Extension of short-time working as of October 1, 2020

As of October 1, 2020, phase III of short-time working can be applied for, currently for another 6 months until March 31, 2021. According to the Austrian Social Partners, an extension beyond this for another six months from April 1, 2021 will become necessary and is being planned due to the particular impact on certain sectors. (Status: 11.09.2020)

THIS IS NEW
Closing the gap between short-time working phases II and III: Extension of the short-time working period of phase II until September 30, 2020 agreed.

If the full short-time working period was already exhausted before September 30, 2020 due to the three months of initial grant (Phase I) and the three months extension (Phase II), short-time working may be extended until the beginning of Phase III as of October 1, 2020.

For this purpose, a supplementary social partner agreement must be concluded and submitted together with a change request via the eAMS account.

Length of service of one full calendar month before the start of short-time work

In order to be able to include employees in the short-time work, a length of service of one fully paid calendar month before the start of short-time work is required.
If persons who could not demonstrate this length of time were already included in the original agreements of phase I or II, this contradicted the federal guideline on short-time work.
In order to be able to include persons who at that time did not have a period of employment of one fully remunerated calendar month, but who are now nevertheless included in short-time work as originally planned, a separate initial application must be submitted retroactively from the 2nd full month of employment.

Together with a separate social partner agreement, a retroactive initial application for the persons concerned must be submitted via the eAMS account. The application must also be accompanied by proof of a fully paid calendar month before the start of short-time work by presenting a payroll account statement.

Retroactive applications for this group of persons can be submitted until September 30, 2020 at the latest.

The Austrian Social Partners have already published the main principles for Phase III. Further details will follow in the coming weeks.

Employees continue to receive 80/85/90% of net wages

Even in phase III the employees continue to receive 80/85/90% of the net wage. Wage increases due to collective contract increases must be taken into account (dynamic approach).

Working hours must be between 30% and 80%.

In phase III the working time must be reduced between 30% and 80%, whereby a calculation period of 6 months applies. In special cases the working time can be reduced below 30% in agreement with the social partners.

Economic impact

In the course of Phase III, the use of short-time work will be examined by means of a standardized examination procedure and is thus intended to counteract abuse more effectively. The companies have to prove the economic impact by means of a forecast calculation.

Reimbursement of additional costs by AMS

The employer should continue to pay only the costs for the work actually performed - lost working hours including ancillary wage costs and sick leave are reimbursed by the Austrian Employment Service (AMS).

Readiness for further training

For non-working hours, a compulsory further training of employees is planned. This is to be carried out jointly by the Austrian Employment Service (AMS) and the company and is to be carried out during the non-working hours. Further training measures should be allowed to be interrupted if required by the employer and should be made up for within 18 months.

Retention period is still 1 month

After the end of short-time work, employees must continue to be employed for 1 month.

Apprenticeship training

Arrangements have been made to ensure that apprenticeship training is also available in companies that have long been on short-time working

Links

Fact sheet short time working phase III by the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber

Details to short time working until September 2020

Do you have more questions about short-time work? Our experts Christoph Schmidl and Michael Koehler will be happy to assist you.