Representatives of education unions have reported, in recent days, a reduction in the salaries of teaching staff and management, guidance and control staff. According to them, the changes made to the payrolls would have affected the net income of teachers, by recalculating the neuropsychic overload bonus. The Ministry of Education and Research (MEC) specified that this is not a salary reduction, but a "unitary calculation of the bonus", carried out following the findings of the Court of Auditors. "The Romanian Court of Auditors found that, for those who benefited from merit, leadership or special education grades, the neuropsychic overload bonus was not calculated according to the law - on the basic salary - but also included these components, which implied an award on the principle of "bonus for bonus””, explained the MEC.
Thus, since the entry into force of Framework Law no. 153/2017, teaching staff with the same classification had different values of the same bonus, depending on the cumulation with other salary benefits.
• Court of Accounts audits, basis for recalculation
After audits conducted this year, the Court of Accounts ordered the application of a unitary calculation, so that the neuropsychic overload bonus would be established exclusively at the basic salary, starting with September 2025. "The result is the same amount of the bonus for all employees who have the same teaching degree, seniority in education and studies," the MEC press release states. The ministry specifies that successive government ordinances from 2019 established that the bonuses would remain reported at the level of basic salaries from December 2018, which generated different interpretations in the territory. Although the recalculation aims at uniformity, the unions accuse a real decrease in income, especially for teachers who benefited from merit grades or worked in special education.
The union organizations demand additional clarifications and immediate consultations to avoid affecting salaries in the education system.
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