The Seventh COVID-19 Law adopted: Labour law aspect

Authors: Darja Miklavčič, Karin Dodič

On 29 December 2020, the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia adopted the Intervention Measures Act to help mitigate the consequences of the second COVID-19 epidemic or the Seventh COVID-19 package (hereinafter: the “Seventh COVID-19 law”). The main goal of the Seventh COVID-19 law is to mitigate and eliminate the consequences of COVID-19 in the field of economy, labour and labour relations, social protection and health care.

In the present article, we mainly focus on the measures that the Seventh COVID-19 law brings in the field of labour and labour relations.

1. The measure of partial subsidies for a shorter full-time work

The Seventh COVID-19 law stipulates that an employer may order part-time work to an individual employee with whom it has a full-time employment contract until 30 June 2021. The application for the subsidy thereof may be submitted within 15 days of the ordering of part-time work no later than 10 June 2021.

The Seventh COVID-19 law stipulates that in the process of claiming the subsidy, the employer must, in addition to the other evidence (i.e. evidence of being the eligible employer; signed declaration undertaking not to violate the dismissal ban during the period of receipt of the subsidy and for one month thereafter; and consent to the publication of the information that the employer is the recipient of funds), enclose also a statement that it paid the employees a salary or salary compensation for which it is criminally and materially liable.

If the employer submits a false statement in the process of claiming the subsidy for a shorter full-time work that it has paid salaries or salary compensations to employees, it must return the received funds.  In addition, an employer who submits a false statement that it has paid salaries or salary compensations to employees on the day of submitting the respective application may be fined between EUR 3,000 and 20,000 or a smaller employer with a fine of EUR 1,500 to 8,000. The responsible person of the employer may also be fined.

2. Partial reimbursement of salary compensation for employees temporarily waiting for work

Duration, conditions, procedure for claiming this measure, etc. remain unchanged with respect to the Act Determining the Intervention Measures to Mitigate the Consequences of the Second Wave of COVID-19 Epidemic (ZIUOPDVE) (hereinafter: the “Sixth COVID-19 law”) and the Act Determining Temporary Measures to Mitigate and Remedy the Consequences of COVID-19 (ZZUOOP) (hereinafter: the “Fifth COVID-19 law”). The Seventh COVID-19 law additionally provides only for the requirement to submit additional documentation to the application by which the employer exercises the right to this measure:

Under the Fifth COVID-19 law, the employer which exercises the right to the measure of partial reimbursement of salary compensation for employees temporarily waiting for work must enclose an assessment of the decline in income for the correctness of which it is criminally and materially liable, as well as evidence of sending the employees to temporary wait for work due to temporary inability to provide work for business reasons. The Seventh COVID-19 law additionally provides for the duty of the employer to submit a statement that on the day of submitting the application all due liabilities from mandatory duties and other monetary non-tax liabilities are paid in accordance with the Financial Administration Act (hereinafter: “ZFU”) and a statement that it has paid all salary compensation to employees on the date of submitting the application. The employer is criminally and materially liable for the truthfulness of the statements.

An employer who receives or has received funds from the measure of partial reimbursement of salary compensation to employees temporary waiting for work must return the received funds in full if it has submitted a false statement when submitting the application for exercising this right that it has paid all overdue liabilities arising from mandatory duties and other monetary non-tax liabilities in accordance with the ZFU, a false statement that it has fulfilled the obligations arising from the submission of all withholding tax returns for employment income for the last five years or if it has made a false statement to the application that it has paid salary compensation to the employees on the day of the application.

An employer who submits a false statement of payment of all overdue liabilities arising from mandatory duties and other monetary non-tax liabilities collected by the tax authority, in accordance with the ZFU, an employer who submits a false statement of fulfilment of obligations arising from the submission of all withholding tax returns for employment income for the last five years and an employer who submits a false statement that it has paid salary compensation to employees on the day of submitting the application for exercising the right to reimbursement of salary compensation may be fined in the amount of EUR 3,000 to 20,000 or a smaller employer with a fine in the amount of EUR 1,500 to 8,000. The responsible person of the employer may also be fined.

