A wage or salary allowance is paid under an employment contract to a worker whose employer’s activities are substantially disrupted due to exceptional circumstances.
Compensation is paid if the employer is in a situation that meets at least two of the three conditions:
- the employer’s turnover or income in the month for which the benefit is claimed has fallen by at least 30% compared with the turnover or income in the same month of the previous year;
- the employer fails to provide at least 30% of the employees with the agreed amount of work and the employee has been informed of this in writing (Labour Contracts Act (ELA) § 35 Payment of wages in the event of failure to provide work or § 37 Reduction of wages in the event of failure to provide work);
- the employer has reduced the pay of at least 30% of the employees to at least 30% or the minimum wage (TLS § 37) by giving written notice.
Employees’ pay cannot be reduced retroactively or with retroactive effect. If you need to reduce employees’ pay, you must give them 14 days’ notice of the decision before the reduced pay takes effect.
A reduction in pay means a reduction in the worker’s workload.
Compensatory leave is not recognised by current law. Unpaid leave is allowed, but only by agreement between the employer and the employee. Employers cannot unilaterally decide that employees are on unpaid leave.
Both private and public sector employers can apply, regardless of the size of the company. The allowance is paid to workers who are not given the agreed amount of work or whose pay has been reduced.
The amount of the allowance is 70% of the worker’s average pay for the calendar month. The maximum benefit is €1,000 per month gross. In addition, the employer must pay the worker at least €150/month in gross earnings. The benefit is calculated according to the principles of the Unemployment Insurance Act on redundancy benefits. This means that the average earnings per calendar day are calculated by dividing the sum of the earnings paid in the nine months of employment preceding the last three months of employment by 270. If a worker has been paid for a period of less than 12 months, the actual remuneration paid is taken as the basis, divided by the number of months worked multiplied by 30. The Unemployment Insurance Fund will not pay the worker more than his average earnings, but at least enough to bring the total of the worker’s earnings plus the Unemployment Insurance Fund’s allowance to the minimum wage (€584), except in cases where the worker worked part-time, in which case the amount paid will be the previous wage.
The Unemployment Insurance Fund withholds income tax on the full amount and does not deduct the tax-free income. This can be claimed back in the next year’s income tax return.
Workers on incapacity for work leave whose gross pay for the calendar month was at least €150 are also entitled to the benefit.
A worker is entitled to receive up to two months’ benefit per three-month period (March to May 2020).
The Unemployment Insurance Fund pays social tax, unemployment insurance contributions, compulsory funded pension contributions and income tax on the benefit and the employer pays social tax, unemployment insurance contributions and compulsory funded pension contributions on the wage (min €150).
The employer submits the application to the Unemployment Fund, but the benefit is paid directly to the workers. The employer submits a separate application to the unemployment fund for each calendar month, after the workers have been paid. If the employer terminates the employment relationship with the worker because of redundancy in the same or the following calendar month as the month in respect of which compensation is claimed, he must repay the compensation to the unemployment fund. A worker who has voluntarily resigned is also not entitled to claim compensation if the employment contract has been terminated and the worker has left his/her job.
Submission of applications for benefits will open in April via the eWork Fund. The employer must submit to the Unemployment Insurance Fund a certificate of the change in turnover, the notices given to the employee and the reasons for the reduction in pay and/or workload. The employer must also provide details (personal data and bank account number) for each worker for whom benefits are claimed.
The Unemployment Insurance Fund processes applications as quickly as possible, usually paying out benefits within 5 working days on the basis of a valid application.
The cost of the measure is planned at €250 million and will end on 30.06.2020. It will be possible to apply for the unemployment service until the end of June this year.
Summary prepared on 24 March 2020
