Short-time working in COVID-19 time

Short-time working in COVID-19 time

 "My employer has put me on short-time working. How does this work? Does he have to ask my opinion? If I refuse, do I then get 100% of my salary? Thank you for your reply. " Arnaud, Geneva

In this period of health crisis, many companies are facing a significant loss of sales and are forced to take decisions to reduce their fixed costs. One possible measure is to put employees on short-time working. They will then receive compensation following a reduction in working hours (RHT), which makes it possible to preserve jobs while reducing the costs faced by the company.

Employers planning to introduce short-time working must submit their application to their cantonal employment office, which will examine whether the conditions for granting short-time working are met. These are numerous and relate both to the status of the beneficiaries, normally employees on permanent contracts, and to the material conditions that must be met, such as a temporary loss of activity of at least 10%, linked to economic factors and not attributable to the normal operating risk. In addition, the Federal Council, through its COVID-19 ordinance on unemployment insurance, has recently extended the circle of beneficiaries of RHT to employees on fixed-term contracts and apprentices, in order to avoid their dismissal in these difficult times.

When short-time working is granted, 80% of the loss of salary due to lost working hours (for a maximum insured salary of CHF 12,350 per month) is reimbursed by the unemployment insurance to the employer. The employer advances the RHT compensation to the employee. The employer must, of course, continue to pay the usual salary for the hours worked. It may also, if it wishes, continue to pay the full salary and cover the 20% not covered by unemployment, but is under no obligation to do so.

The introduction of short-time working is subject to the approval of employees, who may therefore refuse it. In this case, the employee who has not accepted the measure cannot have it imposed on him and will continue to receive the 100% of his salary that his employer must pay him. However, an employee who refuses short-time working runs the risk of being dismissed for economic reasons. In this respect, it is important to note that the Federal Court has ruled that such dismissal is not considered abusive, so that employers may in such circumstances give notice to employees to whom they can no longer provide work.