Czech Republic: The senate has approved the “Kuzrzarbeit” programme to provide more Covid relief to companies

The Czech Senate has approved a new partial-unemployment aid scheme intended to provide added relief and support to companies still struggling to cope with the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. The programme has been labelled the “Kurzarbeit” scheme as it draws inspiration from the Kurzarbeit programme in Germany.

The Kurzarbeit programme provides for a temporary reduction of employees’ regular working hours, backed by government support, to help companies to hold onto their staff and prevent redundancies during the economic crisis. Applications for aid can be made by employers who are unable to assign enough work to their employees to make up their usual working hours.

The new programme is intended to replace the existing “Antivirus Programme”, which has been in operation since the beginning of the pandemic and is due to end on 30 June 2021.

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