Romanian minister Pogea fined for noncompliance with magistrates bonus payments order

Joi, 16 iulie 2009, 19:36 English | Top News

The Bucharest Appeals Court ordered on Thursday that Finance minister Gheorghe Pogea be fined with 20% of the gross minimum salary for every day of delay in paying bonus payments for the magistrates, Romanian news channels have announced.

A decision to withdraw a 50% bonus pay for stressing conditions at work for magistrates spark discontent among magistrates across the country a week ago. Magistrates temporarily have stopped judging sessions for two days and, after the Justice minister insisted funds were not enough to pay for such bonuses, professional associations decided to suspend sessions for three hours daily for an undertermined period.

Magistrates have gained ground in their battle with the Bucharest Appeals Court decision, where they challenged the administrative order regarding the bonus payments. But Justice minister Catalin Predoiu said he would appeal against the court decision.