Moldovan social protection minister says aid for cold season to be as never useful

Chisinau, 16 November /MOLDPRES/ - Interview given by Labour, Social Protection and Family Minister Stela Grigoras to MOLDPRES State News Agency. 

[MOLDPRES]: Which are the provisions and completions included in the new version of the Labour Code?

[Grigoras]: First of all, I will refer to the shortening of the maximal duration of the technical unemployment from six to four months, which naturally is in favour of the wage earner and, concomitantly, to the decrease in the size of the allowance wage earners are benefitting from on the period of technical unemployment from 75 per cent to 50 per cent of the basic salary, which is in favour of the employer. Another provision will be the compulsory providing of at least 14 calendar days from the annual leisure leave, in case the leave cannot be provided integrally, with the left part due to be provided till late next year. I specify that presently the leave can be fully postponed for the next year, which is not fully in line with the provisions of the European Social Charter. We propose capping the size of the allowance of dismissal from job, if the personnel are reduced or the unit is liquidated. According to the new Labour Code, the allowance will represent an average weekly salary for each year fully at job, but cannot be higher than six average monthly salaries and not less than one average monthly salary. Not less important is also the increase in the penalty in case of delaying, because of the employer, of payments due to be provided to the wage earner from 0.1 per cent of the sum non-paid in term for each day of delay up to 0.3 per cent.        

Given that we live in the digital age, we plan to replace the work record books by individualized electronic register, which will contain most data comprised in the work record books and will serve as official source of information about the working activity of each wage earner.

[MOLDPRES]: When will the salaries of the budgetary employees be indexed and by what size?  

[Grigoras]: We are interested especially in the gradual increase of the minimal salary on the economy, meant to ensure a direct increase in the salaries of the employees from the budget-financed institutions. We insist that the minimum salary on the economy is established in percentage quantum against the average monthly salary on the national economy, made in the year before the managed one, and in a three-year period, when determining the quantum of the minimal salary on the economy, the forecast level of the inflation rate for the managed year should be taken into account. The enforcement of the way of calculation proposed will allow turning this index into a real instrument of protection of wage earners with low remuneration by bringing it to the level of the subsistence minimum in a short period. At the same time, we want to ensure annual indexation of the budgetary wage earners, as the consumer prices increase in the year before the managed one.     

[MOLDPRES]: Why the parental leave was necessary to be introduced for father and does it imply certain allowances?   

[Grigoras]: The fathers of the newborn children, who benefited from paternal leave, will be able to receive their allowances. In this respect, the government approved a regulation on the conditions for establishing and the way of calculating the paternal leave. Thus, the regulation guarantees the right to parental allowance of the father insured in the public system of social insurances, employed based on the individual labour contract or who is in employment relationship on the basis of the administrative act, to take care of the newborn child, with residence in Moldova.    

The parental leave is provided in the first 56 days following the child’s birth, for a period of 14 calendar days, based on a written application. The wage earner can benefit from a parental allowance, which will be paid from the state social insurances budget, and the National Social Insurances House will deal with the setting, record and organization of this allowance.  

[MOLDPRES]: What does the Service “e-Service Allowances to Families with Children” consist in?

[Grigoras]: The idea as such is as follows: the families with children will be able to submit the application to ask for allowances on line, through the government’s single portal of public services (www.servicii.gov.md) and the official webpage of the National Social Insurances House (www.cnas.md). We are set to develop more online services of submitting the application to demand a wide range of benefits, such as pensions, allocations and allowances. The demanding of allowances by electronic means will shorten the period of providing the service, and the beneficiaries will get information more quickly and will not bear expenses. At the same time, the families with children will no longer present the acts needed for establishing allowances, as all the necessary information will be taken over from the database of the State Register of Population and the state register of individual record in the public system of social insurances. The present service will allow families with children to submit the application electronically for the following types of allowances: the single child-birth allowance (the application is submitted by mother, and if the mother is dead, the legal representative submits the application to the Territorial Social Insurances House, with all needed documents); monthly allowance for bringing up children until the age of three years (for insured people); monthly allowance for taking care of child till the age of 1.5 years (for non-insured persons). The electronic application is filled in by the person who asks for the allowance by the introduction of the personal identification number of the applicant and the personal identification number of the child (children), the type of allowance is selected and is filled in for each type of allowance separately. The application is accepted only if the applicant and the child are recorded in the State Register of Population and the sibling connection between the applicant and the child is confirmed, based on the information from the State Register of Population. I want to emphasize the fact that the way acts are submitted to the Territorial House of Social Insurances through mayoralty representative remains valid; in this way, the applicants have possibility to choose the way of applying.                  

[MOLDPRES]: Which are the latest legislative amendments in terms of social insurances?

[Grigoras]: We have prepared a package of legislative amendments, which would set the allowance for bringing up the child till the age of 3 years, with possibility to choose between two options: the present one (allowance in quantum of 30 per cent from the calculation basis till the child turn three years) and a new option, under which the allowance for the first 12 months will account for 60 per cent of the calculation basis, for the next 12 months – 30 per cent and the third year is not paid. The concerned proposals are made in order to optimize the duration of the child-care leave, to conciliate the family life with the professional one.    

[MOLDPRES]: We are on the eve of winter and people wonder whether they may count on the assistance for the cold season of the year?

[Grigoras]: All normative acts with and about the social assistance, worked out back in 2008, remain in force. Moreover, we are looking for ways and resources to supplement the area of covering of beneficiaries of social assistance. We should  not forget that this programme was launched to help, first of all, the poor families. And unfortunately, we still have a lot of poor families. I take advantage of the occasion to remind the citizens not to hesitate, to appeal to the social assistant of the settlement. Especially now, before winter, when the assistance for the cold season of the year will be useful as never.       

[MOLDPRES]: What is the stage of the pension reforms, you have announced back in last summer?   

[Grigoras]: The subject of pensions remains one of the principal headaches of the society on the whole. I want to remind you that we have elaborated and approved the concept of reform of the pensions system in Moldova. The general goal of the pension reform consists in ensuring the work of a fair and sustainable pension system, which is to guarantee a decent living to the pension beneficiaries.  

(Editor L. Alcaza)