Blog.Payroll

Update Short-Time Work Phase IV: The New Social Partner Agreement

By:

Michael Koehler

13 Apr 20212 min read

Due to the COVID-19-related measures and restrictions, employers still have the possibility to claim short-time work. For the application in phase IV (starting on 1 April 2021 and limited until 30 June 2021), the new version of the social partner agreement (9.0) must be concluded. In the following text you will find an overview of the most important contents or changes of this agreement.

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Voluntary tip replacement option

Companies in certain sectors of the economy that are (partially) closed due to the COVID pandemic and related regulations have the option to increase the assessment base of employees during short-time work by up to 5% in order to compensate for the loss of the tipping allowance.

The use of this option must be stated both in the social partner agreement and on the short-time work service slips and results in an increase in the short-time work allowance and the employee's gross remuneration.

It should be noted that any increases in the collective agreement must be offset against the maximum percentage limit of the tip replacement option.

Example: According to the information available so far, the average CBA increase in the hotel and restaurant sector for 2021 is 2.22%. For employees in this sector who are on short-time work, only an increase in the assessment basis (for the purpose of claiming the tip replacement option) of 2.78% is possible (5% less 2.22% CBA increase).

Economic sectors concerned:

Hotels (ÖNACE 55)
Restaurants (ÖNACE 56)
Medical massage and shiatsu (ÖNACE 86.90-9)
Hairdressing and beauticians (ÖNACE 96.02)
Massage (ÖNACE 96.04-1) and
Tattooing and piercing studios (ÖNACE 96.09)

Special provisions for apprentices

If short-time work is agreed for apprentices, the employer is nevertheless obliged to ensure professional training. In concrete terms, this means that at least 50% of the lost working time over the entire period of short-time work must be used for training and job-related measures. It should be noted that periods of lockdown are excluded from this regulation. The training obligation ceases as soon as an apprenticeship-leave exam is passed positively. The planned training measures must be specified in the social partner agreement.

Economical justification

In the social partner agreement, the expected turnover development for 1 April to 30 June 2021 is to be compared to the turnover from 2019 during this period (April-June).

A signature by the tax advisor can be omitted if the company applies for short-time work for a maximum of 5 employees or is directly affected by the lockdown and the application is only made for this lockdown period.

Model social partner agreement (in German)

Requests concerning the short-time working phase IV can be made or submitted via the eAMS account since 6 April 2021. The deadline for retroactive applications from 1 April 2021 is 5 May 2021.