The latest changes of COVID-19 Act in respect to employment remuneration
The Law on Amendments to the Law on Measures and Actions during the State of Emergency, promulgated by a decision of the National Assembly of 13 March 2020, entered into force on 9 April 2020. The amendments not only change some of the existing texts, but also create completely new provisions.
Such new text is the one in Art. 24 of the Law on Amendments, according to which the deadline for the adoption of internal rules under the Law on Measures against Money Laundering (LMML) ceases until the state of emergency is repealed. Prior to the introduction of the state of emergency (13.03.2020), according to § 6 of the LMML, all persons obliged to implement anti-money laundering measures and who have adopted internal rules in connection with them should bring the latter into line with the national risk assessment. The deadline for revising the internal rules in accordance with the requirements of the national risk assessment is 6 months from the date of the publication of the national risk assessment (09.01.2020). In other words, the deadline is 9 July 2020. This means that, given the two-month period of emergency (13.03. – 13.05.2020), the deadline for adopting internal rules on anti-money laundering measures is extended to 9 September 2020.
One of the significant changes in the Emergency Measures and Actions Act is that related to § 6 of the Act. Prior to the enactment of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Measures and Actions during the State of Emergency (April 9, 2020), under § 6, the State, through the National Social Security Institute, assisted employers by transferring 60 percent of the amount of the gross income, based on the data of the income for January this year. The funds are transferred by bank to the respective employer within 5 working days on the basis of written information provided by the Employment Agency and are at the expense of the State Unemployment Fund. In this case the employer is assisted in paying workers’ salaries, however the employer should pay the full amount of the social security contributions due. With the amendments of the Law on Measures and Actions during the State of Emergency since 9 April 2020, employers can be assisted (those who meet the relevant conditions stipulated in the respective Decree of the Council of Ministers), not only in paying a part of the salaries, pointed out above, but also with the payment of the social security contributions due. The amount of this assistance is 60 percent of the social security contributions payable at the expense of the employer.