New subsidies for domestic workers and temporary workers

The Resolutions of 30 April and 1 May of the Public State Employment Service set out the procedures for applying for the processing of applications for the special allowance for lack of activity for domestic workers and applications for the exceptional unemployment allowance for temporary workers.

The Official State Gazette published this Monday, May 4, two new aids for temporary workers without the right to unemployment and domestic workers who have ceased their services due to the effects of the COVID-19. Both subsidies were included in articles 30 and 33 of RDL 11/2020 and finally have already been developed in the two resolutions published this Monday.

For this purpose, and with regard to temporary workers who are not entitled to receive unemployment benefit because they do not have the necessary contributions, the resolution establishes that all workers who have involuntarily terminated, as of 15 March 2020, a fixed-term contract of employment for two months or more, will be eligible for this new aid.

Apart from this premise, they must also meet the following requirements once the application has been made: they must be registered as job seekers with the public employment services and sign the activity commitment, they must not be recipients of a minimum income, inclusion income, social wage or similar aid granted by any public administration and they must not be employed or self-employed full-time on the date of termination of the contract or on the date the exceptional subsidy is granted.

If the conditions set out above are met, entitlement to the exceptional allowance will arise from the day following that on which the fixed-term employment contract expires. If the period corresponding to paid annual leave has not been taken before the end of the employment relationship, the entitlement will arise after that period.

The duration of the contract is one month, which may be extended if so determined by Royal Decree Law, and may not be paid on more than one occasion.

The amount of the subsidy will be equal to 80% of the current monthly public indicator of multiple effect income (IPREM), regardless of whether the previously terminated fixed-term contract was full-time or part-time. The payment of the financial aid will therefore be around 439 euros and will be made by the Public State Employment Service from the month following that of the application.

With respect to persons included in the Special System for Household Employees of the General Social Security System, those who, having registered in said Special System before the entry into force of Royal Decree 463/2020, of 14 March, have ceased to provide services, totally or partially, on a temporary basis, in order to reduce the risk of contagion, for reasons beyond their control, may be beneficiaries of the extraordinary subsidy for lack of activity, in one or more homes due to the COVID-19 health crisis and those whose employment contract has been terminated due to dismissal, withdrawal by the employer, death or any other cause of force majeure attributable to the employer that makes it definitively impossible to perform the work, provided that the causes that determine the termination of the contract are beyond the control of the worker and are due to the COVID-19 health crisis.

The causal events must have occurred after March 14, the date of entry into force of Royal Decree 463/2020, and during the period of validity of the state of alarm.

In the event that the working person has temporarily ceased to provide services, either totally or partially, and therefore remains registered in the Special System for Household Employees, the causal event will be accredited by the presentation of a responsible declaration signed by the employer in which it is certified that the working person has ceased to provide services, either totally or partially, on a temporary basis, in order to reduce the risk of contagion, through no fault of their own, in the employer’s home due to the COVID-19 health crisis.

In the event of the termination of the employment contract, either the letter of dismissal or the notification of the withdrawal of the employing person must be provided, or the documentation accrediting the withdrawal from the Special System for Domestic Employees of the General Social Security System, in which case it is not necessary to provide the declaration of responsibility of the employing person.

If at the time of applying for the benefit the person working in the home has another employment relationship or relationships, a responsible statement signed by the employer(s) must be provided, stating the net remuneration received. Similarly, if at the time of the event in question the applicant was carrying out a self-employed activity, he or she must provide the documentation accrediting the income derived from that activity or make a responsible declaration.

It should be said that if at the time of the event causing the subsidy, activities were being carried out by employees or self-employed persons, it would be essential for the right to be born that the income derived from those works did not reach the amount of the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (S.M.I.), excluding the proportional part of the extraordinary payments (950 euros).

For this purpose, the right to the subsidy will be born from the date on which the total or partial reduction of the activity takes place (accreditation by means of a responsible declaration by the employer), or from the day on which the employment relationship is terminated (date of withdrawal from the TGSS) and its duration will be extended until the last day of validity of the measure, in accordance with the twelfth final provision of Royal Decree Law 11/2020 of 31 March, that is, until one month after the end of the declaration of the state of alert and provided that the amount of the subsidy added to the income from the other compatible activities does not exceed the Minimum Interprofessional Salary.

The amount of the extraordinary subsidy for lack of activity may not exceed the S.M.I., excluding the proportional part of the extraordinary payments, and will be the result of applying the percentage of 70% to the regulatory base corresponding to the activity that was no longer performed, the daily regulatory base of the benefit being the contribution base of the domestic employee corresponding to the month prior to the event causing it divided by 30. In the case of partial loss of activity, the amount of the subsidy indicated will be received in direct proportion to the percentage of reduction in the working day experienced by the working person.

The resolution of the subsidy must be issued and notified within a maximum period of three months by the SEPE and it will be received by monthly periods from the date of birth of the right and will be paid on the 10th of each month.

It should be noted that this benefit will be incompatible with other payments, whether made on behalf of a third party or for oneself, the sum of which with the benefit exceeds the minimum interprofessional salary, both at the time of accrual and subsequently, with the receipt of a temporary incapacity benefit and with the enjoyment, if it was made, of recoverable paid leave regulated by Royal Decree Law 10/2020 of 29 March.

Finally, recipients of the special allowance who have received it unduly will be required to reimburse the amount. The resolution also warns that, in addition to establishing the relevant control and information mechanisms, those who, by action or omission, have contributed to making the improper receipt of the special subsidy possible will be liable, in the absence of proven good faith, to the recipients for the obligation to reimburse the improper benefits.

From the Labour Management Department of AddVANTE we remain at your disposal for further information or to resolve any doubts that may arise in relation to this article.