Application for short-time work in the event of force majeure due to floods
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Following the heavy rainfalls of 14 and 15 July 2021 which led to floods throughout the country that impacted business activities, the Government has decided that the short-time working scheme in the event of force majeure may exceptionally be applied to all businesses in Luxembourg that were affected by the floods and which:
- are experiencing economic difficulties; or
- are unable to continue their usual business activity.
During the period of short-time work, the State reimburses the company 80 % of the salaries normally received by the employees concerned during their hours of inactivity. However, the compensation must be at least equal to the social minimum wage for unskilled workers.
The reimbursement is limited to 250 % of the social minimum wage. The business still has to pay social security contributions and salaries in respect of hours worked.
Businesses resorting to short-time work in the event of force majeure undertake not to lay off employees for economic reasons.
This procedure is only aimed at businesses affected by the floods of 14 and 15 July 2021. If the business was affected by other types of bad weather (in accordance with the articles relating to temporary weather-related layoff - Art. L.531-1 - L.531-5 of the Labour Code) during the month of July, it must submit the standard application for temporary weather-related layoff to the National Employment Agency (ADEM).
Who is concerned
Eligible businesses
The application for short-time work in the event of force majeure can be requested by businesses which, following the floods of 14 and 15 July 2021:
- have a significantly reduced business activity; or
- have their activity totally interrupted.
There may be a variety of reasons for this, in particular the destruction or damage of production equipment, stocks, business premises and/or production sites.
Companies unable to access their business and/or production premises as a result of the destruction or damage of access roads are also eligible.
Businesses in the construction and civil engineering sectors and related craft industries cannot apply for short-time work in the event of force majeure, when the activity is disrupted at one or more construction sites. These companies may however submit an application to benefit from the weather-related layoff scheme to the National Employment Agency (ADEM). Further information on this scheme can be found here.
Eligible employees
Short-time working in the event of force majeure can be applied to all employees with their place of work in Luxembourg, employed under a permanent or fixed-term employment contract, and who:
- are not covered by a certificate of incapacity for work; and
- do no longer have any work to do or can no longer be occupied on a full-time basis when the company can no longer ensure the normal operation of its activity.
Short-time working schemes cannot be applied to apprentices, to temporary workers or workers having tendered/received their notice.
Prerequisites
In order to benefit from short-time work in the event of force majeure due to floods, the business concerned must:
- be established in Luxembourg;
- hold, where applicable, a business permit granted by the competent authority;
- be impacted by the economic or legal consequences of an external event which makes it impossible for the business to continue their normal economic activity. The event must not have been caused by the business itself: in this case, the floods of 14 and 15 July 2021;
- undertake to not dismiss any employee for economic reasons.
If the business was affected by other types of bad weather (in accordance with the articles relating to temporary weather-related layoff - Art. L.531-1 - L.531-5 of the Labour Code) during the month of July, it must submit the standard application for temporary weather-related layoff to the National Employment Agency (ADEM).
Preliminary steps
Before submitting an application via MyGuichet.lu, the employer is required to confirm, by means of the declaration provided for this purpose for businesses with (French, Pdf, 462 Kb) or without staff delegation (Pdf, 586 Kb), that the employees respectively the staff delegation, and, where applicable, the trade unions (in the event of a collective agreement) have been informed of the application for short-time working.
At the same time the application for short-time work is submitted via the MyGuichet.lu assistant, the applicant or their representative must send an email to the following address emploi@eco.etat.lu, with explanations and photos showing the damage in January 2022. Applicants must also mention if an insurance contract was concluded to provide insurance for the lost work hours. In such a case, a copy of the contract must be attached to the email (see the section "Amount of aid" for more information).
Deadlines
Applications for short-time work due to floods for the month of February 2022 can be submitted between 8 and 15 January inclusive.
Applications submitted after the submission deadline will not be accepted.
Short-time working benefits can never be granted retroactively.
How to proceed
Submitting the application
The business, or its representative (e.g. a fiduciary), can submit the application using an online assistant available in their business eSpace in MyGuichet.lu. The person submitting the application needs:
- a LuxTrust product; or
- an electronic identity card (eID).
The applicant must provide several pieces of information at the time of the application:
- the business's contact details;
- the applicant's contact details and if he or she is the legal representative of the business.
How to create a business eSpace on MyGuichet.lu
There are 2 possible scenarios:
- You are a new user of MyGuichet.lu. You must:
- first register on MyGuichet.lu; and
- then create a business eSpace.
- You already have a private eSpace on MyGuichet.lu. You can directly create a business eSpace without having to register again.
Further information as well as tutorials in relation with the business eSpace are available in our dedicated help page.
Supporting documents
Applicants must enclose the following with their application:
- proof of damages suffered (photo of the premises, etc.);
- a bank account identification document (RIB);
- if applicable, proof of coverage of working hours lost due to flooding by an insurance company (insurance contract/policy, etc.);
- proof of the identity of the legal representative if:
- the declarant is not the managing director of the business; and
- the managing director does not have a national identification number (13-digit number - "matricule").
- the declarant is not the managing director of the business; and
Admissibility of the application
The Economic Committee checks:
- the existence of an external event allegedly impacting the business; and
- if the event was caused by the business itself; and
- whether the business really is unable to carry out its normal activity.
It submits a written opinion to the Government Council (Conseil de Gouvernement) who will decide whether or not to allow short-time work.
The Economic Committee sends an information email to the company informing it that the acceptance or refusal letter can be consulted in their business eSpace on MyGuichet.lu.
Amount of aid
The payment of short-time working benefits is made on the basis of a statement.
During the short-time working period, the State reimburses the employer the compensatory allowance corresponding to 80 % of the normal hourly salary received by the employee.
The reimbursement is limited to 250 % of the social minimum wage for unskilled workers aged 18 or over. If this calculation indicates that the compensatory allowance ends up being lower than the social minimum wage for unskilled workers, the social minimum wage will be used instead.
However, businesses which have an insurance contract that covers working hours lost due to flooding are not eligible for reimbursement from the Employment Fund.
Submitting the statement
Businesses must complete the online procedure on MyGuichet.lu so that the National Employment Agency (ADEM) can draw up a statement.
The declarant also has the possibility of downloading an XML list (French, Zip, 2 Kb) before starting the procedure on MyGuichet.lu.
In practice, for each month of short-time working, the employer or their representative receives an email/mail from ADEM inviting them to fill in the online form.
On this form, only the names and national identification numbers of the employees concerned need to be filled in. ADEM will receive the other necessary data from the Joint Social Security Centre (CCSS).
The statement, together with the individual monthly statements (individual forms), must be submitted to ADEM, on pain of debarment, within 2 months of the month short-time working occurred.
Sanctions
All subsidies granted on the basis of deliberate misrepresentations will have to be repaid.
Subsidies granted on the basis of deliberate misrepresentations and as soon as there is deliberate failure to pay the compensatory allowance to one or more employees concerned or if the subsidies were used to other ends than the payment of salaries must be paid back. The beneficiary must reimburse the totality of the amounts received on the basis of all applications submitted and the benefits of short-time working will be withdrawn with immediate effect from the business concerned.
These offences are punishable by a fine of between EUR 251 and EUR 5,000.
Online services and forms
Who to contact
-
Ministry of the Economy Ministry of the Economy - Economic Committee
- Address:
- 19-21, boulevard Royal L-2914 Luxembourg Luxembourg
- Phone:
- (+352) 247-84707
- Fax:
- (+352) 46 04 48
- Email address:
- emploi@eco.etat.lu
- Website:
- https://cdc.gouvernement.lu/fr.html
