Coronavirus: aid to the hospitality sector (JC 302) for the payment of the end-of-year bonus 2020

In the fight against the coronavirus, cafes and restaurants are again obliged to close from 19 October 2020 to 20 November 2020, except for take-away meals (see our Infoflash of 19 October 2020).

Following this decision, the federal government announced a number of support measures to assist this severely affected sector, amongst other things to guarantee the payment of the end-of-year bonus. In the meantime, it became clear that the hospitality sector’s Guarantee and Social Fund will receive a subsidy for this.

Year-end bonus in the JC 302

Specific to this sector is that the year-end bonus is paid by the Social Security and Welfare Fund on the basis of monthly pre-financing by the employer. This contribution is equal to 12 % of the amount on which the social security contributions of the previous month were calculated (108 % of the gross wage bill for manual employees).

As the majority of the employees were placed in temporary unemployment COVID-19 during the compulsory closure of the hospitality sector by the government, no (or less) wages were calculated Consequently, advance payments to the Fund were also reduced or none have been made at all.

But on the other hand, the periods of temporary unemployment are treated as days worked for the calculation of the amount of the end-of-year bonus! This can lead to financing problems, because following the payment of the end-of-year bonus, the individual employer will receive an additional invoice to compensate for the periods of temporary unemployment treated as days worked (but not covered by advance payments).

Subsidy for the payment of the end-of-year bonus

To avoid this situation, the federal government is now providing aid! The hospitality sector’s Guarantee and Social Fund receives a one-off subsidy of EUR 167,000,000 to cover periods of temporary unemployment. Therefore, the employer no longer has to finance these periods treated as days worked himself.

However, bear in mind that this subsidy only covers periods of temporary unemployment. If an employee was absent for another reason treated as days worked (see our sectoral documentation for more information), this cost will of course still have to be borne by the employer.

We do not yet have any concrete information on how exactly this contribution will be made but will not fail to inform you immediately as soon as we have more clarity.

Source:

• Collective Bargaining Agreement of 27 July 2010 (reg. No. 101.764), in force since 01.01.2011 for an indefinite period.
• Amendment to Section 23 of the draft law opening provisional appropriations for the months of November and December 2020.