Luxembourg's Ministry of the Economy has announced that 4,450 companies have applied to the government (with 4,362 successful) for partial unemployment for February 2021.
The Economic Committee met on Tuesday 23 February 2021 under the co-chairmanship of the Minister of Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy, Dan Kersch, and the Minister of the Economy, Franz Fayot. As the end of the first quarter of 2021 approaches and given the health situation, the Committee confirmed the extension of provisions on partial unemployment, as adopted by mutual agreement by the social partners in November 2020 and applicable since then.
For the period from 1 April to 30 June 2021, the Economic Committee will continue to distinguish four scenarios depending on whether the applicant is an industrial company or a company in the hospitality, tourism and events sectors and depending on whether the company wishes to make redundancies or not:
- industrial companies will continue to benefit from the cyclical partial unemployment scheme in order to be able to react to disruptions in international markets. Concerned industrial companies undertake not to make redundancies for economic reasons;
- companies in the hospitality, tourism and events sectors will be able to benefit from accelerated access to structural partial unemployment up to a maximum limit of 50% of the total normal monthly working hours of the company, provided they do not proceed to dismissals for reasons not inherent to the person. Normal working hours may not exceed 40 hours per week and per employee.
In the event that companies in these sectors are again forced to close their doors by virtue of an administrative decision, the companies concerned will again benefit from unlimited partial unemployment during the period of closure;
- companies affected by the health crisis, other than industrial companies and those in the hospitality, tourism and events sectors, may also have recourse to partial unemployment from a structural source through the accelerated route, provided they do not make redundancies. In this case, the number of working hours lost cannot exceed 10% of the total normal monthly working hours of the company. Normal working hours may not exceed 40 hours per week and per employee;
- companies in the hospitality, tourism and events sector, industrial companies, as well as companies from other sectors affected by the crisis which should nevertheless proceed with redundancies or exceed the percentage fixed in the point above can only do so on condition that they provide a recovery plan (for small companies with fewer than fifteen employees) or a job retention plan (for companies with more than fifteen employees), in accordance with the Labour Code.
Concerning requests for partial unemployment for the month of March 2021, 4,450 companies (compared to 4,393 last month) submitted a request in February in order to benefit next month from the scheme's special provisions, which are in force until 30 June 2021. The Economic Committee approved 4,362 of these requests (compared to 4,243 last month), although the Government Council will have the final say on the allocation of this support measure. The approved requests for the month of March concern 46,780 employees (full-time employment) compared to 34,117 employees last month.
In addition, the Economic Committee approved two requests for tax exemption from voluntary termination indemnities; these requests concern four people. It also approved three requests relating to the legal provisions on early retirement.
The next meeting of the Economic Committee is set for Monday 22 March 2021.
