Extension of ERTE due to Force Majeure

Royal Decree-Law 18/2020 of May 12 published in the Official State Gazette today, May 13, 2020, which includes the agreement reached with the social agents, to adapt the conditions of workers affected by a Force Majeure ERTE (in forward ERTE FM) to the de-escalation. Therefore, the term of ERTE FM has been extended until June 30, 2020 for companies that cannot restart the activity.

Quota exemptions are maintained until June 30: 100% for those companies with less than 50 workers and 75% for those whose workforce is equal to or greater than 50.
A new partial ERTE FM category is created for companies that can restart their activity that will run until June 30, 2020, in which they will be able to combine active workers and workers with suspended contracts. In all cases, there is an exemption from social security contributions and for joint collection concepts, which tries to encourage the return to activity, establishing greater exemptions for employees who work than for those who continue to be suspended:

1. Companies with less than 50 employees will have a social security exemption of 85% on contributions accrued in May and 70% on those accrued in June for workers who re-start the activity. On the other hand, for those contracts that continue in suspension, the exoneration will be 60% for the contributions accrued in May and 45% for those of June.

2. Companies with 50 or more workers, the exemption will be 60% and 45% for the contributions accrued in May and June, respectively, of the employees who return to work. While it will be, 45% in May and 30% in June for workers who do not return to their jobs.

Workers will go back to work depending of how crucial it is to re-start the business activity. This decision, to start working again when needed and possible, will be  communicated within 15 days,

For ERTEs due to economic, technical, organizational or productive causes (hereinafter ERTE ETOP), which were communicated after the end of confinement and until June 30, 2020, the special regulations contained in article 23 of Royal Decree-Law 8/2020 will continue to apply and may start with the ERTE FM in force. In these cases, the effect date goes back to the end of the FM ERTE.

The special protection measures for workers are also extended until June 30, 2020 and those that affect discontinued employment until December 31, 2020.

Companies domiciled in territories classified as tax havens may not avail themselves of the ERTE regulated in this Royal Decree.

Likewise, the companies that avail themselves of the ERTE regulated in article 1, using public resources, may not proceed to the distribution of dividends in the fiscal year of application of the ERTE, unless they previously settled the amount of the exemption applied to social security contributions. Excluding entities that, as of February 29, 2020, had less than fifty workers, or assimilated to them, in a situation of registration with the Social Security.