On 28 April 2020, the Slovenian National Assembly adopted the Amendment of the Anti-Corona Act[1] and the Amendment of the Judicial Measures Act[2]. Both amending acts are expected to enter into force shortly.
The Amendment of the Anti-Corona Act introduces the following changes to the existing package of intervention measures for employers:
Cap on State Aid
The amount of State aid is limited to EUR 800,000 gross per legal entity or EUR 120,000 gross per legal entity operating in the fishing sector or EUR 100,000 gross per legal entity operating in the production of agricultural produce. Exceptions may apply to large companies that would otherwise be forced to terminate employment contracts and companies that are able to demonstrate damage in the amount exceeding the cap on State aid.
Additional Eligibility Criteria for Intervention Measures
Entities which as of 31 December 2019 fell within the scope of an “undertaking in difficulty”, as determined by Article 2, point 18 of the Commission Regulation (EU) No. 651/2014 dated 17 June 2014, amended by the Commission Regulation (EU) No. 2017/1084 dated 14 June 2017, shall not be eligible to claim reimbursement of salary compensations, nor will they be exempt from payment of social contributions and contributions for pension and disability insurance.
The prohibition of paying profits, bonuses to the management, or paying part of salary for business performance to the management has been supplemented with the prohibition of purchasing treasury shares and treasury business shares in 2020 or for 2020. The mentioned prohibition does not apply to employers that are exempt from payment of contributions for pension and disability insurance and do not apply for other employment intervention measures.
Reimbursement of Salary Compensations
The revenue-based condition for employers has been amended. Employers will now be eligible to apply for reimbursement of salary compensations if they anticipate over 10% decrease in their 2020 revenues in comparison to their 2019 annual revenues.
Employers that were not operating throughout 2019 or 2020 shall be eligible to apply for reimbursement of salary compensations if due to the epidemics their average monthly revenues in 2020 decreased by more than 10% in comparison to their average monthly revenues in 2019.
Employers that were not operating in 2019 at all shall be eligible to apply for reimbursement of salary compensations if due to the epidemics their average monthly revenues in 2020 will be decreased by more than 10% in comparison to their average monthly revenues in the period from 1 January until 12 March 2020.
The pool of eligible employers has been extended to humanitarian organizations, disabled persons organizations, and companies pursuing financial or insurance activities listed under group K of the standard classification of activities with up to 10 employees.
The deadline to apply for reimbursement of salary compensations has been prolonged for employers who ordered employees to wait for work at home before 11 April 2020 or whose employees were not able to work due to force majeure before 11 April 2020. Such employers may still apply for salary compensations within 8 days after the Amendment of the Anti-Corona Act enters into force.
Amount of Salary Compensations
In the period from 13 March until 31 May 2020 (with the possibility of prolonging it to 30 June 2020), salary compensation shall amount to 80% of the average monthly salary within the last three months and cannot be lower than the minimum salary in the Republic of Slovenia. This applies to all employees, i.e. to those who were ordered to wait for work at home or cannot work due to force majeure, as well as those whose employers are otherwise not eligible to apply for reimbursement of salary compensations in line with the Anti-Corona act.
Exemption from Payment of Contributions for Pension and Disability Insurance Contributions and the Crisis Supplement
It is now clearly enacted that the exemption from payment of contributions for pension and disability insurance for employees who are working applies to all employers in relation to salaries paid while the intervention measures are in force, i.e. from 13 March until 31 May 2020 (with the possibility of prolongation until 30 June 2020).
In the period from 13 March until 31 May 2020 (with the possibility of prolongation until 30 June 2020), all employers must pay the crisis supplement in the amount of EUR 200 to all employees who are working during this period and whose salary does not exceed triple the amount of minimum wage in Slovenia. Pro-rated crisis supplement is to be paid for March 2020, as well as to regular part-time employees.
Exemption From Payment of Contributions for Occupational Insurance
Employers that are entitled to intervention measures and are otherwise liable for payment of contributions for occupational insurance are exempt from such obligation in the period from 13 March until 31 May (with the possibility of prolongation until 30 June 2020). The special application procedure applies.
Amendments were adopted in the judicial field as well. In line with the Amendment of the Judicial Measures Act the courts will be allowed to decide in non-urgent judicial matters, serve judicial documents in non-urgent matters and conduct hearings and other procedural actions in non-urgent matters which require direct contact, provided that such actions will be performed in a manner that will secure the health of persons involved. Despite the service of judicial documents, procedural deadlines in non-urgent matters remain suspended until the epidemic will be revoked.
[1] Amendment of the Act Determining the Intervention Measures to Contain the COVID-19 Epidemic and Mitigate its Consequences for Citizens and the Economy (yet to be published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia).
[2] Amendment of the Act on provisional measures for judicial, administrative and other public matters to cope with the spread of infectious disease SARS-CoV-2 (yet to be published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia).
A version of this article in Slovenian language can be found here.
