El Diario (26.01.2021) The so-called "forbidden firing" also extends until May 31, which in reality supposes a government veto of objective dismissals motivated by the pandemic. The measure is extended, which has generated two interpretations in the Social Courts: both sentences that declare these dismissals as inadmissible (the majority) , and some that consider them invalid. A Barcelona court has declared a dismissal appropriate in this context .

El Diario (26.01.2021) The most outstanding novelties of this extension of the ERTE until May 31st, are based on facilitating administrative procedures, such as to go from an ERTE of limitation to one of impediment and vice versa, as well as that it is not necessary to re-process the unemployment benefits of workers affected by the extension. In addition, the group of sectors we consider to be most affected by the pandemic changes slightly, wider after the decree to support the hospitality industry : three activities are incorporated (camping and caravan parks, rental of means of navigation, and physical maintenance activities) and three more come out (carpet manufacturing, cold drawing and musical instrument manufacturing).

El Diario (26.01.2021) If you are in a vulnerable situation and your landlord is a "large landlord", you can request a postponement of the payment of the rent until May 9. This new decree extends the possibility of requesting a "temporary and extraordinary" postponement if the following conditions: that the tenant is in a situation of vulnerability caused by the coronavirus crisis and that the owner has more than ten properties. The assumptions of economic vulnerability are the following: being unemployed or ERTE, receiving less than three times the IPREM and that income plus expenses represent more than 35% of income. The owner can offer two alternatives: the reduction of 50% of the monthly payment while the state of alarm lasts and with a maximum of four months or the postponement itself, which will last for the duration of the state of alarm and, at most, four months following. In the latter case, the tenant will have three years to return the unpaid installments in installments, without penalty or interest.

El Diario (26.01.2021) From February the access to the so-called 'unemployment' aid for the self-employed created due to the pandemic will be extended until May 31. There are some changes, among them the requirement of a drop in income from 75% to 50% is relaxed in order to access severance benefits. The requirement of having to have been a beneficiary of the extraordinary benefit for cessation of activity until June 30, during the first state of alarm, in order to benefit from these aid, a criterion that had generated a protection gap, is also abolished . Outside of the aid, the Government suspends during this period the increase in the Social Security quota that was applied from this January, due to the agreement to progressively raise some types of contributions and, in the same way, the social protection linked to these.

El Diario (26.01.2021) The Government has approved this Tuesday a macro-decree with the extension of several labor and social protection measures, part of the so-called 'social shield' against the pandemic. The Council of Ministers has extended the current ERTE model due to COVID practically without changes until next May 31, after Easter, which will also be the new limit for 'unemployment' aid for the self-employed. The ERTE scheme articulated last September is maintained until May 31st, 2021: those aimed at the 'ultra-protected' sectors (considered most affected by the pandemic) and dependent companies linked to its value chain, plus the ERTE to impede the activity and the ERTE of activity limitation, for companies that see their businesses altered by restrictive measures against the virus. Workers affected by ERTE will continue to have access to unemployment benefit without a grace period, even if they have not paid the minimum amount for it. In addition, the so-called 'counter at zero' is maintained, so the period consumed until January 2022 will not be computed. The benefit will be equivalent to 70% of the regulatory base, as up to now.

Social Security State's Secretary (25.01.2021) With the beginning of the year, new moratoriums on Social Security contributions have come into force. These postponements are regulated in Final Provision 43 of Law 11/2020 on General State Budgets for the year 2021 (LPGE) and are aimed at companies and freelancers who are up to date with their obligations and do not have any other postponement in vigor. In the case of self-employed workers, the moratorium covers the quotas whose accrual corresponds to the months of January to March 2021. For companies, between the months of December 2020 and February 2021. The deferral carries an interest rate of 0.5%, which is seven times lower than the normally established.

The Edition (21.01.2021) The United Nations (UN) and Maldives on Thursday signed a project document on digitialising social services in order to better protect women and girls from poverty and violence during emergency situations. Titled 'Protecting Women and Children: Digitalizing and Streamlining Social Services and Creating a Unified Platform for National Care', the project aims to enhance shock-responsive social protection benefits and services targeted towards women and girls, in order to prevent them from falling into poverty and protect them from violence in prolonged socioeconomic and emergency situations such as the ongoing COVID-19. pandemic.

ideasforindia.in (21.01.2021) Urban slum-dwellers are among the groups that are most at-risk of Covid-19, and their precarious situation is further compounded by rampant misinformation regarding the Virus. Based on a survey of about 4,000 households in slum areas in Uttar Pradesh, this article shows that recorded phone messages from doctors giving information on Covid-19 – along with high financial incentives to pay attention – can debunk related fake news.

The Guardian (25.01.2021) Women and young workers bear brunt of job losses and reductions in hours, says UN labour body

Government of Austria (20.01.2021) Due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, the governing parties extended the increased emergency assistance until March 2021, and to pay this out restrospectively (this ended in December 2020). Around 200,000 people per month benefit from the increased emergency aid.

