Employment 2025

ROMANIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Oana Palita and Cosmina Raicu, Eversheds Sutherland Romania

• well-grounded investigation procedures; • transparent communication; and • preventative measures such as regular training and clear escalation protocols. Employers who proactively address these issues not only mitigate legal risks but also foster trust and strengthen organisational culture. AI in Recruitment: EU Regulation and Romanian Implementation The EU Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act (Regulation 2024/1689), which has direct applicability in Roma - nia starting in August 2024 and with phased enforce - ment through 2025–2026, has introduced a baseline for the limitations and requirements that employers need to understand and factor in before widespread adoption of AI tools in workforce management and optimisation. AI continues to be highly relevant across all client sec - tors, making it vital to understand its limitations and to build strong compliance – especially for companies working in multiple jurisdictions. While AI and auto - mation can streamline processes, it also poses risks, necessitating clear usage guidelines. Employment – particularly recruitment and selection – is expected to be significantly affected as AI adoption increases. AI-driven recruitment tools can efficiently sort CVs but may introduce discrimination if algorithms are flawed or use irrelevant criteria. Romania has begun aligning with the EU AI Act through the following. • Direct application of the Regulation without requir - ing transposition. • A national AI strategy approved in July 2024, pro - moting responsible AI adoption across sectors. • Employers using AI in recruitment must: (a) inform candidates and employee representa - tives; (b) ensure qualified human oversight and continu - ous monitoring; (c) keep log files for at least six months; and (d) conduct data processing that is compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation

(GDPR), even when using public data sources (eg, LinkedIn). Romanian labour legislation is expected to undergo further revisions in order to establish and implement robust safeguards. These measures aim to protect the rights of candidates and employees while promoting transparency and non-discrimination in AI-based pro - cesses. The EU Pay Transparency Directive EU Directive 2023/970 – which must be transposed into Romania by June 2026 – remains a hot topic for 2025, especially as the deadline for implementation approaches. The Directive brings major changes for employers, as follows. • It imposes clear measures on equal pay between women and men, as well as new obligations to communicate and document salary policies. The Directive requires companies to disclose – at the request of employees – the criteria used to deter - mine pay, information about their pay, and aver - age pay levels for workers doing the same work or (more importantly) work of equal value, broken down by gender. • It introduces transparency obligations in the pre- hiring phase: job applicants will have the right to receive information about the salary range for the role (including base pay and variable compensa - tion). Such transparency will ensure informed negotiation during the recruitment process. • It introduces reporting obligations: companies with over 100 employees must report gender pay differ - ences and, where gaps exceed 5%, must conduct joint pay assessments with employee representa - tives in view of identifying, remedying and prevent - ing unjustified differences. • It levels the playing field: employers must ensure that roles of equal value are evaluated using objec - tive, gender-neutral criteria, supported by acces - sible methodologies. • It promotes disclosure, requiring companies to remove clauses that maintain salary confidentiality from individual employment contracts. In Romania, the implementation legislation is still pending. The first step towards salary transparency

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