Kurzarbeit: amendment of the procedure for granting the amounts for working time reduction

The Decision no. 677 on the amendment of the Government Decision no. 719/2020 for approving the settlement and payment procedure of the amounts granted based on the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 132/2020 regarding the support measures for employees and employers in the context of the epidemiological situation as a result of the spread of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, and for the stimulation of the employment growth, was published in the Official Gazette no. 628 from June 25^th 2021.

The main regulations, as mentioned by the initiators in the explanatory memoranda, are:

• for the settlement of the allowance provided at article 1 paragraph (7) of the Government Emergency Ordinance no 132/2020, approved with amendments and additions by means of Law no. 282/2020, with further amendments and completions, the employers submit an application to the county employment agencies or, as the case may be, the employment agencies of the municipality of Bucharest where they have their registered office, and the application must be accompanied by the documents provided at art. 1^1 paragraph. (1) of the Emergency Ordinance;

• the employer submits to the employment agency of the county, as well as of the municipality of Bucharest, where he/she has his/her registered office, in electronic format, copies of all the decisions regarding the reduction of working time, the working schedule, its day distribution and the related salary rights, of the period of 30 calendar days provided at art. 1 paragraph (3) of the Emergency Ordinance, and copies of their communications to the employee (in the situation provided at art. 1 paragraph (4) of the Emergency Ordinance);

• if inaccuracies have been identified in the documents transmitted for the settlement of the allowance provided at art. 1 paragraph (7) of the Emergency Ordinance, and if the transmitted documents are incomplete, the county employment agencies or, as the case may be, of the municipality of Bucharest where the employers have their registered office, request the employers written clarifications and/or the presentation of supplementary documents;

• the reduction in turnover compared to the month prior to the application of the activity reduction measure for the situation provided at article 1 paragraph(17) of the Emergency Ordinance must be reflected in the statutory declaration from art. 1 paragraph (17) of the Emergency Ordinance;

• for the allowance provided at art. 3 of the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 132/2020, professionals, regarding the replacement of the "reduction of activity" expression with the "reduction of working time” expression, as well as the addition of the categories of beneficiaries, the method for applying the reduction of working time is regulated, respectively:

- for professionals, by reducing the incomes earned compared to the average of the monthly incomes of the year prior to the state of emergency/alert/siege;

- in the case of persons who have concluded individual labour agreements, by reducing the working hours carried out by them in the cooperation.

• repealing of art. 7 since the time limit established for the application of the measures of art. 1 paragraph (1) and art. 3 paragraph (1) of the Emergency Ordinance no longer complies with the new application period of the measures introduced by Law no. 282/2020, respectively, during the emergency/alert/siege state, as well as for a period of up to 3 months from the end date of the last period during which the emergency/alert/siege state was established.

The Government Emergency Ordinance no. 677/2021 also provides that the document templates necessary for the settlement of the allowance provided at art. 1 paragraph (7) and art. 3 paragraph (1) of the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 132/2020, approved with amendments and completions by means of Law no. 282/2020, with further amendments and completions will be established by orders of the Minister of Labour and Social Protection.