In follow-up to the comprehensive financial aid package launched by the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, we are bringing to you a detailed rundown of the support measures designed for the employees, employers and self-employed who can apply for contributions towards job retention.

The applications for March 2020 must be submitted by 15.05.2020; the applications for April 2020 from 16.05.2020, as there will be new forms of statements published for this purpose.

 

The present First Aid Package scheme:

1. MEASURE 1 – Employers who had to close their business operations based on a decision issued by the Public Health Authority (“PHA”)

  • Eligible applicants: All employers, including the self-employed (who are employers), who commit to retain jobs during the government-declared extraordinary situation, despite being ordered by the PHA to suspend or limit their business operations.

Only the entities established and active as of 01.02.2020 at the latest may apply for this contribution.

  • Target group: Employees to whom their employer (a company or a self-employed who is an employer) cannot assign work due to obstacles to work on the employer’s part (Section 142 of the Labour Code).

The scheme only applies to those employed on or before 01.03.2020.

  • Amount of contribution: Wage compensation in the amount of 80% of the employee’s average monthly earnings, subject to a limit of €1,100.
  • Eligible expenditures: If, under a collective agreement or another written agreement with employee representatives, an employer pays its employees a compensation below 80% of their average earnings, the wage contribution will be adjusted to reflect the actual amount of the wage compensation paid, subject to a limit of €880.

If an employer pays its employees a compensation above 80% of their average earnings, the wage contribution will be paid in the amount of 80% of the average earnings, subject to a limit of €1,100.

For the first month, the employer (self-employed) will submit both the Application (Annex 1) and Statement (Annex 2). The wage contributions payable in the following months will be provided based on the monthly Statements only, without resubmitting the initial Application.

Attention! The contribution is not available during the time when employees receive social security benefits (e.g. sickness benefits, carer’s allowance).

 

2. Measure 2 – The self-employed who had to suspend or restrict their business activities during the extraordinary situation based on a PHA order or whose sales have decreased.

  • Eligible applicants: The self-employed who had to suspend or restrict their business activities during the extraordinary situation based on a PHA order or whose sales have decreased as a consequence.

Only the entities established and active on 01.02.2020 at the latest are eligible to apply for the contribution.

  • Eligible expenditures: the contribution is paid to compensate the loss of income of the self-employed; the amount depends on the rate of decrease in sales:

Decrease in sales in March 2020

Contribution for March 2020

Decrease in sales April 2020 / May 2020

Contribution for April 2020 / May 2020

     Less than 10 %

0 EUR

     Less than 20 %

0 EUR

     10 % – 19.99 %

90 EUR

     20 % – 39.99 %

180 EUR

     20 % – 29.99 %

150 EUR

     40 % – 59.99 %

300 EUR

     30 % – 39.99%

210 EUR

     60 % – 79.99 %

420 EUR

     40 % and more

270 EUR

     80 % and more

540 EUR

 

The applicant must choose one of the three methods available to calculate the rate of decrease in sales:

  • The sales in the respective month are compared with the sales in the same month last year (e.g., March 2020 to March 2019);
  • Average monthly sales in 2019 (i.e., 1/12 of total sales in 2019) are compared with sales in the respective month of 2020 – available only to those engaged in a gainful economic activity throughout 2019;
  • The sales for February 2020 are compared with the sales in the respective month of 2020 – available only to those engaged in a gainful economic activity for only a part of 2019 and who began to perform a gainful economic activity on 01.02.2020 at the latest.

For the first month, the applicant will submit both the Application (Annex 3) and Statement (Annex 4). The contributions payable in the following months will be provided based on the monthly Statement only; the annex (Statement) itself will constitute the application for contribution.

 

3. Measure 3 – Support to the employers (including the self-employed who are employers) affected by the extraordinary situation

The measure comes in two options – the employer may choose only one of them for the entire duration of the wage contribution period:

  1. the ‘kurzarbeit’ scheme – reimbursement of wages payable to employees to whom their employer cannot assign work due to obstacles to work on the employer’s part (Section 142 of the Labour Code) up to 80 % of the employee’s average earnings and subject to a limit of €880
  2. monthly lump-sum contribution towards the wage cost of each employee; the amount depends on the rate of decrease in sales.

 

Option A: Under this option, instead of having to prove a decrease in sales, it is sufficient for the employer to continue to pay wages to those employees who cannot be assigned work due to obstacles to work on the employer’s part. This contribution is not available during the time for which employees receive social security benefits (sickness benefits, carer’s allowance) or are on a leave.

Option B) The second option is to apply for a contribution in the amount of which depends on the rate of decrease in sales:

Decrease in sales in March 2020

Contribution for March 2020

Decrease in sales April 2020 / May 2020

Contribution for April 2020 / May 2020

     Less than 10 %

0 EUR

     Less than 20 %

0 EUR

     10 % – 19.99 %

90 EUR

     20 % – 39.99 %

180 EUR

     20 % – 29.99 %

150 EUR

     40 % – 59.99 %

300 EUR

     30 % – 39.99%

210 EUR

     60 % – 79.99 %

420 EUR

     40 % and more

270 EUR

     80 % and more

540 EUR

 

Employers may choose one of the three methods available to calculate their rate of decrease in sales:

  • The sales in the respective month are compared with the sales in the same month last year (e.g., March 2020 to March 2019)
  • Average monthly sales in 2019 (i.e., 1/12 of total sales in 2019) are compared with sales in the respective month of 2020 – available only to those engaged in gainful economic activity throughout 2019
  • The sales for February 2020 are compared with the sales in the respective month of 2020 – available only to those engaged in gainful economic activity for only a part of 2019 and began to perform gainful economic activity on 01.02.2020 at the latest.

