Government proposes amendments to unemployment security
The Government has been compiling a package that will be used to combat the economic impacts of the coronavirus epidemic. The package also includes proposed amendments to unemployment security. The legislation is not yet in force, and the details are not known. We will provide information as soon as we know more.
According to the proposal the amendments would enter into force retroactively from 16 March on and remain in force until 16 June 2020. It is not known on what kind of a schedule the laws can be prepared and passed.
ENTREPRENEURS will be temporarily entitled to receive unemployment daily allowance. That also concerns self-employed persons and freelance workers. Entrepreneurs have to provide reasoning on how the coronavirus crisis has hampered their business operations. Income will be taken into account for adjusted unemployment security.
The level of UNEMPLOYMENT SECURITY will be temporarily improved by removing the five-day waiting period at the beginning of unemployment for which the benefit is normally not paid. The removal of the waiting period will be funded by the state. The removal of the waiting period will facilitate the processing of applications.
The maximum period of UNEMPLOYMENT SECURITY shall not progress during lay-off. In addition, it was proposed that the lay-off notice period would be shortened to five days, that it would not be an obstacle to the payment of daily allowance that the lay-off has been agreed on, and that fixed-term employees can also be laid off.
The condition regarding employment for the purposes of UNEMPLOYMENT SECURITY will be temporarily shortened to 13 weeks from the present six months. The amendment concerns employment relationships that have begun after 1 January 2020. We do not yet know the details of this proposal.
