The government will tighten control over short-time working claims to detect fraud or error " given the amount of financial support provided by the government " to businesses, he said on Wednesday.
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" The partial activation of employees who are asked to work (tele) at the same time, or intentionally increased reimbursement requests compared to the amount of wages actually paid, are among the main frauds identified by the administration, " said the ministry. of Labor in a press release.
Distinguish companies in good faith from those who defraud
The ministry sent an instruction to Direccte (regional directorates of companies, competition, consumption, work and employment) "in order to present to them the objectives of the control plan that they will have to implement in their territories and remind them of the legal tools they have ”. The Direcctes will have to " distinguish between the companies which, in good faith, made errors when they informed their claims for compensation, and those which defrauded ".
In the first case, it is requested " to enter into a dialogue with the company with a view to regularizing amicably " and " the financial situation of the company will be taken into account in the reimbursement terms ". " In the case of fraud, for which the intentional element constituting the offense must be established, criminal (up to 2 years imprisonment and 30,000 euros fine) and administrative sanctions (reimbursement of aid and exclusion of benefit of aid up to 5 years) can be pronounced against the company and / or the person in charge, ”points out the ministry.
Over a million companies have applied for authorization
Since March, more than a million companies have applied for a partial activity authorization concerning 12.4 million employees. And claims for compensation were made for the month of March for 48% of the employees for whom the companies had requested authorization. This figure is still provisional since companies have one year to file their claims for hours actually worked.
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Employees in the private sector who are partially laid off by their company currently benefit from a guarantee of 84% of net wages (100% at the minimum wage), which the State and unemployment insurance reimburse fully to employers up to a limit of 4 , 5 Smic. This device, presented as the most protective in Europe by the government, has an estimated cost of around 25 billion euros over three months.