Moldova public-sector bonuses would be cut under new pay law
A new law on pay, now at the stage of public consultation, would cut annual bonus payments for public-sector employees by 2.5 times.
If the law is adopted and enters into force, staff in public institutions would receive annual bonuses at the end of 2027 not at 50%, but at 20% of their base salary. The fund for one-off bonuses in public institutions would be reduced proportionally.
The Ministry of Finance says the aim is to encourage higher base salaries by reducing the role of bonuses in the pay system. For ordinary public-sector employees, however, the change would mean a loss of thousands of lei in annual income.
According to trade union calculations, a beginning teacher would lose at least 1,707 lei, a librarian 1,249 lei, an Interior Ministry employee 2,251 lei, and a social worker 1,382 lei.
State-linked managers continue to receive large bonuses
The planned reduction concerns ordinary public-sector employees. At the same time, several recent cases have drawn attention to large bonuses paid to managers of state-linked enterprises.
One example is Vadim Dermenji, director of the National Lottery, whose mandate has been extended for another five years without a competition. The decision was made despite reported losses of 24 million lei over the past two years.
Of that amount, 1.2 million lei reportedly went on bonuses awarded to Dermenji himself. Another case concerns Energocom director Eugeniu Buzatu. He recently said the company’s profit could not be used to reduce the gas tariff. According to the reported figures, his income last year amounted to 1.2 million lei, while bonuses were twice the size of his salary.
Critics point to a double standard
These examples have prompted criticism of what opponents describe as a double standard in the public sector and state-linked economy. Ordinary employees are being told that public-sector bonuses must be reduced as part of a new pay system, while managers at loss-making or tariff-sensitive enterprises continue to receive much larger payouts.
The issue is not only the size of the bonuses, but also the political message. A beginning teacher, librarian, social worker or Interior Ministry employee may lose part of their annual income under the proposed reform, while senior managers with access to state-linked resources appear largely unaffected.
For critics, that contrast weakens the argument that the reform is about fairness or fiscal discipline. It suggests that the burden of adjustment is being placed on ordinary employees, while the most controversial management payouts remain outside the same level of scrutiny.
