Flexibilizing the Termination of the Employment Contract: Pros and Cons

The changes in the Romanian Labour Code appear to be a way of implementing the concept of flexicurity in our system of law. And among all institutions changed by the new law, probably the one related to termination of employment has the most dramatic effect within labour relations and the very application of the principle of workers’ protection. Indeed, after eight years in force, the Labour Code has been changed, aiming at re-balancing the powers of the parties over the issue of the termination of the employment. These changes may lead to a new content of the concept of job security, and also to a new approach of the idea of career. The Government’s goal was to offer the possibility for the employers to dismiss and employ personnel more easily, allowing him/her to select best employees at a time of economic crisis. However, as a result of an analysis of how the flexicurity principles were applied in other states (especially in case of the new member states) one may be very much afraid that flexicurity cannot be obtained by just un-protect the employees and simplify the dismissal procedure. This is why the changes in the Labour Code, particularly with the intention to render more flexible the labour market and the contractual arrangements were received by trade unions, and by the entire society with deep concerns and skepticism. From the perspective of trade unions, if the implementation of the flexicurity concept seems to be successful in some of the European states, since it guarantees a certain level of protection, in Romania such a process would be disadvantageous for employees in terms of the special job stability they enjoyed. Flexicurity itself demands to be flexibly adapted – from case to case, from one state to another. One can even say that there are 27 ways of applying the concept of flexicurity within European Union... Which is the Romanian way, especially when it comes to the termination of the employment contract? The paper aims to put into light the advantages and disadvantages of the very recent changes in the Labour Code, and to configure a possible perspective in this regard.