Secretary of State for Economy Agnès Pannier-Runacher warned companies against short-time work fraud, saying that there would be checks this Saturday on Franceinfo .
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" There will be controls " and if they " show that short-time working is used badly and that people combine short-time working and teleworking, it will be very bad for the companies concerned ", she warned .
Agnès Pannier-Runacher “ calls for the responsibility of each company ” and says that she relies on the responsibility of employees, union organizations and employee representatives to have “ a form of clarity on the situation ”. " I invite companies not to play too much because it would be completely out of place " at a time when " a little more than a third of employees in the private sector is on partial unemployment ", she insisted.
The partial unemployment (partial activity) of employees is incompatible with teleworking. When an employer asks an employee to telework while the latter is placed in partial activity, this is akin to fraud and is assimilated to illegal work, according to the Ministry of Labor.
Any failure to comply with this rule is punishable by cumulative sanctions, namely the full reimbursement of sums received as part-time work, the prohibition on receiving public aid for employment for a maximum of five years. or professional training, as well as two years imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 euros.
In addition, the Secretary of State for the Economy announced that the solidarity fund set up by the government would allow aid for April of “ 1,500 euros as for the month of March, plus up to 5,000 euros allowing in particular to stamp the effects of rents "especially for restaurants," one of the sectors on which we are going to put the package .
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In addition, a reduction in tax charges will be examined " on a case-by-case basis " for companies challenged by the coronavirus epidemic who would not be able to pay their charges after restarting their activity. " Already, it is possible for companies that are taken by the throat today to request the reduction of their tax charges ", to Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
To date, " quite a few companies have closed their doors " thanks to the support measures put in place by the government, she said.
