Employment Flash No. 23/2020 – News regarding state support measures
08.12.2020 – The Government Emergency Ordinance no. 211/04.12.2020 on extending the application of some social protection measures adopted in the context of the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, as well as on amendment of the GEO no. 132/2020 on state support measures for employees and employers in the context of the epidemiological situation caused by the spread of SARS CoV-2 coronavirus and for stimulating employment was published within the Official Gazette no. 1189 dated December 7, 2020.
This normative act introduces certain amendments and prolongations of state support measures, out of which we mention:
(a) the prolongation of the state support for technical unemployment (accessible for the domains of activity that are subject to official suspension, as per the law, including the special case when the suspension of activity is imposed following the epidemiological investigation of the Public Health Direction) up to June 30, 2021 – previously, the deadline until which such support was accessible was December 31, 2020;
(b) amendments to the particularities and conditions regarding the state support for kurzarbeit (the reduction of the working schedule), mainly focused on:
(i) the possibility to reduce the working schedule of the employees with maximum 80% of the duration provided within the individual employment contract (previously maximum 50%) under certain conditions, benefiting from a state-borne allowance of 75% applied to the difference between the gross salary provided within the individual employment contract and the gross salary corresponding to the hours actually worked;
(ii) the 5 days in which the reduction of the working schedule is mandatory in order to benefit from this state support no longer have to be consecutive;
(iii) the prohibition of employment or subcontracting for activities identical or similar to those subject to reduced working schedule applies strictly to the jobs affected by this measure and not to the employer as a whole, as previously provided;
(iv) the prohibition to cumulate, for the same employee, the state support for kurzarbeit with the support granted under art. I and III of GEO 92/2020, if the specific periods of granting overlap (previously there was no mention of overlapping periods).
The Law no. 278/27.11.2020 for the approval of the GEO no. 147/2020 on granting days off for parents in order to supervise children, in case of limitation or suspension of teaching activities that involve the physical presence of children in schools and pre-school early education units, following the spread of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was published within the Official Gazette no. 1166 dated December 2, 2020.
The main changes operated by means of this normative act are:
(a) among the conditions for granting paid days off for parents, the law at hand introduces the condition that the position held by the parent as employee is not compatible with work from home or telework;
(b) the law specifies that the parent or legal representative whose child, up to 12 years old, enrolled in an educational unit or a pre-school early education unit, suffers from a chronic illness, befits from paid days off, by means of exception, regardless of whether or not teaching activities have been limited or suspended, provided that the other parent does not benefit, in turn, from paid days off;
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