In the revised budget for 2021, the Government refrains from introducing an employer period II in the event of temporary lay-off (in some jurisdictions referred to as furlough).
Employers who temporarily lay off employees must pay wages to the employee in the employer period before the employee can apply for unemployment benefits. The employer period has been changed several times in the last year. According to current regulations, the employer is obliged to pay 10 days' salary to the temporarily laid-off person.
The Government has previously decided to introduce an employer period II for temporary lay-off beyond 30 weeks within a period of 18 months. This period was to consist of five days of compulsory pay for the employer and contribute to the employer bringing temporarily laid-off employees back to work.
The Government has now proposed that employer period II should not be introduced anyway. The rationale for the proposal is that as the situation is now, employer period II would not serve as an incentive to bring workers back to work, but instead only constitute an extra cost for companies in an already difficult financial situation.
