What Are The Public Holidays in Romania in 2026?

List of Public Holidays in Romania (2026)

Romania has a unified national calendar of public holidays that applies across the country, with no regional differences. Below is an overview of the official public holidays in 2026 to help you plan staffing, leave, and pay.

Do Employers Have to Provide Paid Leave on Public Holidays?

Yes, Romanian labour law requires employers to provide paid time off on statutory public holidays, with limited exceptions for continuous operations such as healthcare, hospitality, and certain essential services. Employees are entitled to their normal pay for these days, and the entitlement applies to both full-time and part-time staff, pro-rated according to their work schedule.

If your business falls into a category that must operate on public holidays, employees who work on those days must receive compensatory time off in the next 30 days. Where it is not possible to grant compensatory rest, employees are generally entitled to a wage supplement on top of their regular salary, often at least double pay according to collective agreements or internal policies. When a public holiday falls on a weekend, Romanian practice is to grant a substitute day off during the week, based on government decisions issued for the relevant year, so you should monitor official announcements and update your holiday calendar accordingly.

There are no regional public holidays in Romania, so the same national list applies to all employees, regardless of where they work. International Women’s Day on 8 March is a public holiday only for female employees, who are entitled to a paid day off or equivalent compensatory arrangements if they work.

Legal Penalties for Not Providing Paid Holiday Leave

Failing to grant public holidays or the required compensatory benefits is treated as a breach of labour legislation in Romania. The Labour Inspectorate (Inspecția Muncii) is the main enforcement authority and can carry out inspections, review time records, and interview employees about holiday and pay practices.

Non-compliance can result in administrative fines, which increase with the seriousness and scale of the violation, and repeated or intentional breaches may trigger more frequent inspections and closer scrutiny of your wider HR practices. Common employer mistakes include misclassifying public holidays as regular vacation, failing to provide compensatory rest when staff work on holidays, not applying wage supplements where required, and inconsistent treatment of part-time or shift workers.

To reduce risk, your company should keep clear records of who worked on each public holiday, how compensatory rest was scheduled, and what supplements were paid. Written internal policies and clear communication with employees are important evidence if the Labour Inspectorate reviews your practices.

How Do Holidays Affect Overtime Thresholds?

Public holidays in Romania interact with overtime rules by triggering additional protections when employees work on those days. Hours worked on a public holiday are typically treated as work performed under special conditions, which means employees should receive both compensatory time off and a wage supplement, in addition to any overtime premium that may apply if they exceed normal daily or weekly limits.

Overtime is generally restricted and must be compensated either with paid time off within a set period or, if that is not possible, with a wage increase. When overtime occurs on a public holiday, you should treat it as a combination of overtime and holiday work, ensuring that all applicable premiums and rest periods are granted. Collective bargaining agreements or company-level policies may set higher premium rates than the statutory minimums, so you should check which rules apply to your workforce and document them in employment contracts and internal regulations.

Because public holidays can shift normal work patterns, you should plan schedules in advance, monitor weekly working time, and avoid systematic reliance on overtime during holiday periods, which can attract regulator attention and increase compliance risk.

Stay 100% Compliant with Leave Regulations Using Playroll

Navigating Romania’s public holiday and leave rules across a distributed team can be challenging, especially when you are also managing different time zones, contracts, and local practices. Playroll helps you stay compliant by centralising country-specific rules and automating the complex parts of holiday and leave management.

With Playroll, you can rely on up-to-date Romanian public holiday calendars, including substitute days announced by the government, so your scheduling and payroll stay aligned with local law. Our platform applies Romanian rules on paid public holidays, compensatory rest, and wage supplements when employees work on those days, reducing the risk of underpayment or missed entitlements.

Playroll also standardises how you handle leave across all your locations while still respecting local requirements. You can configure policies for Romania that reflect statutory rights and any enhanced benefits you choose to offer, then apply them consistently to full-time, part-time, and shift workers.

Instead of tracking legal changes manually, your team can focus on strategic workforce planning while Playroll keeps the compliance engine running in the background. From contract generation to payslips and reporting, you get a clear, auditable record of how holidays and leave are managed for every Romanian employee.

If you are hiring or scaling in Romania, Playroll gives you the tools to offer a competitive, compliant holiday and leave package without building a local HR and legal function from scratch.