I received an email “Salariile devin publice din 2026.” So, why the longer title in English?
Well, the email was kind of clickbait. At first, I thought we were entering a Finnish system, where everyone would know everyone else’s salary. If you ever lived in Belgium, then you know the old joke, never ask a woman her age, never ask a man his salary, and never ask the AI for relationship advice.
So, what really is happening in Romania? The EU is trying to push new directives. Romania is being asked to pass similar laws to those that have already been implemented in countries like the UK. Companies with a certain number of employees will have to reveal whether men or women are paid more. Job ads will have to declare salaries. Employees will be able to ask if others doing the same role get paid more or less.
These laws look good on the surface, as the data created can be an indication of discrimination. However, does this extra paperwork make you want to start a business in Romania?
If you want salaries to be equal, there is a simple solution. Hire employees in pairs. For every interview where you negotiate salary, have a male and a female employee present. They will negotiate their salaries together, and get paid the same.
From an employee’s point of view, however, the law seems to solve one problem. Don’t you hate job posts that don’t tell you what the pay is?
So, here’s a recap of the new rules.
New Rules from summer 2026
- All job postings need to publish a salary or salary range.
- Companies with 100 or more employees will be required to publish the difference in male and female salaries. (Companies with 50 or more will have to answer questions when posed.)
- Employees can ask how their salary relates to the company average.
- Companies need to make public criteria for giving higher salaries.
This sounds terrific, if you have never run a company.
But, once I might have asked why my co-workers got paid more than me, at an old job.
“Why did Bob get paid more than the rest of us?”
“He’s better at negotiating.”
“I negotiate with clients. I got the … contract, and renewed the … and then I …”
“Yes, and we appreciate all that. But Bob negotiates with us.”
Will it take effect?
Will this go through, however? If we look at the UK, they had to close down a lot of public services after councils were sued for paying men more than women. In Romania, some government institutions probably pay men more than women. With the salary data becoming public, it will be easier to sue.
The government has already speculated that scheduled minimum wage raises might be paused. And companies are leaving Romania because of the heavy amount of paperwork. (They blame high taxes, but the bureaucracy fatigue is real.)
That said, we think it is good practice to publish salaries in most job adverts. You will waste less time if you are transparent with potential employees about what you have to offer.