3. Obligation to return the received funds arising from the reimbursement of salary compensation for employees temporary waiting for work

The Seventh COVID-19 law stipulates that an entity that has claimed a reimbursement of salary compensation for employees temporary waiting for work on the basis of ZIUOOPE, ZZUOOP and ZIUPDV and subsequently finds that it has not met the condition of declining revenues must notify the Financial Administration of the Republic of Slovenia (hereinafter: “FURS”) no later than the deadline for the submission of the corporate income tax return for 2020 or for the period including data for the second half of 2020 or by the deadline for submitting the calculation of income tax from activities for 2020, and return the amount of aid received within 30 days from the service of the decision. For claimed refunds relating to periods from 1 January 2021, the entity shall notify FURS no later than the deadline for submitting the corporate income tax return for 2021 or for the period including data for the second half of 2021, or until the deadline for submission of the calculation of income tax from activities for the year 2021. After the expiration of the deadline for payment until payment, the subject is charged statutory default interest.

Notwithstanding the provisions of ZIUOOPE, ZZUOOP and ZIUPDV, the principle of proportionality is taken into account when determining the decline in revenues in 2020 compared to 2019, which means that the proportional decline of revenues in 2020 compared to the volume of operations in 2019 is taken into account. The criteria of proportionality shall be determined by the minister responsible for finance by an implementing regulation.

For cases where the entity has to repay unduly received funds, the Seventh COVID-19 law provides for the possibility of repayment of the aid in instalments, namely in a maximum of 6 monthly instalments over a period of six months due to loss of revenue due to the epidemic. No interest is charged on the deferred amount (including default interest). If the recipient of funds is late with the payment of an individual instalment, all subsequent unpaid instalments fall due on the due date of the unpaid instalment.

4. Reimbursement of salary compensation for employees under quarantine or for employees unable to perform work due to force majeure due to childcare obligations, stop of public transport, closure of borders

The Seventh COVID-19 law does not significantly interfere with the current regulation of the measure of the reimbursement of salary compensation for employees under quarantine or for employees unable to perform work due to force majeure due to childcare obligations, stop of public transport, closure of borders- it stipulates only that the salary compensation received by:

• An employee who is unable to perform work at home due to quarantine;
• An employee, one of the parents or a person who is taking case of a child on the basis of a valid enforceable title in accordance with the regulations governing family relations, or a guardian who actually takes care of the protégé and who is unable to perform work due to force majeure resulting from the care obligation of the child due to home quarantine or other external objective circumstances of inability to attend kindergarten, school or social care management and care and employment under special conditions other than institutional care, or cannot come to work due to inability to come to work due to the cessation of public transport or the closure of borders with neighbouring countries;
• An employee who goes to a country that is on the green or orange list and is sent to quarantine at home upon arrival when crossing the border in the Republic of Slovenia due to arriving from an area of high risk of infection, and therefore cannot perform work in accordance with the concluded employment contract, and the employer cannot organize work at home for such employee;
• An employee who has been quarantined at home after contact or suspected contact with an infected person and is therefore unable to perform work in accordance with the concluded employment contract and the employer is unable to organize work for such employee, whereby the contact did not occur while performing work for the employer;

may not be lower than the minimum salary in the Republic of Slovenia. The latter applies retroactively, i.e. from 1 December onwards.

5. Crisis allowance

The Seventh COVID-19 law stipulates that the employer pays a crisis allowance in the amount of EUR 200, which is exempt from all taxes and contributions, to each employee who works and whose last paid monthly salary did not exceed twice the minimum salary. The crisis allowance is paid in addition to the salary for the month of December 2020.

If the employee does not work for the whole month of December, the employee is entitled to a proportionate part of the allowance. If the employee has a part-time employment contract, he or she is entitled to an allowance in proportion to the working time for which he or she has concluded the employment contract, except in cases where the employee works part-time in special cases in accordance with the law governing employment relationships.

Employees of the direct and indirect users of the state and municipal budgets, as well as 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, are not entitled to this measure.

In order to reimburse the paid crisis allowance to the employee, the employer submits a statement via the FURS information system no later than the end of February 2021 stating that it has paid the crisis allowance to the employee. FURS pays the reimbursement of the crisis allowance by 20 March 2021 at the latest.

6. Termination of the employment contract without giving a valid reason

The Seventh COVID-19 law stipulates that the employer may terminate the employee’s employment contract without stating a justified reason (justified reasons are exhaustively listed by the act governing employment relationships) and with a notice period of 60 days if the employee qualifies for old-age pension in accordance with the Pension and Disability Insurance Act.

In this case, the employee is entitled to severance pay, as provided by the Employment Relationships Act, for cases where the employer terminates the employee’s employment contract for business reasons or for reasons of incompetence.

