Press release
Târgu Mureș, 02.04.2024
Focus on personal assistants of people with disabilities
Today, 02.04.2024, representatives of employees, personal assistants from the Social Welfare Department of Targu Mures, personal assistants, parents and people with disabilities, organized a protest in front of the Prefect's Institution of Mures County.
The imbalances in pay caused by two national decisions have triggered discontent among this category of employees. They cite problems that have arisen in maintaining the work of personal assistants and call for the rights of people with disabilities to be respected. Their demands include their inclusion in the salary scale of GEO No. 19/2024 on some measures concerning the salaries of staff in health, social assistance and other sectors of budgetary activity, which modified the basic salaries of staff occupying positions in the field of social assistance in Annex II of Framework Law No. 153/2017 on the salaries of staff paid from public funds, the personal assistant of the severely disabled person is not included in this annex. By not including personal assistants in the salary scale in GEO No 19/2024, the basic salary established by Law No 153/2017 is not changed and, as a result, personal assistants will not benefit from the increase in 20% provided for, nor from the recalculation of seniority grades. At the moment, the salary to be paid to personal assistants of the severely disabled person, including the appropriate gradations, calculated according to Law 153/2017, is below the established minimum wage. As of 1 October 2023, it has been increased to the level of the minimum wage on the economy, i.e. 3,300 lei gross/month, to which was added an increase of 5% applied as of 1 January 2024 by GEO 128/2023, i.e. 3,465 lei gross/month.
At the same time, among their requests is the granting of a bonus for stress/risk/harsh working conditions, because, following the decision of the High Court of Cassation and Justice (ICCJ) no. 23/2023, it was decided that the personal assistants of people with serious disabilities do not benefit from the bonus of 15% for dangerous or harmful conditions, the Social Assistance Directorate of Targu Mures having to initiate the amendment of the HCL no. 267/28 June 2022, granting this allowance to both personal assistants of severely disabled persons and home carers for the elderly, eliminating personal assistants of severely disabled persons. Until the amendment of HCL No 267/28 June 2022, all DAS Târgu Mureș employees received the bonus for dangerous or injurious conditions, not other bonuses. At the moment we are in a situation where one of the categories of employees most affected by the conditions in which they work, i.e. the personal assistants of people with serious disabilities, are exempted from the recognition of the harsh working conditions in which they work, i.e. they do not receive the bonus for dangerous or harmful conditions.
By comparison, before the ICCJ Decision no. 23/2023 and the adoption of GEO 19/2024, both home carers for the elderly and personal assistants of the severely disabled within the DAS Târgu Mureș had the same salary level, including 15% bonus for dangerous or harmful conditions.
After ICCJ Decision No 23/2023 personal assistants to the severely disabled lost the 15% allowance for dangerous or injurious conditions, while home carers for the elderly still receive it. After the entry into force of GEO No 19/2024, home carers for the elderly benefit from both a two-stage increase in their basic salary of 20% and a recalculation of their grading.
At the level of the Social Welfare Department of Targu Mures, the granting of another bonus to personal assistants of people with serious disabilities, provided for by the implementing rules of Law no. 153/2017, is possible only by licensing the activity of personal assistants of people with serious disabilities as a social service, an initiative that we hope to be able to implement quickly.
At the moment, employees in the position of personal assistant within the Social Assistance Department of Targu Mures receive a salary for the work performed calculated according to the legal provisions in force, food allowance, holiday vouchers, as well as participation in free training courses.
Târgu Mureș Social Assistance Department
