Companies are shutting down nationwide - the way out for employees is often short-time work. The government expects millions of uses. What to do if the short-time allowance is too little?
Berlin (dpa) - According to the Federal Government, millions of workers are dependent on short-time allowance due to the corona crisis.
"It is assumed that 2.15 million cases of short-term economic benefits will be received," says the relevant ordinance from the Federal Ministry of Labor, which is available to the German Press Agency in Berlin. The "Handelsblatt" previously reported about it. The Ministry expects an additional 1.15 million cases. A million cases would have been expected without the relief even under current law.
The government expects the Federal Employment Agency (BA) to spend 10.05 billion euros more. The decision to reimburse social security contributions is therefore 5.99 billion euros - the additional payment of short-time benefits itself is 4.06 billion euros.
The BA pays 60 percent of the lost net wages for short-time work. The figure for workers with children is 67 percent. Nationwide there is already a rush of companies for the extended short-time allowance in the corona crisis.
The reduced short-time work benefit will flow retrospectively to March 1st. Companies can use short-time work benefits if only 10 percent of employees are affected by the loss of work - instead of a third as before. Employers are also fully reimbursed for the social security contributions they have to pay for short-time work. Temporary employment agencies can also display the performance.
The German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), the employers' association BDA and the government had agreed on Wednesday that short-time work benefits should be increased to minimize income gaps. Until Thursday afternoon there was no further information.
In some sectors there are already tariff regulations on an increase. According to an overview by the WSI institute of the Hans Böckler Foundation, which is close to the union, employers undertake to pay a subsidy so that employees receive between 75 and 97 percent of their net salary. At Deutsche Bahn, it is 80 percent of the gross salary. The industries with corresponding top-up regulations include the wood and plastic processing industry in Saxony, the wholesale and foreign trade in North Rhine-Westphalia, the automotive trade in Bavaria and the chemical industry. Corresponding regulations also exist at Deutsche Telekom.
In the metal and electronics industry, there is a nationwide increase rule in Baden-Württemberg, where the short-time work allowance is increased to 80.5 to 97 percent of the net salary depending on the amount of short-time work. At the Volkswagen Group, short-time work benefits are increased to 78 to 95 percent, depending on the wage levels, according to WSI.
A new rule recently made headlines for employees in system catering: Here, the service is increased to 90 percent of the net wages.
"In the classic low-wage sectors in particular, there are often no subsidies for short-time state benefits," said Thorsten Schulten, a WSI expert.
Dispute has now become public in the catering trade. On Thursday, the food, drink and restaurant trade union (NGG) accused employers in the catering industry of refusing to do so. The employers refused to conclude a collective agreement on short-time work with protection against dismissal and an increase in the short-time allowance, criticized NGG chairman Freddy Adjan in Berlin. The hospitality industry rejected the claim. These are "economic madness and would drive many companies directly into bankruptcy," said the industry association Dehoga in Berlin.