7. Extension of the period of use of annual leave

According to the Employment Relationships Act, employees must, as a rule, use their annual leave by 30 June of the following calendar year. The Seventh COVID-19 law extends this period for certain employees, namely an employee who could not use the rest of the annual leave for 2020 due to urgent work needs related to the control of the SARS-CoV-2 virus or due to the consequences of the COVID-19 epidemic may take the annual leave until 31 December 2021. In addition, the Seventh COVID-19 law stipulates that employees who were not able to use the annual leave for 2019 until 31 December 2020 (as stipulated by the Employment Relationships Act) due to absence due to illness or injury, maternity leave or childcare leave, can use it until 28 February 2021.

8. Temporary monetary compensation

The Seventh COVID-19 law envisages the recognition of temporary monetary compensation due to the loss of employment for an unemployed person from the first day of unemployment and for a maximum of the duration of the declared epidemic. Such compensation is granted to a person whose employment contract has been terminated from 18 October 2020 onwards for business reasons or whose employment contract has been terminated with the expiration of the period for which it was concluded and was included in compulsory social insurance in the Republic of Slovenia before 18 October 2020 on the basis of employment, where he or she does not meet the conditions for obtaining unemployment compensation under the provisions of the Labour Market Regulation Act. This compensation is recognized in the amount of EUR 513.64 gross per month.

9. Salary compensation during temporary absence from work

The Sixth COVID-19 law stipulated that by the compulsory insurance the insured persons are fully guaranteed the payment of health services for the cohabitation of one of the parents in a health institution with a sick child up to and including the age of 14 or up to and including the age of 18 if the child has the status of a child with special needs and needs 24-hour care and attention. The Seventh COVID-19 law also envisages this for the cohabitation of one of the parents in a health institution with a person with the disability status according to the law governing the social inclusion of the disabled persons.

Salary compensation during temporary absence from work is paid to the insured persons from the first day of absence from work due to the cohabitation of one of the parents in a health institution with a sick child up to and including the age of 14 or up to and including 18 if the child has the status of a child with special needs and needs 24-hour care and attention or with a person with the disability status under the law governing the social inclusion of the disabled persons, based on the contractor’s certificate of cohabitation without establishing temporary absence from work. The right to salary compensation during the temporary absence from work due to the cohabitation of one of the parents in a health institution with a sick child lasts as long as the cohabitation lasts. The compensation referred to in this paragraph shall be assessed in the same percentage as the compensation during temporary absence from work due to the care of a close family member.

This measure is valid until 31 December 2021.

10. Aid for the purchase of antigenic rapid tests for SARS-CoV-2 virus

The Seventh COVID-19 law provides for an aid to beneficiaries – legal or natural person organized as a company, sole proprietor or cooperative society, to perform rapid tests, with the aim of providing adequate protection against infections and the spread of COVID-19 virus, in the amount of EUR 40 (estimated cost of 5 rapid tests per employee) per employee on the day of submitting the application. A self-employed person who is included in the compulsory pension and disability insurance on the basis of Article 15 of the Pension and Disability Insurance Act is also considered an employee.

However, a person who does not meet the mandatory duties and other monetary non-tax liabilities in accordance with the ZFU collected by the tax authority is not entitled to the aid for the performance of rapid tests if he or she has outstanding tax liabilities in the amount of more than EUR 5,000 on the day of submitting the application.

The beneficiary is responsible for the intended use of the received funds, which can be used exclusively for the performance of rapid tests, which will be used to test employees. The application is submitted to FURS, which pays the aid in a single payment.

Rapid tests can be performed by healthcare providers, whereby a swab is taken only by a healthcare professional or another person working for that provider, with the acquired competencies for a swab.

The beneficiary who applied for aid for the performance of rapid tests and subsequently finds that he or she did not meet the conditions for obtaining it or did not use the funds for the performance of rapid tests, informs FURS thereof and returns the amount of aid received within 30 days from the service of the decision.

11. Measures in force under previous intervention regulations

The Seventh COVID-19 law does not interfere with the possibility of absence of an employee from work due to illness without a certificate of justified absence from work for up to three consecutive working days together at most once in an individual calendar year; interim measures for the self-employed and micro-enterprises; the suspension of the right to monetary compensation for a jobseeker who concludes a fixed-term employment contract to replace absent employees in order to implement measures to prevent the spread of infection; the definition of suitable employment and the possibility to offer suitable employment to an unemployed person from the day of registration in the register of unemployed persons onwards; to simplify the informing of the Labour Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia about work at home; the arrangement that the payment of the test on SARS-CoV-2, to which the employer refers the employee, is not considered a bonus of the employee. These measures shall continue to apply in the manner and under the conditions laid down in the previous intervention regulations.