Depending on the evolution of the pandemic, the aim will be to phase out the schemes over Q2 Shutterstock

Depending on the evolution of the pandemic, the aim will be to phase out the schemes over Q2 Shutterstock

Changes in the scheme will remain in place until 30 June, Luxembourg’s social security minister revealed on Thursday.

For the rest, the terms of application for the first six months of 2021 are defined in two separate 3-month periods, based on the assumption that the health situation will improve by 1 April 2021. There are four different scenarios depending on whether the company comes from industry or from a sector considered vulnerable (Horeca, tourism and events) and depending on whether the company wishes to proceed with redundancies:

1. Conditions of access applicable from 1 January to 31 March 2021

a) Industrial companies will continue to benefit from the short-time working scheme in order to be able to react to disruptions in international markets. By applying the short-time working scheme, industrial companies undertake not to make people redundant for economic reasons;

b) Firms in the vulnerable sectors of catering, tourism and the events sector will be able to benefit from accelerated access to partial unemployment from structural sources, without limiting the number of employees entitled to it. In case of proven need, these companies will be able to resort to economic redundancies within the maximum limit of 25% of their employees calculated on the workforce as of 30 June 2020 and this until 31 March 2021;

c) Companies affected by the health crisis, other than industrial companies and those in vulnerable sectors, will also be able to have recourse to short-time working from structural sources through the accelerated procedure, on condition that they do not proceed with redundancies. In this case, however, the number of working hours lost may not exceed 15% of the company's total normal monthly working hours. Normal working hours may not exceed 40 hours per week per employee;

d) Finally, applications from companies in vulnerable sectors making more than 25% of their workforce redundant, industrial companies, as well as companies in other sectors affected by the crisis which should nevertheless also make redundancies or which should exceed the percentage set in point c) may only do so on condition that these companies provide a recovery plan for small companies with fewer than 15 employees, respectively in the form of a job maintenance plan in accordance with the provisions of Article L. 513-1 et seq. of the French Labour Code for companies with more than 15 employees.

2. Conditions of access applicable from 1 April to 30 June 2021

For the period after 31 March 2021, there will be a gradual phasing out of short-time working, unless the health situation deteriorates.

a) Industrial companies will continue to benefit from the short-time working scheme in order to be able to react to disruptions in international markets. In applying the short-time working regime, the industrial companies undertake not to lay off workers for economic reasons;

b) Firms in the vulnerable sectors of catering, tourism and events will be able to benefit from accelerated access to partial unemployment from structural sources up to a maximum limit of 50% of the firm's total normal monthly working hours, provided that they do not lay off workers for reasons not inherent to the individual. Normal working hours may not exceed 40 hours per week per employee;

c) Firms affected by the health crisis, other than industrial firms and those in vulnerable sectors, will also be able to resort to partial unemployment from structural sources on an accelerated basis, provided they do not lay off workers. In this case, however, the number of working hours lost may not exceed 10% of the company's total normal monthly working hours. Normal working hours may not exceed 40 hours per week per employee;

d) Finally, companies in vulnerable sectors, industrial companies, as well as companies in other sectors affected by the crisis which should nevertheless proceed with redundancies or which should exceed the percentage fixed in point c) can only do so on condition that these companies provide a recovery plan for small companies with less than 15 employees, respectively in the form of a job maintenance plan in accordance with the provisions of article L. 513-1 and following of the Labor Code for companies with more than 15 employees.

Short-time working requests for November 2020

As a reminder, due to the reinforcement of the health measures decided at the end of October, an exceptional procedure was put in place for companies that had not submitted a request for partial unemployment for the month of November within the deadline and who nevertheless considered that they would need to resort to it. As a result, 1,425 additional requests corresponding to 7,667 employees (calculated in FTE / full time jobs) were submitted within 8 days, of which 30% came from the so-called "vulnerable" sectors such as Horeca, tourism and events, and 2.3% from industry. 81.8% of these additional requests were accepted by the Committee (i.e., 1,167 requests).

These requests were in addition to the 2,793 requests, corresponding to 22,075 employees (calculated in FTE/full-time jobs), which had been submitted within the normal deadlines, 96% of which had already received a favourable opinion. Of the applications already processed, 45.7% came from sectors considered particularly vulnerable, while 4.7% came from industrial companies and 49.6% from other sectors.

For the month of January 2021, applications to benefit from the short-time working scheme must be submitted exclusively via MyGuichet.lu between 1-12 December 2020, inclusive.