On May 28, 2021, Royal Decree Law 11/2021 was published in the BOE, on urgent measures for the defense of employment, economic reactivation and the protection of self-employed workers, in which, among other regulations, the ERTE (Temporary Employment Regulation files) are extended until September 30, 2021.
This Royal Decree regulates the new extension of the ERTE, which covers the entire summer campaign, offers protection to the 600,000 affected workers and incorporates incentives for companies that are reincorporating workers who are in a situation of ERTE.
How the exemptions remain after the approval of the Royal Decree:
- ERTE of impediment, corresponding to those companies of any sector that cannot carry out their activity due to sanitary restrictions, the exemptions are maintained at 100% for companies with less than 50 workers and at 90% for those with more than 50.
- ERTE of limitation, in which companies can start their activity, but with limitations, the exemptions will be 85% in June and July and 75% in August and September for companies with less than 50 workers. In the case of companies with more than 50 employees, the exemptions will be 75% in June and July and 65% in August and September.
- ERTE in the ‘ultra-protected’ sectors and companies of its value chain, establishes exemptions on workers affected by a temporary employment regulation file, who restart their activity, of 95% in companies with less than 50 workers and 85% for those with more staff. On the other hand, the exemptions on workers who remain suspended will be 85% in the months of June, July and August and 70% in September for companies with less than 50 workers. In the case of companies with more than 50 employees, it will be 75% in the first three months and 60% in September.
CNAES protected as ultra-protected sectors
Companies whose activity is classified in one of the codes of the National Classification of Economic Activities –CNAE-09– provided for in the attached Annex, will automatically extend their temporary employment regulation files until September 30, 2021.
Can new files of temporary regulation of employment be requested due to impediment or activity limitations?
From June 1, 2021, companies and entities that are affected by restrictions and sanitary containment measures can request an ERTE due to an impediment or limitation to the activity.
Can you go from an ERTE by impediment to an ERTE by limitation and vice versa?
Always, according to the consequences of the modifications in the sanitary restrictions that the competent authorities are adopting, without requiring this step the processing of a new ERTE before the competent labor authority, but being necessary the communication of this change of situation, the date of effect, and the centers and people affected.
What happens to ERTES based on economic, technical, organizational or production causes
Those ERTES initiated before the entry into force of RDL 11/2021, of May 27, remain in force until the agreed end date or in case of ending at this time, they may be extended by agreement after consultation period; extension that will be processed before the labor authority receiving the final communication of the initial file.
ERTES based on economic, technical, organizational or production causes linked to COVID-19, can be started from June 1, 2021 to September 30, 2021.
Benefit for cessation of activity for self-employed
Also regulated in this Royal Decree, the extraordinary benefit for cessation of activity for the self-employed affected by a temporary suspension of all activity.
As of June 1, self-employed workers who are forced to suspend all their activities as a result of a resolution adopted by the competent authority as a containment measure in the spread of the COVID-19, will have the right to an economic benefit for cessation of activity of an extraordinary nature as long as they meet the established requirements.
This benefit will be 70% of the minimum contribution base corresponding to the activity carried out. However, when people united by family ties or analogous cohabitation unit live together in the same address up to the first degree of kinship by consanguinity or affinity, and two or more members are entitled to this extraordinary benefit for cessation of activity, the amount of each one of the benefits will be 40%.
The recognition of the benefit must be requested within the first twenty-one calendar days following the entry into force of the agreement or resolution of closure of activity, or before June 21 when the suspension had been agreed prior to June 1, 2021.
For more information on this, you can contact our Labor Department.