 

  • Target group: The ‘employee’ for the purposes of Option B is any employee to whom the employer assigns work, and also any employee to whom the employer cannot assign work due to obstacles to work on the employer’s part. Attention! The contribution is not available in respect of those employees who are prevented from working more than 50% of their monthly working hours due to work obstacles on their part (sickness, care for a family member, etc.) or in respect of those employees who are on a leave during this period.
  • Eligible expenditures: If, under a collective agreement or another written agreement with employee representatives, the employer pays its employees a compensation below 80% of their average earnings, the wage contribution will be adjusted to reflect the actual amount of the wage compensation paid, subject to a limit of €880.

If, under a collective agreement or another written agreement with employee representatives, the employer pays its employees a compensation above 80% of their average earnings, the wage contribution will be paid at the rate of 80% the average wage, subject to a limit of €880.

For the first month, the employer will submit the Application (žiadosť) and Statement (výkaz) as an annex to the Application (Annex 6A/6B). Since only one of the two options may be selected (i.e., kurzarbeit or lump-sum contribution), the aid in the following months will continue to be provided solely based on the statements submitted (only the annex, without resubmitting the Application); the annex itself will constitute the application for contribution.

 

4. Measure 4 – Support to the self-employed and one-man limited liability companies who have had no other income since 13.03.2020

  • Eligible applicants: The self-employed who have had no other income since 13.03.2020 and who have suspended their business operations without suspending or withdrawing their business licence.

For the purpose of this support measure, the term ‘income’ includes the old-age pension, disability pension, partial disability pension and service pension.

The ‘self-employed’ means a natural person who is not yet obliged to pay the mandatory health and pension insurance contributions under Act No. 461/2003 on Social Insurance, as amended, or a person who is not in the ‘contribution-relief regime’.

This ‘self-employed’ category also includes any natural person who is:

  • the sole shareholder of his/her own limited-liability company (‘one-man limited liability company’), subject to the contribution eligibility criteria defined at: https://www.pomahameludom.sk/,
  • the Executive director of his/her own limited-liability company without being employed by the company,
  • not a shareholder in any other limited liability company.

Only the selected categories of the self-employed who started their business on 01.02.2020, at the latest, are eligible to apply.

  • Eligible expenditures: A monthly lump-sum contribution to compensate the loss of income in the amount of €105 for March 2020 and €210 for April and May 2020, respectively.

 

5. Measure 5 – Humanitarian aid to citizens who found themselves in a crisis situation and are incomeless during the coronavirus pandemic

  • Eligible applicants: Those individuals who, due to the crisis situation, have ceased to perform the gainful activity (generating income from employment, business or self-employment) they had performed before the crisis situation (declared on 12.03.2020) and who have had no income subject to the personal income tax.

The applicant must not be a receiver of a support from the social insurance scheme and from the government’s social support or assistance schemes (such as old-age/early retirement pension, disability pension, sickness benefits, unemployment benefits, service pension, disability service pension, sickness benefits or other similar benefits from abroad), nor may the applicant be a receiver of a subsistence allowance, parental allowance or carer’s allowance.

  • Eligible expenditures: A lump-sum subsidy in the amount of €105 for March 2020 and €210 for April and for each following month until the applicant’s social and economic situation has changed.

The subsidy is paid for each month during which the criteria are met; the compliance period must last for at least 15 calendar days each month (ten calendar days in March 2020).

The applications for March 2020 (if the conditions were met after 12.03.2020 and the compliance period lasted for at least 10 calendar days) and for April 2020 (if the conditions were met from 01.04.2020 onward and the compliance period lasted for at least 15 calendar days) must be submitted by 15.05.2020.

 

COMMON CONDITIONS FOR THE PAYMENT OF CONTRIBUTIONS UNDER MEASURES 1-5:

The precondition of eligibility is to retain the jobs of affected employees also after the termination of the extraordinary situation, for at least two (2) months after the month in respect of which the employer has applied for the contribution. The ‘job retention commitment’ means that the employer must refrain from taking any steps towards terminating the employment of its employees, unilaterally or consensually due to redundancy or company dissolution (organisational changes). The job retention commitment must be a part of the declaration.

Both the employers and self-employed will prove their compliance with the eligibility criteria by means of the declaration, which constitutes an annex to the Application. The eligibility criteria are described in detail at https://www.pomahameludom.sk/.

Applications should be submitted to the Labour Office within the territorial jurisdiction of which the applicant has committed to retain jobs (or to the Labour Office designated by the Central Labour Office) or to the Labour Office within the territorial jurisdiction of which the applicant performs his/her self-employed activity. The applications for contributions under Measure 5 should be addressed directly to the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, Budget and Financing Department, Bratislava.

 

CORRECTNESS AND ACCURACY OF INFORMATION, SANCTIONS

Any information provided by the applicants in the declarations may be subject to ex-post checks. However, it is not clear at this point how these checks will be performed.

By confirming that the information presented in the application is accurate, the applicant is aware of the legal consequences of any misrepresentation, including the criminal sanctions impending under the Criminal Code (Section 221 - Fraud, Section 225 – Subsidy Fraud, Section 261 – Damaging the European Communities’ Financial Interests).

The already signed and published ‘Contribution Agreements’ within the First Aid Package project contain a provision according to which if the job in respect of which an employer has received a wage contribution is not retained (employment is terminated by dismissal or consensually on the grounds set out in Section 63(1) (a) and (b) of the Labour Code), the employer must return the whole contribution received in respect of that job within 30 calendar days of receiving a notice of return from the Labour Office.

We hope you will find this information useful. We are monitoring the situation very closely and we will keep you updated. Do not hesitate to contact us should you need detailed information about the individual measures.

 

Dajana Csongrádyová