Government of Austria (20.01.2021) Extended paid leave for pregnant women who cannot work remotely, and whose work requires close contact with other people, such as teachers, haridressers, beauticians, physiotherapists and masseuses. The measure is in place until June 2021. The regulation also ensures that employers do not experience any financial losses, as the government will reimburse 100% of the wages.

German Government (20.01.2021) Thanks to the Act for the Digital Modernisation of Care and Nursing on January 20th, 2021, midwives and other healthcare professionals will in future be able to offer telemedicine services, and will be paid for these. In addition, it is to become easier to use e-prescriptions, even internationally. Besides this, a brief patient file is to be created, meaning that patients will be able to share important information with their doctors even if they are in another EU member state. All IT security, data privacy and data protection requirements will be taken into account, as they are to date.

German Government (20.01.2021) The importance of digitalisation in the health system and the need to make better use of the potentials offered by digitalisation has become particularly evident during the pandemic. In the future, it is to be possible to include digital applications, such as fall prevention apps or memory training apps, in regular nursing care. In the future, it will be possible to link digital applications with the electronic patient file. To this end, on Wednesday the Cabinet approved a bill; the draft Act for the Digital Modernisation of Care and Nursing.

The Guardian Nigeria News (20.01.2021) - No fewer than One million Nigerians are to benefit from the Federal Government’s COVID-19 Cash Transfer Project which aims to lift the urban poor affected by the pandemic out of poverty. The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, said this on Tuesday in Abuja while inaugurating the COVID-19 Rapid Response Registration (RRR) Cash Transfer Project.
Osinbajo said that the RRR was designed to focus mainly on the urban poor wards selected using scientifically validated methods of satellite remote sensing technology, machine learning algorithm and big data analysis. “This social protection method of targeting is the first strategy to be developed and tested in the Sub-Saharan Africa region and Nigeria will be the first country for its implementation. “With the RRR, which uses a wholly technology-based approach, we are primed to achieve an end-to-end digital foot-print in cash transfers for the urban poor. “Which also helps us achieve our financial inclusion policy under the Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access programme (EFInA).” News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the first set of 3,115 beneficiaries have already received N5,000 each cash transfer and the programme will continue until it reaches the one million target. The cash transfers will be received by the beneficiaries for six months.

EURACTIV.com (14.01.2021) The Spanish government is ready to approve before Friday (15 January) an extension of temporary lay-off schemes put in place March last year to protect jobs for around 800,000 workers affected by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the tourism and services sectors. Under the scheme, the Spanish state gives workers about 70% of their salary and prohibits companies from firing people. In case of fraud or redundancies, companies must return exemptions from contributions to the social security system and risk heavy penalties.

South African Government (27.10.2020) The R51 045 255 369.21 billion covers 1 000 824 companies that applied and was disbursed in 11 575 623 payments which is broken down as follows: For April, R21 billion has been paid to 4 240 112 workers through 410 523 employers; The payments for May month stand at just over R12 billion for the benefit of 3 108 611 workers through 280 191 employers; In June, the UIF has so far disbursed R10.5 billion to 2 904 749 workers represented by 217 982 employers; For July/August, R5.7 billion has been paid to 997 499 workers through 67 721; and R1.2 billion has been paid for August/September to 324 652 workers represented by 24 407 employers.   An amount of R1.6 billion has been paid directly to 390 996 workers and R214 million was disbursed to 60 275 domestic workers. Documented and declared foreign nationals have been paid R1.6 billion.

South African Government (18.01.2021) South Africa and the People’s Republic of China are teaming up to improve the capacity of public servants on governance as well as the management of disasters and emergencies such as the Covid-19 pandemic. South Africa’s National School of Government, falling under the Ministry for the Public Service and Administration, working with the China National Academy of Governance, will in March and April 2021 offer courses on governance and emergency management for senior and middle managers in the public service. The courses will expose South African managers to China’s governance models and responses to emergencies. The courses will cover the following amongst other themes: China’s Governance Model for Development Outcomes The capacity of the State to deal with emergencies. The Chinese model of disaster management and the management of Covid-19. 

The courses target senior and middle managers in all three spheres of government and will run from March 2021.

worldbank.org (12/01/2021)

The World Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors approved today a US$246 million new project to provide emergency cash transfers and access to social services to approximately 786,000 poor and vulnerable Lebanese reeling under the pressure of Lebanon’s economic and COVID-19 crises. The Emergency Crisis and COVID-19 Response Social Safety Net Project (ESSN) will also support the development of a comprehensive national social safety nets system to allow a better response to ongoing and future shocks. 

