New measures to support job retention
Posted: Thu Dec 26, 2024 4:33 am
As the pandemic progresses, the Government has been updating its measures to support economic activity in the face of COVID-19. Decree-Law No. 98/2020 of 18 November is the most recent update and exceptionally and temporarily changes the rules on the sequence of support for maintaining jobs.
Given that the resumption of business activity has been slower and more difficult due to the evolution of the pandemic, the Government felt the need to assess the adequacy and effectiveness of the measures currently in force, adjusting them.
Thus, the preamble to this diploma states that the State Budget for 2021 will include the continuation of the Progressive Recovery Support and the Extraordinary Incentive - during the first half of 2021, with the aim of helping to maintain jobs. It also states that this will happen with the "necessary adaptations".
There is still much to clarify
But doubts are beginning to arise: will only the necessary jordan whatsapp number database be made to extend the temporal scope of application and the temporal reference period so that employers can continue to benefit from them after 12/31/2020?
- Or will these adaptations bring any new features, particularly with regard to access requirements, support and benefits associated with these schemes, percentages of reduction in the Normal Working Period, percentage of Social Security contribution and exemption or reduction of the Social Security contribution for which the employer is responsible?
The scope of the intervention that is being carried out on this topic remains open, although it is clear that companies themselves need to approve their annual budgets and look ahead, as far as possible, to the new year, and this is an essential factor for many of them.
Access to support in a sequential manner
On the other hand, this legislation allows for the sequential nature of these measures, defining the respective rules to make this possible. It should be noted that, according to the previous wording of the legislation regulating these support measures, access to these measures was alternative and not cumulative. In other words, it was not possible to benefit from the Extraordinary Incentive and the Support for Progressive Recovery either simultaneously or successively. Employers had to check whether they met the requirements for access to these supports and, if eligible for both, had to choose one of them.
However, given that a 100% recovery has proven to be impractical in many cases, and according to the new rules, it is now possible to access these supports sequentially. This rule is essential, as there are companies that opted for the Extraordinary Incentive considering that they had the conditions to resume their normal activity, a situation that has not been maintained over time.
New Rules
In this context, this decree-law establishes the following:
Employers who, by October 31, 2020, have requested the extraordinary incentive for the normalization of activity may, until December 31, 2020, withdraw from this support and access the extraordinary support for the progressive resumption of activity, without needing to return the amounts already received under this support .
Employers who have resorted to the application of the reduction or suspension measures provided for in the Labour Code (art. 298 et seq. of the Labour Code), and who wish to access the extraordinary support for the progressive resumption of activity, do not have to comply with the deadline provided for in art. 298-A of the CT, which imposes as a rule that new reduction or suspension measures can only be applied after half of the reduction or suspension period used previously has elapsed. This speeds up the transition from a reduction or suspension regime to progressive resumption.
Given that the resumption of business activity has been slower and more difficult due to the evolution of the pandemic, the Government felt the need to assess the adequacy and effectiveness of the measures currently in force, adjusting them.
Thus, the preamble to this diploma states that the State Budget for 2021 will include the continuation of the Progressive Recovery Support and the Extraordinary Incentive - during the first half of 2021, with the aim of helping to maintain jobs. It also states that this will happen with the "necessary adaptations".
There is still much to clarify
But doubts are beginning to arise: will only the necessary jordan whatsapp number database be made to extend the temporal scope of application and the temporal reference period so that employers can continue to benefit from them after 12/31/2020?
- Or will these adaptations bring any new features, particularly with regard to access requirements, support and benefits associated with these schemes, percentages of reduction in the Normal Working Period, percentage of Social Security contribution and exemption or reduction of the Social Security contribution for which the employer is responsible?
The scope of the intervention that is being carried out on this topic remains open, although it is clear that companies themselves need to approve their annual budgets and look ahead, as far as possible, to the new year, and this is an essential factor for many of them.
Access to support in a sequential manner
On the other hand, this legislation allows for the sequential nature of these measures, defining the respective rules to make this possible. It should be noted that, according to the previous wording of the legislation regulating these support measures, access to these measures was alternative and not cumulative. In other words, it was not possible to benefit from the Extraordinary Incentive and the Support for Progressive Recovery either simultaneously or successively. Employers had to check whether they met the requirements for access to these supports and, if eligible for both, had to choose one of them.
However, given that a 100% recovery has proven to be impractical in many cases, and according to the new rules, it is now possible to access these supports sequentially. This rule is essential, as there are companies that opted for the Extraordinary Incentive considering that they had the conditions to resume their normal activity, a situation that has not been maintained over time.
New Rules
In this context, this decree-law establishes the following:
Employers who, by October 31, 2020, have requested the extraordinary incentive for the normalization of activity may, until December 31, 2020, withdraw from this support and access the extraordinary support for the progressive resumption of activity, without needing to return the amounts already received under this support .
Employers who have resorted to the application of the reduction or suspension measures provided for in the Labour Code (art. 298 et seq. of the Labour Code), and who wish to access the extraordinary support for the progressive resumption of activity, do not have to comply with the deadline provided for in art. 298-A of the CT, which imposes as a rule that new reduction or suspension measures can only be applied after half of the reduction or suspension period used previously has elapsed. This speeds up the transition from a reduction or suspension regime to progressive resumption.