Paid leave for non-essential workers: how it applies, who and who doesn’t affect.

The article of the decree ordering to stay at home for non-essential workers, receiving the salary, details what it means to receive this recoverable paid leave and under which conditions it is necessary to retrieve the days not worked.

Does not apply to people with temporary labour force adjustment plan (TLFAP) (in Spanish expediente de regulación temporal de empleo)

The permit, from March 30 to April 9, does not apply to people involved in an TLFAP, who already have their situation regulated in accordance with the special rules issued in the recent days.

 

  • Workers who are working remotely should continue.

People who are already working remotely can continue, even if their occupation is not essential, unless there is a agreement between the employer and the workers’ representative in the company. In fact, non-essential activities that can be transferred to remote work do not will benefit from this paid leave.

  • Shift system

Another exception to the rule for non-essential workers who should not go to work: if necessary, companies may have a minimum number of staff or an “essential” shift system to develop the “essential” activity in the company.

The people who receive this permit will keep their remuneration as if they were working, including the basic salary and supplements.

  • Hours retrieve

The retrieve of hours not worked will have to be taken between the end of the alarm state and the end of this year. It will have to be agreed between the employer and the workers’ representatives within seven days. If there is no agreement, it will be the employer, within a period of 7 more days, who will decide how to retrieve the time.

In this hours retrieve, the norms related to daily rest (12 hours between each working hours) and weekly (one and a half day uninterrupted) provided by law cannot be breached, and cannot  exceed the maximum working hours agreed in the corresponding agreement. Furthermore, the rights of conciliation must be respected.

 

Source: BOE nº87 (03/29/2020)

New procedure for granting short-time work in cases of force majeure linked to the Covid-19

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

What is the short-time work?

Short-time working allows a company to avoid laying off its employees. The employees receive 80% of their salary from the company (this amount cannot be less than the minimum social wage or more than 250% of the minimum social wage). These amounts are fully covered by the Employment Fund.

Conditions that the company must complete

Eligible employees: permanent, fixed-term, apprenticeship, etc.

– be legally established in Luxembourg

– a significant go down on activities/income following the crisis

– undertake not to dismiss any employee for economic reasons

 

In order to maintain employment and, consequently, avoid redundancies, Luxembourg labour law provides that firms may, under certain conditions, have recourse to different short-time working schemes, depending on the nature of the difficulties encountered. This system enables firms to keep their trained employees in employment with skills that are essential to the smooth running of their activities.

The short-time working scheme is therefore one of the major instruments enabling enterprises to cope with the fall in economic activity due to the Covid-19 health crisis.

In view of the current exceptional situation and the repercussions on the life of companies and their employees, the conditions for applying for and obtaining short-time working have been adjusted.

In order to speed up and facilitate the procedure for applying for short-time working in cases of force majeure linked to the Covid-19 crisis, ADEM, in close collaboration with the Secretariat of the Economic Conditions Committee and the State Information Technology Centre (CTIE), has set up a new automated system that enables companies to submit their short-time working applications via an online form at: http://guichet.lu/cocp

This request will have to be made every month

Companies make their request using secure authentication (LuxTrust product (e.g. Token, Smartcard or Signing stick) or electronic identity card). They also have the possibility of having their application submitted by their authorised representative (a trustee), e.g. if they do not have a LuxTrust product. The data collected will be processed automatically by ADEM. The application has been designed to be as simple as possible for companies. As of today, companies must use the form available at the Counter to make their request (requests by mail, e-mail or fax will no longer be accepted).

Applications from companies that can no longer operate following the government decisions of March 2020 will be processed directly by ADEM. Applications from other companies will only be processed after the agreement of the Comité de conjoncture. In both cases and as soon as the request is accepted, ADEM will pay an advance to the companies. This advance corresponds to 80% of the salaries of the staff affected by short-time working and will enable the firms to obtain cash quickly. After the end of the month, the company will be required to submit a detailed statement showing the hours actually worked. On the basis of this statement, ADEM will calculate the sums actually owed by the Employment Fund. In the event of an overpayment, the company will be required to reimburse it.

Which companies are eligible for the new partial unemployment scheme linked to COVID-19?

Companies that can no longer carry out their activities following a government decision are automatically eligible for short-time working without the need for the agreement of the economic conditions committee.

All other companies that have to suffer a drop in activity due to the coronavirus crisis must receive the agreement of the economic development committee in order to be eligible for short-time work.

Temporary employment agencies are also eligible with regard to their employees whose assignment contract continues but who can no longer carry out their activity.

Both types of companies must apply using the same form at the counter.

Which employees are eligible for the new partial unemployment scheme linked to COVID-19?

