According to Romanian law, union representatives must be employees of the institutions/companies whose workers they represent. Once a member is elected as a union representative, he remains an employee of his respective mine. However, during his term of office in the union the union, not the mine company, pays his salary. The mine company is required by law to give union representatives unpaid leave until their elected term is over and must give them their job back when they return. The duration of a term for an elected union representative is generally 4 years. However, this may vary by individual mine union (e.g., the Paroșeni mine union's representatives are elected for 2 year terms).