What are business trips?

 Travel in the interest of work represents the exercise of the duties of employees of a company in another place of work than normal, in the interest of the employer.

Travel in the interest of work is required by the employer, according to labor law. In practice, there are two types of travel, depending on the specifics of each job:

  • extraordinary, when the employee’s job does not normally involve the employee’s movement (accountants, secretary departament, etc.);
  • usual, when the employee’s job involves his travel (service, sales, interventions, etc.).

Employee travel can be arranged in the country or abroad.

What are the rights and obligations of the employee on the go?

 According to the Labor Code, the workplace can be changed unilaterally by the employer, by delegating or posting the employee to a place other than where he usually performs his duties. The employee cannot legally refuse the movement ordered by the employer.

The employer has the obligation to grant the employee during the trip all the facilities he usually benefits from the employment contract. In addition, the employee must be covered by the employer for travel and accommodation expenses for the entire period of travel, plus a travel compensation, which is usually called a travel allowance.

What is the travel allowance, when and how is it granted?

  • The travel allowance is the compensation that the employer pays to the employee for changing his working place.

 

  • The legislation incidental to the granting of the travel allowance is: Law 53/2003 – Labor Code, Government Decision 714/2018 and Government Decision 518/1995 for issues related to external travel allowance.

 

  • The travel allowance is granted for each calendar day of travel, even if it involves weekends.

 

  • For the private system, the granting of the allowance for internal movements is conditional only on the existence of a temporary change of place of work, without any other conditions relating to the distance from the normal place of work or the number of hours of travel.

 

  • For employees in the public system, by GD 714/2018, a series of conditions are regulated that must be met in order to receive travel allowance:                                                                                                                                                                                                                              –the movement must be in another town or more than 5 km from the place where the employee carries out his work normally;                                                                         –business trip time to exceeds 12 hours.

 

  • For external trips,GD 518/1995 establishes the amount of the travel allowance, but also that the travel allowance is granted as follows: for fractions of time not exceeding 24 hours, the travel allowance is granted as follows: 50% to 12 hours and 100% for the period exceeding 12 hours.

 

What are the documents needed to justify a trip in the interest of work?

 The basic document that must be prepared by companies to justify the travel of employees in the interest of work is the travel order.

  • What is mentioned on the travel order:

                  -the name of the employee and the position;

                   -purpose and place of travel;

                   -date and time of departure, date and time of arrival.

 

  • At the same time, companies should also issue a decision setting the amount of travel allowance granted to employees during travel.

 

  • If during the trip the employee must pay from his own money certain expenses that require reimbursement from the employer, he must also fill in an Expense Statement, to which he must attach all the supporting documents (invoices, tax receipts). They must be issued with the employer’s identification data (name, CUI, ONRC registration number, etc.) and not on the employee’s name.

 

  • Also, the statement of expenses must be completed to highlight the daily allowance that the employee receives during the trip, even if it is paid in cash or by bank transfer.

 

  • If the employee received a cash advance from the employer before the trip, this advance must be highlighted by completing a Payment / Collection document. The maximum amount that can be granted in cash as an advance to the employee is 10,000 lei, according to Law 70/2015.

 

  • The employee is not allowed to get a new advance until he settles the previous one, according to Decree no. 209 of July 5, 1976.

 

What is the minimum and maximum travel allowance?

The travel allowance level is established by GD 714/2018 for trips within the country and by the annex to GD 518/1995 for external trips.

  • Day trip for travel in the country

 -The travel allowance for the employees of the public system is 20 lei.

-The maximum daily deductible travel allowance for employees in the private sector is 2.5 times the level established for employees of the public system, so 20 x 2.5 = 50 lei.

 

The travel allowance for travel abroad is set for each country, as follows:

Travel allowance rates

 Tax and interest issues

  • Is there a minimum travel allowance? A: NO, but the usual practice of the controls carried out by the Labor Inspectors is to give instructions to the employers in order to grant a sufficient level of travel allowance, related to the place where the employees travel. This practice refers more to the amounts granted for travelling abroad.

 

  • Is there a maximum travel allowance? A: For employees of the state YES, the maximum limit is set by the legal regulations presented above. For employees of the private sector there is NO upper limit of the travel allowance, but the amount that exceeds the fiscal limit (2.5 times the limit for the budgetary apparatus) must be taxed as a salary bonus, with all taxes related to salaries.

Annexes: draft Travel order, adapted according to the legislation.

 

 

Note: The text is valid on the date of its publication, is for guidance purposes and is an interpretation of the specialists of the company Cont Consulting, without intending to replace the legal provisions in force. We are not liable for any damages caused by the use of this material for legal purposes or as evidence in any dispute.