  • Employees on permanent and fixed-term contracts (the contracts must be in force at the time of the occurrence of the force majeure event)
  • Apprentices in initial and adult learning.

What about companies that have already applied on the basis of the old form?

The applications received by the secretariat of the economic development committee by post, email or fax are being processed. Given the extremely large number of applications received, this processing could take until 3 April 2020.  Companies whose application was incomplete and therefore cannot be processed will be contacted by ADEM.

 

Link: http://guichet.lu/cocp

Source: ADEM

Attached files: 200327_DemandeDeChomagePartiel.pdf

Measures to limit business impact in Flanders due to Coronavirus

To limit the economic impact of the coronavirus/COVID-19 outbreak on both businesses and the economically unemployed, Flanders and Belgium have announced a series of measures to support all those who are financially affected by the coronavirus.

Tax measures

  • Postponement of the tax filing deadline. For VAT, corporate income tax, legal entities income tax and corporate income/non-resident tax, the filing deadline has been automatically postponed:
  • VAT return and EC sales listing deadlines related to February were postponed to 6 April 2020. The ones related to March or the first quarter of 2020 were postponed to 7 May.
  • For all other taxes, deadlines have been postponed from 16 March to 30 April 2020.
  • Deferred payment of personal income tax, withholding tax, VAT and social security contributions. For certain tax debts, payment will automatically be deferred. Late payment interest will also be annulled.
  • VAT – payment related to February is postponed to 20 May 2020, payment related to March or the first quarter of 2020 is postponed to 20 June.
  • Withholding tax – payment related to February is postponed to 13 May 2020, payment related to March or the first quarter of 2020 is postponed to 15 June.
  • Legal entities tax, corporate income tax, non-resident tax – for tax settlements established from 12 March 2020, the normal period will automatically be extended by 2 months.
  • Payment by installments for tax debts. Companies that can prove that they are facing difficulties resulting directly from the coronavirus outbreak are eligible for staggered tax payments for debts established before 12 March 2020. They will also be exempt from late payment interest and non-payment fines.

Financial incentives

  • Nuisance incentives. The government of Flanders provides ‘nuisance incentives’ of EUR 4,000 for companies that are affected by and were forced to close because of COVID-19. For those only affected by closure during the weekend, Flanders offers a one-time premium of EUR 2,000. In addition, all affected companies will receive EUR 160 EUR per day, starting from the 21st day of closure.
  •  SME growth subsidy. If your SME needs help to get back on its feet after the coronavirus crisis, you can apply for a grant via government agency Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO).
  • Increased flexibility in requirements for support measures and subsidies. For several subsidies granted by Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship, the requirements have been lowered.

Investment guarantees (PMV)

  • Coronavirus crisis guarantee. Flanders’ government has expanded investment firm PMV’s ‘generic’ guarantee capacity of EUR 1.9 billion by adding a coronavirus crisis guarantee of EUR 100 million. The associated one-time premium rate has been lowered to 0.25% instead of 0.5%. Under the generic guarantee scheme, which will be fully deployed, an existing credit, line of credit or previously guaranteed lease can be extended. The additional coronavirus guarantee is meant to:- make it easier for companies to receive bank financing for their working capital if they have been unable to pay outstanding invoices due to the COVID-19 outbreak;
    – enable companies and self-employed individuals to have a ‘bridging loan’ guaranteed for existing non-bank debts for up to 12 months (adding 9 months to the 3-month period under the ‘generic’ guarantee scheme);
    ​- allow guarantees for bank debts – in addition to supplier debts – related to existing lines of credit or non-guaranteed investment loans (provided that that the bank is also prepared to grant at least 3 months of payment deferral or to maintain lines of credit).
  •  Payment suspension for SMEs. Entrepreneurs benefitting from the Start-up Loan, Co-financing and Co-financing+ schemes (granted by PMV/z) are temporarily not required to repay this financing. The direct debits foreseen for repayment of capital and/or interest are automatically suspended for all borrowers. The suspension is valid for 3 months and will be extended to 6 months if necessary.

Mortgages and loans

  • Postponed mortgage payments. Financially sound companies that were hit by the coronavirus/COVID-19 crisis can ask their banks to suspend their mortgage payments until September 2020. This measure also applies to economically unemployed individuals.
  • Financial guarantee for loans of up to 12 months. The federal government made a deal with the financial sector to earmark EUR 50 billion to cover potential losses due to loans that cannot be repaid. This guarantee will cover all loans that run for up to 12 months and are currently taken out by businesses and the self-employed.
  • Crisis warranty. Companies and self-employed workers can have a bridging loan guaranteed for existing debts – for wage payment, purchase of raw materials or outstanding invoices etc. – that cannot be paid due to the coronavirus crisis. This warranty can be obtained on top of existing guarantees for investment loans and working capital. 1,000 loans of EUR 100,000 can be guaranteed (below the 75% regional warranty). This measure is applicable until the end of 2020.

