In a press release issued on 2 March 2021, the Ministry for Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy and the Ministry of the Economy clarified how the short-time working system will be applied between 1 April 2021 and 30 June 2021.

Industrial businesses will carry on benefiting from short-time working due to economic problems, undertaking not to make any employees redundant for economic reasons.

Businesses in the vulnerable sectors relating to horeca (ie, hotels, restaurants and cafes), tourism and events will carry on benefiting from short-time working due to structural economic problems, in accordance with the following conditions:

  • for April 2021: the short-time working system will be extended for one additional month at 100% (ie, without setting a limit on the total number of hours not worked); and
  • for May 2021 and June 2021: businesses will carry on benefiting from short-time working for up to 50% of the total working hours lost, as long as there are no redundancies for economic reasons.

Businesses in the abovementioned sectors that are forced to close due to an administrative decision will benefit from unlimited short-time working during the closure and will be able to make up to 25% of their staff redundant for economic reasons.

Businesses affected by the COVID-19 crisis – other than industrial companies and those in the horeca, tourism and events sectors – will continue to be able to benefit from short-time working, in accordance with the following conditions:

  • for April 2021: up to 15% of the number of working hours lost, as long as there are no redundancies for economic reasons; and
  • for May 2021 and June 2021: up to 10% of the total working hours lost, as long as there are no redundancies for economic reasons.

Normal working hours cannot exceed 40 hours per week per employee.

Regardless of which sector they are in, companies that still need to make employees redundant or for whom the working hours lost exceed the percentages stipulated above will need to present a recovery plan (for small companies with fewer than 15 employees) or a job retention plan (for companies with more than 15 employees) or even a sector-specific job retention plan, if applicable.