ERTE based on the causes regulated in RDL 8/2020 of March 17 are extended until January 31, 2021

During the pandemic due to COVID-19, several measures have been taken to help companies and employees cover the effects of the cessation or stoppage of the activity, among others related to temporary employment regulation files or ERTEs.

This month an extension of the ERTEs based on the causes regulated in Royal Decree-Law 8/2020 of March 17 has been approved. These ERTE will be extended until January 31, 2021.

ERTE exemption

RDL 30/2020 of September 29, on social measures in defence of employment, contains a new package of measures to alleviate the negative effects on companies and employment, derived from the health emergency caused by COVID-19.

These measures are approved to deal with the economic and social impact of COVID-19, related to suspensions and reductions in working hours due to force majeure and economic, technical, organizational and production causes related to COVID-19.

Based on the new regulation, two types of ERTE can be distinguished:

• ERTE due to impediment in the development of the activity. It is intended for companies in any sector or activity that are prevented from carrying out their activity due to the measures adopted as of October 1.

In the case of this ERTE:

• A new ERTE must be filed with the labour authority.
• They are applied to the work centre.
• The exemptions will be the following:
  • 100% of the company’s contribution during the closing period and until January 31, if it has less than 50 workers.
  • 90% if the company has 50 or more workers.
• ERTE due to limitations in the normal development of the activity. It is the one that is intended for companies that see their activity limited in some work centres due to the measures adopted.

This ERTE:

• A new ERTE must be filed with the labour authority.
• It is applied to the work centre.
• The exemptions will be the following:
  • Companies with less than 50 workers: 100%, 90%, 85%, and 80% correlatively for October, November, December, and January 2021.
  • Companies with 50 or more workers: 90%, 80%, 75%, 70% correlatively for the same months.

The exemptions will be applied whenever the company requests it through a responsible declaration.

• ERTE of Companies linked to sectors with more than 15% coverage rate of workers in ERTE and month of 65% recovery rate. It applies to exist already ERTES extended that will obtain exemptions based on various factors:
  • Companies with an activity included in the CNAES included in the annexe to the RDL (automatic extension).
  • Companies that are members of the value chain. They are those that during 3019 have generated at least 50% of their turnover in operations carried out directly with the companies included in the CNAES.
  • Companies are directly dependent on those included in the CNAES.
  • The exemptions will be the following:
    • Companies with less than 50 workers: 85% in October to January, both inclusive.
    • Companies with more than 60 workers: 75% from October to January, both inclusive.

Deadline to request bonuses

Another fundamental aspect regarding the ERTEs mentioned is the deadline to request the bonuses.

If the company is not included in the National Classification of Economic Activities (CNAE-09) codes established in the Annex of RDL 30/2020, provided that it is proven that half of the turnover for 2019 was for a company included in the sector of activity of some of the CNAE included in the Annex of the RDL, the value chain criteria will have to be followed (that is, a company that is part of the value chain of another):

• To request the dependency of activity to any of the companies included in the CNAE-09, a file must be processed before the corresponding labour authority of each autonomous community, in which it is proven that the applicant company is economically linked to a company included within the CNAE-09 of the Annex of RDL 30/2020. Once this dependency has been verified, the exemptions regulated in the RDL may be applied.
• The deadline to request such a link to the corresponding labour authority begins on October 5, 2020, and ends on October 19 of the same month.