The regulations on short-time work, which are intended to mitigate the economic effects of the corona pandemic for companies and employees, are expected to be extended until the end of June. This would also mean that the higher short-time work allowance would be paid out longer than originally planned.
The regulations on short-time work, which had been expanded due to the pandemic, were actually supposed to expire at the end of March. But Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil emphasized that support is still needed for certain sectors, such as gastronomy or the event industry.
After the federal cabinet, the Bundestag still has to agree to the extension of the rules. These provide that companies can already apply for short-time work if ten percent of the employees can work less or not at all. In normal times, it must be at least a third of the workforce. In addition, those affected can receive short-time work benefits for 28 months, four months longer than usual.
Higher salaries than normal
For employees, the short-time allowance increases to 70 percent of the net wage from the fourth reference month and to 80 percent from the seventh month. Employed people with children receive 77 percent of their net salary from the fourth reference month and 87 percent from the eighth month. Normally, the short-time allowance is 60 percent and for parents 67 percent of the net wage.
Half of the social security contributions that the employer has to pay should also be reimbursed by the end of June. However, according to the dpa news agency, employees on short-time work must then be offered qualification measures.
More than 88,000 companies received short-time work benefits in November
According to the latest projection by the Federal Employment Agency (BA), more than 88,300 companies nationwide had to register short-time work for their employees in November. More than 574,000 employees were affected throughout Germany. The figures are based on data from January this year. The BA recorded the highest level of the past year in April: At that time, more than 609,000 companies and almost six million employees across the country used short-time work benefits.
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