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).
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).
This is the extension of the ERTE, the aid for the self-employed and the rents approved by the Government
- The Executive extends the current ERTE model with little change until May 31, improves the 'unemployment' aid for the self-employed until this date and extends the possibility of requesting an extension of the rental contract
- - The Government agrees with the self-employed to improve their aid: the requirement of falling income will go from 75% to 50%
A hospitality worker collects his terrace from his bar in Córdoba. EFE / Rooms / Archive
January 26, 2021 2:08 p.m.
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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. In the latter case, they are improved, with the possibility that people who have been excluded up to now can benefit from termination benefits. In addition, the macro decree includes the extension of the rental contract under the same conditions for six months.
The Government extends until May the extension of rents and the moratorium on rents to large owners
The new extension of the ERTE once again has the support of the unions and employers , another success in the negotiation with the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Social Security, with Yolanda Díaz and José Luis Escrivá at the head, respectively. The ERTEs due to the pandemic, in which more than 700,000 workers are included, maintain the guarantees in unemployment protection and in aid to the contribution of companies, with hardly any changes.
The Council of Ministers has also approved a royal decree with the revaluation of pensions, 0.9% and 1.8% for non-contributory pensions in 2021, which was already reflected in the General State Budgets. Minister José Luis Escriva has been in charge of explaining the labor macro-decree in the press conference after the Council, in which Yolanda Díaz was not present. Escrivá has stressed that this year will be the last in which the increase in pensions has to be approved at the discretion of the Executive, since it is finalizing the negotiation with the social agents on the new legal mechanism for the revaluation of pensions, in based on the CPI.
The decree with labor and social measures also includes a measure that was still pending in the matter of pensions: the one-year extension of the so-called "pension safeguard clause" , with effect from January 1. Social Security had already announced this extension, which Minister Escrivá has considered "justice", but had not approved it until today.
Keys to the ERTE until May 31
The ERTE scheme articulated last September is maintained: 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.
The companies will maintain high exemptions in the different ERTE modalities, which even reach 100% in some cases.
- For the 'ultra-protected' sectors and their dependent companies and their value chain, the savings in the Social Security contribution is 85% for companies with less than 50 workers and 75% for those with more than that level of staff, both for reinstated and suspended employees.
- In the case of ERTEs due to disability, which companies in any sector can take advantage of, the exemptions are 100% for companies with less than 50 workers and 90% for those that exceed that level of staff.
- In the limitation ERTE, the exemptions are decreasing: from 100% in February, 90% in March, 85% in April and 80% in May for companies with less than 50 workers and from 90%, 80%, 75% and 70 % (in those months) for companies that exceed that staff level.
The clause of maintaining employment for six months for companies that benefit from ERTE with exemptions in social contributions continues in the same terms as up to now. If the company is affected by a commitment to maintain a previously acquired job, the start of the new six-month safeguard period will occur when the previous one ends. There is also the prohibition of the distribution of dividends in companies in ERTE, as well as working overtime, among other limitations to companies that apply these files.
The most outstanding novelties of this extension 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).
Improvement in the aid of 'unemployment' of the self-employed
The dialogue of the Government takes this success, this of the Ministry of Social Security, with another agreed extension of the aid for cessation of activity with the self-employed groups ATA, UPTA and UATAE. The Social Security extends from February the access to the so-called 'unemployment' aid for the self-employed created due to the pandemic, which will also extend until May 31.
The Government makes access to the benefits created by cessation of activity more flexible through various channels, which are detailed in this information . Among them, perhaps the most prominent is that from now on 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.
Objective layoffs prohibited by COVID
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 .
Extension of the 'MeCuida' Plan to reconcile
The so-called 'Me Cuida' Plan, which establishes reinforced conciliation rights for workers during the COVID-19 crisis, is also extended until May 31. It is about the right to adaptation and reduction of working hours for employees to care for their dependent family members. They are "individual" rights of each of the parents or caregivers, which can be consulted here .
The measure, although welcome to facilitate conciliation, is insufficient for the unions and some groups, such as associations of single-parent families (generally headed by women), which have asked to supplement these rights with some benefit or assistance.
Extension of the rental contract
The possibility of requesting an extension of the rental contract is extended until May (if you have not requested it before). If you live for rent, you can ask the landlord to maintain the conditions of your contract for six months. The decree extends the extraordinary extension that the Government approved in March last year, with the declaration of the first state of alarm, until the end of the second state of alarm, scheduled for May 9. The landlord must accept your application and can only refuse if he or a first degree relative needs the house to live, or if he has a signed judgment of separation, divorce or marriage annulment.
The decree stipulates that the extension will have a "maximum period of six months" and that during this "the terms and conditions established for the current contract will continue to apply." It is important to note that the extension can only be requested once, as confirmed by sources from the Ministry of Transport to this newspaper. If you already asked for an extension during the first state of alarm and the landlord granted it, you do not have to do it again now.
Rent and situations of great vulnerability
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.