Extension of easier access to short-time work
Companies that have introduced short-time work by 30 June 2021 can participate in the facilitations for access to short-time benefits. This is the result of the ‘Second Ordinance Amending the Short-time Benefits Ordinance’, which came into force on 1 April 2021.
Due to the ‘First Ordinance Amending the Short-time Benefits Ordinance’ of 21 October 2020, the special rules for short-time benefits were extended until the end of 2021 in light of the Covid‑19 pandemic. The facilitations for access to short-time benefits include in particular
- refraining from building up negative work balances,
- lowering the so-called minimum requirement, according to which at least one third of employees must be affected by work loss, to a work loss with only 10 percent of employees, as well as
- the possibility to pay short-time benefits to temporary agency workers if the hiring company introduces short-time work.
These rules previously applied until 31 December 2021, provided that the companies had introduced short-time work by 31 March 2021. The facilitations for access have now also been extended for cases where short-time work is introduced for the first time or reintroduced after an interruption of at least three months by 30 June 2021 at the latest. This extends the facilitation of access to short-time benefits by three months.
Source: Zweite Verordnung zur Änderung der Kurzarbeitergeldverordnung vom 25.03.2021
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