Conditions for short-time work

Conditions must be met for the introduction of short-time work:

The agreement on short-time work must be reached with all employees. You are not obliged to agree to short-time work. You cannot simply be dismissed for this reason. This could be a punishment that is not allowed.  However, this is difficult to prove in practice. The agreement on short-time work is always an amendment to your employment contract. This can be done through an amendment to the employment contract or through a company agreement.

The conditions of short-time work must be precisely described in the agreement. This includes details of the start and end (date), the number of short-time working hours per week and the percentage of salary you will receive. The employer can also top up the short-time working allowance. In this case, the total wage proportion must be stated as a percentage in the agreement. 

The agreement must also describe the field of work and the group of persons (e.g. department, warehouse) to which short-time work applies.

Employees must be notified of short-time work 7-14 days before it begins.

If you sign a short-time work agreement with your employer, you must receive a copy of it. If the information is incomplete or incomprehensible, this agreement may not be valid. In this case, you would still be entitled to full pay even after the introduction of short-time work. You don't automatically receive the pay. If you believe that the agreement is not valid, you must offer to work full time in order to receive full pay.

Please note: if you refuse short-time work, the employer can give you a notice of amendment. He/she wants to use this to change your working hours.

You have three weeks to take legal action against a notice of amendment.