Where the House of Representatives postponed the parliamentary corona inquiry, the minister of SZW is already looking ahead to another crisis. The minister has drafted a bill called “Crisis Scheme for Staff Retention” now that it has become clear that during the corona crisis, the already existing emergency schemes (short-time working and part-time unemployment) did not work.
Reassigning employees
One idea is to make it easier for employers to redeploy staff during a crisis. The idea is to keep employees working as much as possible. For employers, redeployment has the advantage that employees remain productive and can be deployed in places where people are needed. Employees then do not experience a drop in income if redeployment is chosen, as the employer must continue to pay the employee 100% of their wages in case of redeployment. One condition, however, is that the employer has a compelling interest in having the employee temporarily perform other work. This allows the employer to proceed with reassignment right away. Of course, the employer must take into account special personal circumstances of the employee, insofar as they outweigh the employer's overriding interest.
However, the redeployment option is temporary, namely a maximum of 2 months, with a possible extension of another 2×2 months. In total, you as an employer can therefore use this option for a maximum of 6 months.
Labour cost allowance
Another idea in the bill is an allowance for wage costs during a crisis (as the NOW scheme was intended for in the corona crisis).
The financial allowance for labour costs only covers the labour costs of hours not worked during a crisis and is temporary (2 months with possible extension of 2×2 months). Specifically, the concession means that as an employer, you can get a financial contribution from the government for 60% of the wage over the non-worked hours, plus a surcharge for employer charges of 23.5% on top of this.
A condition of the said financial compensation for wage costs is that the employee will make a contribution in the form of a temporary reduction in wages of 20% over the hours not worked, up to a maximum of 10% of the total wage (though the employee will always continue to receive at least the minimum wage). The remaining wage over the hours not worked will be borne by the employer itself.
When to speak of a crisis?
The bill lists the crises below that give access to the new schemes.
- Fire at the premises, preventing operations from being carried out.
- Extreme weather conditions causing damage to business premises(s) (floods, lightning strikes, damage caused by hail, earthquakes).
- Extreme weather events as a result of which (or for prevention of which) the government takes measures to mitigate their harmful effects, limiting the productivity of Dutch companies.
- Measures imposed by the government as a result of an outbreak of an animal disease leading to the total or partial cessation of production, processing and/or transport of animals, whether infected or not.
In addition to the situations mentioned above, the minister may also decide to grant employers access to the new schemes in case of the following calamities.
- Prolonged and unplanned outages of vital public infrastructure (e.g. energy/internet).
- War, being armed conflict between states (international armed conflict) and armed conflict between a government army and one or more armed groups, or between these armed groups themselves (non-international armed conflict).
- Sanctions imposed by foreign governments affecting Dutch companies.
- Disasters and terrorist attacks.
- Government-imposed restrictions to control an epidemic/pandemic caused by infectious diseases.
When not a crisis?
Risks that fall under entrepreneurial risk do not offer access to the new schemes. The following risks are included in any case.
- Strategic risks (e.g. start-up problems, suspension of employees, order loss, export/import, moving production to another country, working for only one client).
- Compliance risks (e.g. excise duty increases or quota measures).
- Operational risks (e.g. inadequate determination of premiums, inadequate execution of payment process).
- Reputational risks (e.g. poor quality products);
- Financial risks (e.g. debtor and credit risks, adverse investments or fraud).
- Certain insurable risks (e.g. employee absenteeism, accidents at work, liability, cybercrime, stock damage, expat risks).
- Technological risks (e.g. lack of responsiveness to technological developments);
- Market risks (e.g. usual fluctuations in activity, changed market situations, currency fluctuations, commodity price increases, downturns).
- Competition risks (changed competitive conditions).
Conditions
It is important that only viable employers who are actually affected by a crisis and really need the support can benefit from it. The following conditions apply.
- There is a demonstrable crisis at the company which crisis is covered by the scheme.
- There is a minimum 20% reduction in working hours across the company on average for a minimum of two consecutive months due to the crisis. This means that if yes, as an employer, you have 50% working time reduction in one month and can return to full employment the other month, you can also access the scheme.
- It must be a viable business, which can be expected to return to self-sufficiency after a maximum of six months of support;
- After the scheme expires, no dismissal on business grounds will be requested.
- The employer shall seek advice from the works council, staff representative body or staff meeting prior to applying for the scheme.
- The employer is obliged to inform the union about the proposed application of the scheme.
When?
The scheme has yet to be fleshed out it is, after all, a proposal. The bill is expected to be submitted to the House of Representatives in 2024.
Source: Parliamentary letter on Crisis Staff Retention Scheme | Parliamentary paper | Rijksoverheid.nl