The information from the government about measures related to the Corona virus are rapidly following one another. We hereby inform you on what is known so far on the new so called Temporary Emergency Measurement for Work Retention ( Tijdelijke Noodmaatregel Overbrugging voor Werkbehoud) (“NOW”).
This new measurement was announced by the government on Tuesday evening, March 17 2020. It concerns a wage cost allowance that will be paid by the UWV to employers who have been or will be confronted with a substantial downfall of turnover since 1 March 2020 (as a result of the Corona Crisis).
Applicable conditions
So far we understand that the following conditions will apply to employers who wish to make use of NOW:
- the arrangement will apply to employers with a decrease of turnover with effect from 1 March 2020.
- the employer should be faced with a loss of turnover of at least 20%;
- when granted, the application will be valid for a period of three months, which period could be extended by a new period of three months (further conditions may be imposed on such extension);
- during the period in which the allowance is received, the employer may not apply for dismissal permits for its employees on economic grounds, as the NOW measure is intended to prevent such dismissals.
The amount of the allowance depends on the level of decrease of turnover and will be at maximum 90% of the wage costs whereby the following will apply:
- in the event of a loss of turnover of at least 100%, the allowance will amount to 90% of the wage sum of the employer;
- in the event of a loss of turnover of at least 50%, the allowance will amount to 45% of the wage sum of the employer; and
- in the event of a loss of turnover of at least 25%, the allowance will amount to 22.5% of the wage sum of the employer.
After submission of the application, the UWV will provide an advance payment to the employer equal to 80% of the expected allowance amount. The actual decline in turnover will be determined afterwards. Applications above a certain amount, which has not yet been determined will require the submission of an audit report. When the final allowance is determined an adjustment will be made if needed.
Rights of employees
Please note that the NOW will replace the current so-called “working time reduction arrangement” (werktijdverkortingsregeling). As a result if this the employee will not be entitled to unemployment benefits, which used to be the case pursuant to this “old” arrangement. Pursuant to the new NOW, the employer will be (partly) compensated for its wage costs whereas the employee remains entitled to payment of his (full) salary. The employer will receive a compensation from the UWV by receipt of the above mentioned NOW-allowance.
Any already submitted requests from employers for the “old” working time reduction arrangement will be treated as a NOW-application.
As soon as we have more information for you on the above we will inform you in further detail. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
On behalf of the Employment Team of Milestone Advocaten I wish you all the best!
Caroline van der Zwet