Thanks to the short-time working compensation, unemployment insurance (UI) covers employers affected by short-time working for a proportion of their salary costs and offers an alternative to the risk of redundancies.
Definition
Short-time working refers to a temporary reduction or complete suspension of work at a company, whereby the contractual employment relationship remains in place. This is usually for financial reasons.
Purpose
Unemployment insurance (UI) covers employers affected by short-time working for a proportion of their salary costs for a certain period. The aim is to prevent redundancies being announced as a result of unavoidable, short-term work stoppages.
In contrast to unemployment benefits, the benefits are paid to the employer. However, each employee has the right to not accept the short-term working compensation. The employer must continue to pay these employees their full salaries. However, there is then an increased risk of employees being made redundant.
Procedure
- The employer must submit an application for short-time working. He/She must submit an advance notification to the responsible cantonal employment office.
- If the cantonal employment office authorises the short-time working, the employer must submit the additional applications to the selected fund. The fund checks the application requirements in detail and in the event of a positive decision, it then reimburses the short-time working compensation.
Amount
The short-time working compensation is paid to the employer after the waiting period. It amounts to 80% of the loss of earnings attributable to the reduction in working hours. With short-time working compensation, the UI also reimburses the employer contributions for OASI/UI/LE/UI.
Duration
The maximal duration of the short-time working compensation is 18 months (from 1 September 2020).
The website Work.swiss offers further information on this subject.
Source: www.work.swiss
