- a condition for entitlement to the allowance is a fall in turnover of 20% or more, counting from 1 March 2020
- the government subsidizes up to 90% of the wages over a period of three months, in proportion to the loss of turnover
- the three-month period may be extended by three months, under (new) conditions
- the employer may not apply for dismissal on grounds of economic reasons for his employees during the period for which the allowance is received
- the employer continues to pay 100% of the wages, including the wages of employees who are employed on the basis of a flexible contract insofar as they remain employed during the application period
The allowance could therefore look like this:
Employer salary sum over three months = EUR 100,000
Sales decrease = 50%
Allowance = (90% x 50%) = 45% of 100,000.00 = EUR 45,000.00
On the basis of the application, UWV will provide an advance payment of the allowance (in any case 80% of the requested amount). It is subsequently determined what the actual loss in turnover was and what the wage bill was. When the actual amount compensation is determined in retrospect, which in some cases will require an audit report, a correction takes the form of a back-payment or a refund.
Applications for Working time reduction that have been filed up to and including March 17, 2020, but have not yet been settled, will be settled in the new NOW arrangement.
Other measures
In addition to the NOW, the following measures have been announced:
- 30% premium differentiation rule does not apply (temporarily) in certain sectors. The provision that employers must pay the high unemployment insurance premium retroactively for permanent employees who have worked overtime for more than 30% in a calendar year will be adjusted for sectors that deal with a lot of overtime due to the crisis (for instance health care).
- Courtesy arrangement premium differentiation: In December 2019, Minister Koolmees gave employers until April 1, 2020 to have a permanent employment contract for permanent employees (the 'courtesy arrangement') in their administration. This period will be extended until July 1, 2020. The arrangement applies to employees who were employed for an indefinite period by December 31, 2019.
We will inform you as soon as the definitive text of the regulations and the application module NOW are available. If you have any questions in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact us on +31 30 220 3111 or by email: info@vanbladeladvocaten.nl