Labor Code of the Republic of Moldova (art. 129; art.131
(4); art. 134 (1)). All regulations/normative acts of the Government relating to the establishment
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and review of the minimum wage and minimum guaranteed wage quantum in the real sector are
published in the Official Gazette (Monitorul Oficial) of the Republic of Moldova in Moldovan
and Russian languages.
Thus, all foreign employees who do not speak the state languages, have access to information
according to minimum state guarantees in the field of wages.
The penalties for violation of labor laws, including failure to comply minimum state guarantees
on wage payroll, are set out in the Contravention Code nr. 218 – XVI of October 2009 and
provide:
“Article 55. Violation of labor legislation and legislation on the safety and health at work
(1) Violation of labor legislation, legislation on safety and health at work, is sanctioned
with fines from 100 (2000 MDL) to 140 (2800 MDL) conventional units applied for
individuals, by fines from 200 (4000 MDL) to 350 (7000 MDL) conventional units
applied for persons with responsible function and fines from 350 (7000 MDL) to 450
(9000 MDL) conventional units, applied to legal entities.
Article 57. Violation of terms of payment of salaries, pensions, stipends, allowances
and other permanent payments, established by law
(1) Deliberate violation, by two months and more, of the deadline for payment of
salaries, of mandatory state social insurance contributions and premiums for
compulsory health assistance, as well as for performing other regular payments,
established by law,
is punished by fines from50 (1000 MDL) to 100 (2000 MDL) conventional units applied to
natural person/individuals/; by a fine in conventional units from 100 (2000 MDL) to 200 (4000
MDL) applied to persons with responsible function and fines of 200 (4000 MLD) to 300 (6000
MLD) conventional units applied to legal entities”.
The Labour Inspection in the Republic of Moldova has been created in 2001 and currently has a
staff of 96 inspectors.
In 2011, by Labor Inspection inspectors have been completed and submitted for examination in
the court of 862 offense minutes. From the total number of minutes on offense concerning
contraventions, 114 were found as violating the wage payment terms, allowances payment and
other regular payments. There were examined 2109 petitions of citizens concerning violation of
labor legislation.
During 2012, by Labour Inspection were organized and conducted 6510 monitoring visits to
5510 economic units from the country, where have been working 216 000 employees.
As a result of non-compliance/non-observance by employers and officials with responsible
positions of the provisions of the labor legislation and in the occupational health and safety field,
during the year, by labor inspectors have been completed and submitted to the court for
examination 939 minutes of offense on contravention, of which: 201 minutes of offense on legal
entities, 586 – on responsible officials and 103- on individuals.
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There were examined 3311 petitions from citizens concerning violations of labor legislation.
Having the purpose to protect workers against abuse, the National Confederation of Trade
Unions of Moldova in 2012, has triggered the procedure of creating its own Labor Inspection.
Paragraph 3,12 and 13 of R.135
The budgetary resources currently available do not allow carrying out researches on the effects
of minimum wages over other economic and social variables.
The minimum salary as a real means of payment has an insignificant role. Thus, according to the
statistical survey of September 2012, of the total number of employees who worked the whole
month, only 678 or 0.15% were paid a salary of up to 600 MDL. Out of these, 401 are employed
in agriculture and 125 are insurance agents, remunerated by agreement.
Related to the average wage which reached 3478 MDL per national economy in 2012, the
minimum salary constitutes only 17%.
Part II
1. The right to collective bargaining on payment of wages of employees in Republic of
Moldova is recognized at company level in the collective labor agreement, at branch level in
branch collective conventions and national level – in the collective agreements (national level).
The concrete wage payment level is determined in dependence of the financial possibilities
of the employer, the minimum wage fixed only as initial indicator. Being set at a level well
below the existence subsistence, the minimum wage does not provide the employees paid
salaries in a size slightly exceeding this quantum, a minimum acceptable standard of living.
2. In the real sector of the economy the minimum guaranteed quantum of salary is set at the
amount exceeding 2.2 times the official minimum salary, and in 2013 will be reviewed and
increased by at least 6,2%.
In the budget sector, the wage for the most unskilled work increased in 2012 to 800 MLD,
and in 2013 will reach 900 MLD per month. The unemployment benefit is set at the minimum
wage level.
3. Labor legislation in Moldova does not contain the term “minimum living wage”.
4. In Moldova is not established an official report of the minimum wage and the average
wage, which would be applied to adjust the quantum of minimum wage. In 2012, the minimum
wage was only 17% of the average salary reached per economy.
Part III
The copy of this report was submitted for information to the National Confederation of
Employers and National Confederation of Trade Unions of Moldova as social partners.
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Table
On results of investigation after salary increase
For September 2009-2012
Total
Real sector
Budget sector
2009
2010
2011
2012
2009
2010
2011
2012
2009
2010
2011
2012
423,5
423,3
414,0
461,7
249,6
251,2
213,8
267,6
173,9
172,1
200,2
194,1
Up to 600
MDL
0,6
0,4
0,2
0,2
0,9
0,6
0,4
0,2
0,1
0,1
0,1
X
600,01 – 800
MDL
7,6
6,3
3,3
1,3
3,9
2,5
2,0
1,3
12,9
11,8
4,6
1,3
800,01 – 1200
MDL
16,5
13,9
13,6
9,0
15,5
12,1
10,5
4,5
18,0
16,5
16,8
15,1
1200,01 –
1600 MDL
13,4
12,9
12,1
16,0
14,1
14,3
13,1
19,0
12,3
10,9
11,0
11,9
1600,01 –
2000 MDL
11,5
11,0
11,0
11,6
12,2
11,9
12,2
13,1
10,6
9,7
9,7
9,6
2000,01 –
3000 MDL
21,9
21,7
20,4
20,6
22,3
22,7
21,0
21,9
21,3
21,1
19,7
18,7
3000,01 –
4000 MDL
14,5
16,1
16,9
16,4,
13,5
14,5
15,3
14,9
15,8
18,3
18,5
18,5
4000,01 –
5000 MDL
6,5
7,7
10,1
10,9
7,0
8,1
9,5
9,2
5,7
7,2
10,7
13,4
5000,01 –
6000 MDL
3,2
3,9
5,2
5,7
4,2
5,0
5,4
5,3
1,9
2,3
4,9
6,3
Over 6000
MDL
4,2
5,7
7,4
8,2
6,3
8,3
10,5
10,4
1,3
1,9
3,9
5,2
The staff who
worked the
whole month
Thousands of
persons
28.02.2013
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