Last night, the government announced several support measures for business. One of these measures is the Emergency Fund Bridging Employment (NOW). This scheme replaces the Working Time Reduction scheme. This does not mean that the same rules apply as in the Working Time Reduction scheme. To claim NOW, you must meet the following conditions:
If an employer wants to apply for the relief under the NOW, the employer should expect at least 20% loss of turnover.
When applying for the scheme, an employer must make a prior commitment not to apply for redundancy on business economic grounds for its employees during the period for which compensation is received in accordance with NOW.
The amount of the relief depends on the drop in turnover. For example, if 100% of turnover is lost, the allowance is 90% of the wage bill and if 50% of turnover is lost, the allowance is 45% of the wage bill. Here it is important that afterwards it can be determined exactly how much the actual drop in turnover was. The percentages of concessions reported in the publications are examples, with 90% being the maximum. But it is not about categories, an allowance of 86.4%, or of 18.6%, can also be determined in the end.
Whereas the reduction of working hours snatched from the unemployment rights of the employees concerned, this is not the case with the NOW. This therefore also means that employees who do not yet have any WW entitlement (because they are working in the Netherlands for too short a time, for example) can be included in the application.
At the time the employer applies for the relief under the NOW scheme, the application will be valid for a period of 3 months. This period can be extended once by 3 months. In doing so, the NOW scheme does already cover turnover reductions from 1 March 2020.
Unsure which step is necessary or best for your business? Dismissal for economic reasons or apply under the NOW scheme? We would be happy to help you make an informed choice.