Many employers are still unable to provide work for their employees due to the second wave of the COVID-19 epidemic and related restrictions. For that reason, the Act Determining Intervention Measures to Prepare for the Second Wave of COVID-19 (ZUIOPDVE or PKP 6), which entered into force on Saturday, 28 November 2020, extends the validity of the subsidized waiting for work at home until 31 January 2021.
Employers who estimate at least a 20% decline in revenues are eligible for the measure, namely:
- if, according to their estimates, their revenues in 2020 will fall by more than 20% compared to 2019 due to the epidemic or the consequences of the epidemic;
- employers who did not operate in the entire year 2019 or 2020, if their average monthly income in 2020 will decrease by more than 20% due to the epidemic compared to the average monthly income in 2019;
- employers who did not operate in 2019 if they were registered on 1 September 2020 at the latest and whose average monthly income in 2020 will decrease by more than 20% due to the epidemic or the consequences of the epidemic compared to the average monthly income in the year 2020 to 31 August 2020.
An employee waiting for work at home is entitled to a salary compensation in the amount of 80% of the compensation basis (Article 137/7 of the Employment Relationships Act), but not less than in the amount of the minimum wage. The employer is entitled to a partial reimbursement of the paid compensation in the amount of 80% of the paid salary compensation, but not more than EUR 892,50 gross.
By PKP 6, the amount of partial reimbursement of the payment of salary compensation paid for November 2020 until the expiry of entitlement (31 January 2021) is limited by the amount of the average monthly salary in the Republic of Slovenia. The employer may also claim a 100% reimbursement of salary compensation paid during this period, provided that the total amount of state aid received does not exceed EUR 800.000,00. In this case, the employer must provide a statement that the amount of state aid is not and will not exceed the said limit.
The following entities are not entitled to a partial reimbursement of salary compensation:
- direct or indirect user of the budget of the Republic of Slovenia or the budget of the municipality, whose share of revenues from public sources in 2019 was higher than 70 percent,
- an employer engaged in a financial or insurance activity belonging to group K according to the standard classification of activities and having more than 10 employees on 13 March 2020 and
- foreign diplomatic missions and consulates, international organizations, missions of international organizations and institutions, bodies and agencies of the European Union in the Republic of Slovenia.
During the period of receiving partial reimbursement, the employer may not initiate the procedure of termination of the employment for business reasons to employees who have been sent on temporary waiting for work at home or terminate the employment contract of a large number of employees for business reasons, unless the redundancy program has been adopted before 13 March 2020 and the employer did not exercise the right to reimbursement of compensation for these workers under any of the anti-coronavirus legislative packages. PKP 6 also clearly stipulates that the employer is not entitled to a salary compensation for waiting for work at home for the employee during the period of notice.
The right to a partial reimbursement of paid compensation of salary can be exercised by the employer by submitting an application in electronic form to the Employment Service of Slovenia (EES) within 8 days of the day on which the employee was sent on temporary waiting for work or within 8 days of the entry into force of PKP 6, if the employer had sent the employee on waiting for work at home before this date. The application can be submitted no later than 15 January 2021. The ESS decides on the application within 15 days of its submission by a decision. There is no appeal against the decision, however an administrative dispute is possible.
If the above conditions (20% decline in revenues) are not met when submitting the annual reports for 2020, or if the employer violates its obligations, it will have to return the funds received.
