The Third Amendment Ordinance to the Short-Time Working Allowance Ordinance extends the simplified access conditions for short-time working allowances, which are valid until the end of 2021, by three months from 30 June 2021 to 30 September 2021. The Third Amendment Ordinance was adopted by the Federal Cabinet on 9 June 2021 and will come into force shortly.
The basis for the special regulations is the German Act to facilitate short-time work (Gesetz zu Erleichterungen der Kurzarbeit). The short-time working allowance is intended to continue to provide rapid assistance to companies with employees who have lost work due to the effects of the COVID 19 pandemic, thereby avoiding redundancies, where possible.
Under the Act to secure employment (Gesetz zur Beschäftigungssicherung) as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic of 3 December 2020 the special regulations for short-time working allowances were extended essentially until the end of 2021:
If employees on short-time work have suffered a loss of pay of at least 50 percent, the short-time working allowance will be increased to 70 percent (77 percent for households with children) from the fourth month of receiving the allowance – calculated from March 2020. From the seventh month of short-time work onwards, the short-time working allowance increases to 80 per cent (87 per cent for households with children) of the lost net pay. These regulations were also extended until 31 December 2021 for all employees whose entitlement to short-time working allowances arose by 31 March 2021.
In addition, the opportunity to earn supplementary income during short-time work is still extended.Without the current special regulations the following applied: If a new part-time job is taken up after short-time work has commenced, the remuneration earned from this will not be deducted from the short-time working allowance. Until 31 December 2021, it will continue to be possible to earn supplementary income during short-time work in minor employment newly taken up during short-time work in accordance with Section 8 (1) No. 1 of the German Social Code, Book IV (SGB IV) that is not deducted from the short-time working allowance. If the secondary employment existed before short-time work was introduced in the main occupation, the remuneration earned from the secondary employment is generally not deducted from the short-time working allowance.
The Act to secure employment is not only intended to secure employment, but also to open up prospects for the period after short-time work. Employers who provide their employees with vocational training during the period of short-time work will therefore be reimbursed for half of their social security contributions until 31 July 2023. The prerequisite is that the further training is started during short-time work, the provider and the training undertaken are approved in accordance with SGB III and the training lasts more than 120 hours or is carried out in accordance with the Upgrading Training Assistance Act (Aufstiegsfortbildungsförderungsgesetz). Together with the pandemic-related reimbursement of social security contributions for short-time work, which expires on 31 December 2021, employers can thus continue to receive full reimbursement of social security contributions until 31 December 2021, even if the pandemic-related reimbursement decreases to 50 percent as of 1 July 2021 (see above).
In addition, employers will also be reimbursed for training costs under SGB III at a flat rate of between 15 per cent and 100 per cent, depending on the size of the company, until 31 July 2023. This provides a strong incentive to use short-time work for the further training of employees affected.
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As at: 16 June 2021
Author: Birgit Ennemoser, Managing Director Human Resources Services, Auren Stuttgart
Photo: Adobe Stock, joda
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