Due to economic reasons or unavoidable events, it can happen that a company is temporarily affected by a significant loss of working hours and the employer has to temporarily reduce the regular working hours of his employees. Economic causes that can lead to a reduction in working hours are all causes that have a direct or indirect effect on the company's economic processes, for example because raw materials cannot be supplied by supplier companies. Unavoidable events that can lead to a reduction in working hours are always given if they are due to force majeure or even measures or orders from an authority, as long as the employer is not responsible for them. These can be unusual weather conditions or protective measures ordered by the authorities, such as the closure of an entire company.
However, it is important that the employer cannot unilaterally order short-time work. In companies with a works council, a corresponding agreement with the works council is required. If there is no works council, the employer must make a separate agreement with each employee.
If the employer has agreed with its employees on temporary short-time work and has notified the Federal Employment Agency of this, the employees can be entitled to short-time work benefits and thus at least partially compensate for the loss of salary. This also applies if the affected employee falls ill after the start of short-time work or is subject to an official ban on work or is in quarantine, as long as there is a right to continued payment of wages in the event of illness or due to the law on combating infectious diseases without short-time work .
The amount of the short-time allowance depends on the net loss of earnings. As a rule, employees receive 60% of the lost flat-rate net remuneration. If at least one child lives in the household, this rate increases to 67%. The loss of earnings is calculated from a comparison between the gross earnings that would have been earned without the loss of work, whereby one-time payments or remuneration for overtime are not taken into account, and the gross earnings actually achieved.
Membership in statutory insurance is maintained even while receiving short-time work benefits. Employers and employees bear the amounts for the wages actually paid, as with regular wages. However, the actual amounts to be paid for health, nursing care and pension insurance are based on a fictitious salary. The employer must bear the amounts attributable to the fictitious wages alone.
You can also report short-time work and apply for short-time work benefits online at the Federal Employment Agency. The federal government is currently working on simplifying the procedure for applying for short-time work benefits and relieving the burden on employers. This also means that the social security contributions that employers have to pay should be reimbursed by the Federal Employment Agency. The changes are expected to come into effect in April.
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