According to the project, the employee will be called to work only when the company needs his services, and the number of hours worked will depend on the volume of available work. The employer will be obliged to inform the person at least 24 hours in advance about the need to report to work.

Individuals employed under a “zero hours” contract will benefit from the same rights as other employees, including annual leave. They will be able to refuse the request to come to work if it was not transmitted within the legal deadline, without the risk of a disciplinary sanction being applied.

The project also stipulates that the employer will not be able to force the employee to remain permanently available for work. At the same time, the duration of a workday based on such a contract cannot exceed 12 hours. The employee may also have another job, except in situations where the contract includes confidentiality, loyalty or non-competition clauses.

The new provisions also establish a limit on the use of these contracts: at most 30% of a company’s employees can be classified under this form of work. If a person consistently works the same number of hours for four consecutive months, the employer will be obliged to convert the contract into a regular one, with a set work schedule.

The post The “zero hour” contracts, proposed in Moldova: employees could be called to work only when needed appeared first on ipn.md.

The informational system “Medical Leave Certificates Portal” was officially launched today by the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Electronic Governance Agency and the National Social Insurance House.

According to the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Health, Andrei Romancenco, in the Republic of Moldova, over 400 thousand medical certificates are issued annually, and the digitalization of the process will reduce bureaucracy, the risk of errors, and unnecessary trips for patients. The certificate will have a unique number and will be validated by the doctor’s electronic signature.

Within the new platform, doctors will manually enter only the patient’s IDNP, the rest of the information being automatically retrieved through integration with state registers, via the M-Connect platform. Authentication and document signing will be done exclusively through the government service MPass.

The Head of the Infrastructure and Digital Platforms Department within AGE, Igor Bercu, mentioned that the standardized paper – the “green sheet” is eliminated. The information entered in the portal automatically becomes accessible to the employee, the employer and the National House of Social Insurance.

According to the authorities, employees will no longer need to return to the doctor to pick up the document on paper. The certificate can be accessed through the EVO portal or mobile application, and if necessary, a PDF copy with a QR code can be generated for verification.

The system has been tested for about a month, involving over 30 doctors. The estimated cost of its development is approximately 1.2 million lei.

The post Medical leave certificates, issued exclusively in digital format from March 1 appeared first on ipn.md.

According to the Equality Council, numerous advertisements contain explicit requests for female candidates or young individuals, even though such conditions do not represent essential requirements for performing the tasks presented.

The institution warns that such practices limit access to work and violate non-discrimination legislation: including criteria related to sex or age, when these are not relevant to the skills and responsibilities of the position, constitutes direct discrimination. Even in situations where employers invoke justifications, such as physical needs or gender balance, these must be objective, clear and proportional to the specifics of the job, emphasizes the Council for Equality.

Another issue identified by experts lies in the use of job titles only in the masculine form, such as “director”, “accountant”, or “specialist”. The Council points out that the updated edition of the Occupation Classifier includes the feminine forms for most jobs and that this type of violation reduces the visibility of women in the professional field and perpetuates gender stereotypes.

The Council for Equality urges employers to rephrase their announcements, so that they emphasize qualifications and experience, not personal characteristics. At the same time, people are encouraged to notify the institution when they notice advertisements that contain discriminatory criteria.

The post Discriminatory formulations in job advertisements, reported by the Council for Equality appeared first on ipn.md.

In 2024, the state Labor Inspectorate detected more than three thousand people working without a legal employment contract. Just two years later, the total number of identified cases exceeded eight thousand, with most of the employees already officially employed.

Minister of Labor and social protection Alexei Buzu said that before the reform, in 2023, about 80 cases were detected annually, and the current progress shows the extent of the change. “It’s a significant result, but we don’t stop there. Tens of thousands of people continue to work without the legal protection they need,” the minister added.

To support employees, the platform was launched in March 2025 lucrezlegal.md, through which anyone can report cases of undeclared work. The platform was created in collaboration with the state Labor Inspectorate and the International Labor Organization.

The post In 8 months, more cases of undeclared work than in the last 8 years appeared first on ipn.md.

According to Alexandru Gozun, the president of AmCham Moldova, who organized the meeting, the METRIX survey highlights the perception of the labor market as being more negative than positive. The systemic issues affecting the labor market are the lack of skilled labor. Similarly, the survey shows that education is not adapted to the real needs of the workforce, which creates high costs for the employer. At the same time, companies face difficulties in retaining and recruiting qualified candidates.

In the same vein, only 9% of respondents said they have tried to hire labor from abroad, and the majority said they focus on domestic labor.

According to the Minister of Labor and Social Protection, Alexei Buzu, there are about 350 thousand people outside the workforce in Moldova. He believes that in Moldova, as in EU countries, the lack of investment in human capital is a problem. He also believes that there is no country in the world where the education system is perfectly aligned with the job market. Now the focus is on working with employers to encourage on-the-job learning. Emphasis is being placed on ensuring that the social protection system does not discourage work, but is connected so that state institutions can help employers find labor and mobilize more resources.

The Minister of Internal Affairs, Daniela Misail-Nichitin, reported that the policy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is particularly focused on admission and ensuring the right of legal residence on the territory of the Republic of Moldova for foreign citizens. According to her, the labor market is in constant dynamics and in sectors where there is not enough local workforce, it is necessary to attract from outside the country. In this context, more measures are being taken, including at the legislative level, said the minister.

A bill set to be approved next week by the Government aims at the free movement of EU members and their families. Provisions concerning the term of stay in the country will be revised by introducing the residence card, and it will make the procedure for family members simpler, with no need for a visa in this regard. The most in-demand sectors for foreign labor are construction, the textile industry, the IT field, and the investment sector.

Svetlana Bodaci, HR Director at maib, believes that progress is already underway and the partnerships and reforms taking place are being noticed even by compatriots who wish to return to the country. Similarly, there is evidence of progress and an openness of educational institutions in terms of aligning studies with the needs of studies, but there is a need to work with potential employees who are in the country, with the private sector and state institutions.

AmCham encompasses over 185 companies, employing more than 30 thousand people.

The post The lack of skilled labor, a major challenge for companies in Moldova appeared first on ipn.md.