The Employer Wage Subsidy Program for the hard hit industries under three (3) sectors of aviation, tourism and construction. This program is designed to save jobs. The program is driven by the following characteristics: a. Employers of affected industries will receive a subsidy based on their total wage bill, driven by an SSC contribution waiver and a cash injection from the state. The aim is to give employers a cash subsidy of 17% of their total wage bill and SSC contribution holiday, or both for a period of three months. b. Prospective beneficiary employers should agree not retrench staff for the three (3) months and should not be allowed to reduce staff salaries by more than 50% c. Any benefits to be received should be netted against any claims the employer in question may have received from the state or other forms of compensation (FIDIC or insurance). d. The program is designed to potentially assist 7,900 employers employing 65,420 employees. The program is budgeted to receive N$150 million which when combined with the waiver, should equate to ~25% of the total wage bill. e. Any amounts left over can be used in the Affected Employees program.

The Affected Employees program invites persons to apply for a grant designed to provide compensation for those who have lost income. This program is designed to provide a safety net for those who have been adversely impacted by COVID19. Features include: a. Applicants should have been registered with the SSC as at 1 February 2020. b. Applicants should be able to prove loss of income related to COVID19 c. Applicants should earn less than N$50,000 p.a. d. The benefit will be limited to 50% of monthly salary, subject to a minimum of N$1,000 per month for 3 months. e. The benefit will be net of other benefits received from the state (e.g. Emergency Income Grant ) f. Using these parameters and a budget allocation of N$350 million this program could cater for between 56,000 to 117,000 applicants.

NAV (01.01.2021) The most measures for care allowance will be continued in 2021 due to the coronavirus.

The measures until 31 December 2021:

• The number of care days doubles
• You can transfer care days to another caregiver when kindergarten / school / SFO is closed
• The employer cannot demand a doctor's certificate from the 4th day

The measures until 30 June 2021:

• You can use care days when kindergarten / school / SFO is closed
• You can use care days even if you have used up your days when there are special infection control considerations, or when the kindergarten / school / SFO is closed

(18.01.2020) The Star The Wage Subsidy Programme 3.0 under the Social Security Organisation (Socso) will be improved, says Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. The Prime Minister said all employers operating under the movement control order are eligible to apply, regardless of sectors. He said eligible employers would receive a wage subsidy of RM600 for each of their employees earning less than RM4,000 for a period of one month. "Besides that, the limit of 200 employees for each application will be increased to 500 employees. "This initiative involves an additional allocation of RM1bil, which is estimated to benefit 250,000 employers who hire more than 2.6 million employees," he said. Muhyiddin said this when delivering a special address on the Malaysian Economic and Rakyat's Protection Scheme (Permai) assistance package which was telecast live on television stations and social media platforms here Monday (Jan 18). For those who lost their jobs during the MCO period, he said the government had agreed to relax the application conditions for the Employment Insurance System (SIP Prihatin) assistance. "Employees who do not meet the minimum contribution, or whose service contract was not extended after at least three renewals, are now allowed to apply for the SIP Prihatin financial assistance of 30% of their salary for three months," he said.

The Social Security Fund (SSF) regulation reduces the rate of mandatory Social Security Fund contributions under section 33 of the SSA effective from January 1, 2021 to March 31, 2021. Contribution rates are calculated as a percentage of each employees’ monthly wages, based on a minimum monthly wage of THB 1,650 and a maximum monthly wage of THB 15,000. Based on the minimum and maximum wages allowed for calculation, the contributions would range from THB 49.5 to THB 450 per month for both the employer and the employees. From April 1, 2021 onwards, this will increase to THB 82.5 to THB 750.

This regulation is similar to a previous regulation from April, 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic, stating that the definition of force majeure under the Social Security Act B.E. 2533 (1990) (the SSA) includes hazards from pandemics of dangerous communicable diseases (including COVID-19). This definition therefore affords protection to insured persons (i.e., employees) in the event that the COVID-19 pandemic results in their being unable to work, or their employers being unable to operate their business normally.

The affected employee will be entitled to compensation at a rate of 50% of their daily wages during the quarantine period, period of compliance with a COVID-19 preventative measure, or period of temporary premises closure, for not more than 90 days. The payment will be calculated based on daily wages in accordance with section 57 paragraph 1 of the SSA, but will be paid monthly. The SSO will cease payment of the compensation if the employee resigns or is terminated by an employer, or the employment contract expires. In addition, the employer is obligated to issue a certificate letter to request compensation in the event of unemployment resulting from force majeure. The certificate must be in accordance with a form letter prescribed in the regulation, can be made and sent electronically, and must be retained by the employer as evidence.

The Coronavirus, Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) allows employers to defer the deposit and payment of the employer's share of Social Security taxes and self-employed individuals to defer payment of certain self-employment taxes.

Afin d’inciter au maximum les personnes présentant des symptômes à rester isolées à leur domicile, elles pourront bénéficier d’indemnités journalières et du complément employeur, sans délai de carence ou de conditions d’ouverture du droit, lorsqu’elles sont testées positives à la Covid-19 ou dès lors qu’elles sont symptomatiques, dans l’attente du résultat de leur test.