Other measures

  • Temporary unemployment. The national employment office RVA will consider all temporary unemployment related to the COVID-19 crisis as “due to force majeure”. The application procedure for receiving subsequent temporary unemployment benefits has been simplified as much as possible:- Employees must submit a benefit application by filling in the simplified form that can be found on the website of the payment institution of their choice.
    – Employers must submit an electronic declaration of the hours of temporary unemployment in the course of the month concerned. This can be done online via the social security portal (ASR), under “Scenario 5 – Monthly declaration of the hours of temporary unemployment or hours of suspension of employees”. Another option is to send a structured batch file to the social security portal via your payroll services provider.
  • ​​Teleworking. Both the federal government and the government of Flanders encourage teleworking as much as possible. In case the employer intervenes in the costs of teleworking (internet connection, additional laptops…), this can be a tax-free allowance as well as a beneficial lump sum valuation for social security purposes.
  • Flexibility in executing a federal public contract. No fines or sanctions will be imposed by the federal government in case a federal public contract incurs delays or cannot be executed due to the coronavirus crisis.
  • Support for the tourism industry. The government of Flanders has earmarked EUR 5 million for youth and social tourism measures. Additionally, government agency Visit Flanders will no longer collect rent from youth hostels, which adds up to an additional EUR 1 million in support.

 

Source: Flanders Investment & Trade

Presentation of the Economic Stabilisation Programme Covid-19 of the Government of Luxembourg, 25/03/2020

Through this link you can find a brief summary of the main measures of this Economic Stabilisation Programme of the Government of Luxembourg due to Covid-19.

INTERVIEW | Know our members 5

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Interview to David Córdova and Elena Ortiz, Vinces

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The Chamber creates a Competition Commission

The Chamber has just set up a new Competition Commission, to deal with specific issues and aspects of competition law and policy that may affect the Chamber‘s member companies. This new commission joins the other existing bodies: Forums, Legal and Financial.

With its establishment, the Chamber’s Board of Directors has decided to pursue three priority purposes:

  • To serve as a meeting and exchange point of knowledge between member companies that are interested in or affected by the European competition policy.
  • To provide a platform to discuss in “neutral territory” between companies, lawyers, consultants, DG Competition officers and the Spanish administration.
  • To reinforce Spain’s leadership as a European benchmark in Competition Law and Policy, both from a public and a private perspective.

For this purpose, the new Commission, which will be called “Competencia España”, foresees different lines of activity:

  • Organization of work meetings to discuss specific issues and initiatives of DG Competition.
  • Holding breakfast-debates or similar events with officers from the DG COMP and national authorities.
  • When appropriate, the preparation of opinion statements on specific legislative/regulatory proposals.
  • Preparation of documents/guides on competition policy, intended for Spanish companies.

To be part of this new Commission, it will be required to be a member of the Chamber and to have a proven experience in the field of competition.

“Competencia España” will be led by Miguel Troncoso, member of the Chamber’s Board of Directors and managing partner in Brussels of the prestigious Gomez-Acebo y Pombo law firm.

Those partners interested in joining the Commission or in obtaining further information may contact Marta González or Miguel Troncoso sending an email to secretariogeneral@e-camara.com.

Economic and social measures for companies taken in Luxembourg due to Covid-19

From the Chamber, we want to be with our members and strengthen all our actions and activities, to give an answer to the companies and the self-employed to react to the situation that we are currently facing.

For this reason, the Chamber will periodically publish all the legal, administrative or new measures that are being produced and taken in Luxembourg to inform our members and facilitate the updated information that could be useful for them.

Here you can find the latest economic and social measures for companies in Luxembourg due to Covid-19.

Economic and social measures for companies taken in Belgium due to Covid-19

Here you can find the latest economic and social measures for companies in Belgium due to Covid-19.

SOURCE: Icex

Board of Directors Meeting

On March 19th, the Board of Directors of the Chamber met telematically following the recommendations imposed by the different European governments regarding the spread of the Coronavirus.

During the meeting they discussed, among other topics, about the measures taken by the Chamber to deal with the current situation, the new Competition Commission that will be set soon, and the collaboration that the Chamber is about to start with the “Fundación Carlos” of Antwerp.

In addition, Marta González was appointed as the new general secretary ad interim during the meeting.

Finally, the President and the entire Board of Directors wanted to thank María Catalán for the great work done over the past 7 years as head of the Chamber’s general secretary.