The Act on special solutions related to the prevention, counteracting COVID-19, other infectious diseases and crisis situations caused by them, was adopted, announced and entered into force 31 March 2020.
This legal act is the response of the Polish legislator to the deteriorating situation of many enterprises related to the spread of coronavirus in Poland.
The legislator has provided a number of forms of support for entrepreneurs under the so-called Anti-crisis shield, among others:
- Co-financing of remuneration from the Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund (FGŚP),
- Exemption from the Social Security Contributions (ZUS),
- Loans for micro-entrepreneurs – support granted by the district head.
In the next parts of the newsletter, we will describe the above points and indicate how Leinonen specialists will be able to help you in obtaining the given support.
1. Co-financing of remuneration from the Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund (Article 15g of the Act)
Co-financing of remuneration may be granted to any entrepreneur with a decrease in economic turnover and, as a consequence, periods of economic downtime or a reduction in the working time of employees.
a. Economic downtime
During economic downtime, if the employer reduces the salary by more than 50% and pays not less than the minimum salary, the entrepreneur will be able to apply for funding remuneration and social security contributions from the Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund. Such co-financing is valid for 3 months from the date of submission of the application. The amount of funding is calculated as a sum of 50% of the minimum salary (PLN 1,300) and in the same proportion the Social Security Contributions in the amount of PLN 233. The total co-financing amount is PLN 1,533 per employee.
b. Reduction of employees’ working time
If the employer reduces the employee’s time by 20% but not more than ½ of the full-time, assuming that the employee receives at least the minimum salary, the amount of funding will be up to half of the salary but not more than 40% of the average salary in the fourth quarter of 2019. – The total amount of salary co-funding is PLN 2,079, together with the Social Security Contributions – PLN 2,452.
A decrease in economic turnover is understood as a decrease in the sale of goods or services in terms of quantity or value:
- not less than 15%, calculated as the ratio of the sum of turnover of two consecutive months (60 calendar days) in the period started from 1 January 2020 to the sum of turnover from the corresponding two months of the previous year, or
- not less than 25% of turnover in any month started from 1 January 2020 calculated as 30 consecutive days in consecutive days, compared to the previous month.
Co-financing will not apply to the remuneration of employees whose remuneration obtained in the month before submitting the application was higher than 300% of the average monthly remuneration announced by the Central Statistical Office.
The co-financing is dedicated to the entrepreneurs who do not declare the bankruptcy and who were not in arrears with payment of taxes and Social Security Contributions until the end of the third quarter of 2019
Co-financing applies to the employment contract, civil contract, tolling agreement.
Way of behaving:
- 1. Agreement containing the conditions of performing work during the economic downtime with the trade union organization or employees’ representatives.
- 2. Forwarding a copy of the agreement to the District Labor Inspector within 5 working days from the date of concluding the reduced working time agreement.
- 3. Submission of the application, together with the necessary documents and statements to the Provincial Labor Office.
In our opinion, some documents should be prepared by a legal office due to the complexity and multi-stage nature of the procedure. Leinonen specialists can support you in the preparation of the appropriate application and some attachments regarding your company. Please contact your accountant for this purpose.
