Employment Flash No. 24/2020 – News on certain types of state support
10.12.2020 – The Law no. 282/08.12.2020 on approval of the GEO no. 132/2020 on support measures for employees and employers in the context of the epidemiological situation caused by the spread of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, as well as for stimulating employment growth was published within the Official Gazette no. 1201 dated December 9, 2020.
The law at hand operates, among others, the following main amendments and completions regarding the state support for reduced working schedule (kurzarbeit):
(a) providing a new wording for the possibility to implement kurzarbeit, so that during the state of emergency / alert / siege, as well as for a period of up to 3 months following the end of such state, employers may reduce the working time of employees by up to 50% of the daily, weekly or monthly duration provided within the individual employment agreement, with fulfillment of certain information and consultation obligations;
(b) the application of the reduction of working schedule for a period of at least 5 working days per month, the employer having the obligation to establish the working schedule for the whole month;
(c) the clarification that the reduction of working schedule also applies to shift work and unequal working schedules;
(d) the provision that the employer’s decision on the reduction of working schedule, the working schedule itself, the method of distributing the working schedule by days and the related salary entitlements shall be communicated to the employee at least 5 days before the effective application of the measure (previously, employers were also expressly required to submit the elements of this decision within the General Register of Employees);
(e) the provision that the employer shall settle from the state the percentage of the specific allowance paid to employees within 5 days from the issuance of the decision by the workforce agency (specified below at letter i)), after the employer fulfills the declaratory and payment obligations related to income from salaries and assimilated to salaries for the respective period of time;
(f) provisions are introduced directly in the text of GEO no. 132/2020 as regards the documents to be submitted by the employer to and the procedure of settlement of the corresponding amounts;
(g) the necessary documents and the request shall be submitted to the county employment agency form the area where the employer has its headquarters (or, as case may be, to the Workforce Occupation Agency of Bucharest Municipality) by the 25th of each month for the payment of the previous month’s amounts;
(h) it is provided that the employer could submit the documentation at a later date than specified above, in which case the amount for the month for which the request is made will be settled in the following month;
(i) following verification of the specific documentation, the employment agencies issue a decision, no later than 5 days after the correct submission of the documents, stating that the conditions for the settlement of the amounts by the employer are met by the employer;
(j) the law at hand restores the application at the level of the subsidiary, branch or other secondary offices of the prohibition on the employment for identical or similar activities as those performed by employees whose working hours have been reduced, as well as on the subcontracting of such activities performed by employees whose working time has been reduced;
With regard to state support for teleworking activity, the law at hand provides that these amounts are granted to employers, under certain conditions, for employees who worked under teleworking regime during the state of emergency or the state of alert for at least 15 working days (in the previous wording, this benefit was accessible only for employees who worked under teleworking regime for the specified minimum period, but only during the state of emergency).
Note: Within 30 days from the date of publication of the law at hand within the Official Gazette, the Government Decision no. 719/2020 for the approval of the settlement and payment procedure regarding the amounts granted based on GEO no. 132/2020 will be amended accordingly.
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