The Government approves measures to respond to the impact of COVID-19, while employers and unions agree on their proposals

The Government has approved Royal Decree-Law 7/2020, of March 12, which adopts urgent measures to respond to the economic impact of COVID-19, including measures in the workplace for officials and a bonus for companies tourism that prolong the employment of discontinuous permanent workers. Likewise, employers and unions have agreed on a joint proposal document for the coronavirus crisis.

Royal Decree-Law 7/2020 includes the following measures in the workplace:

• Exceptional consideration as a situation assimilated to a work accident, exclusively for the temporary disability subsidy, of the periods of isolation or contagion of the personnel framed in the special regimes of public officials as a result of the COVID-19 virus.
• Discount of 50% of business contributions to Social Security for common contingencies, as well as for the concepts of joint collection of unemployment, FOGASA and professional training, for companies that generate productive activity in the months of February to June 2020 and that start or maintain the employment of workers with fixed discontinuous contracts during those months. This bonus will be applicable from January 1 to December 31, 2020, except in the Balearic and Canary Islands where, during the months of February and March 2020, the bonus adopted to mitigate the effects of the opening of insolvency proceedings of the Thomas Cook group of companies.

Employers and unions, for their part, have agreed on a document of proposals for extraordinary measures to address the labor problem due to the coronavirus crisis and in order for them to be negotiated at the social dialogue table. These include the following:

-The proposal for a new regulation of the ERTE that simplifies the procedures and shortens the resolution periods. Likewise, the closure of centers and cancellation of activities, restrictions on the mobility of people or goods, isolation to avoid contagion or the lack of supplies due to public health would be considered as a cause of force majeure.

-The need to regulate ways that enable the care of children and the elderly after the closure of schools, day centers and mobility restrictions, through new paid leave or new causes of suspension of the employment relationship whose Costs, including contributions, will be borne by the extraordinary aid fund.

-Facilitate teleworking. In this regard, they propose that the obligation of companies to assess risks with the self-assessment carried out voluntarily by the worker himself be understood to be fulfilled, on an exceptional basis.

-Workers in situations of isolation or contagion will receive a supplement of up to 100% of their remuneration from the extraordinary aid fund that will also cover the cost of contributions. It is considered essential to develop a procedure for processing cancellations and registrations.

Transitory financial support measures. Postponement of tax debts.

1. Within the scope of the powers of the State Tax Administration, for the purposes of the postponements referred to in article 65 of Law 58/2003, of December 17, General Tax, the postponement of the income of the tax debt corresponding to all those returns-settlements and self-assessments whose term of presentation and income ends from the date of entry into force of this royal decree-law and until May 30, 2020, both inclusive, provided that the applications submitted up to that date meet the requirements referred to in article 82.2.a) of the previous Law.
2. This postponement will also be applicable to tax debts referred to in letters b), f) and g) of article 65.2 of General Tax Law 58/2003, of December 17.
3. It will be a necessary requirement for the granting of the postponement that the debtor be a person or entity with a volume of operations not exceeding 6,010,121.04 euros in 2019.

• The conditions of the postponement will be the following:
• a) The term will be six months.
• b) No default interest will accrue during the first three months of the deferral.
• Article 15. Request for extraordinary postponement of the repayment schedule in loans granted by the General Secretariat of Industry and Small and Medium Enterprises.

• The beneficiaries of concessions of financial support instruments for industrial projects may request the deferral of the payment of principal and / or interest of the current annuity, provided that its expiration period is less than 6 months from the entry into force of the this royal decree-law, when the health crisis caused by COVID-19 has caused in said beneficiaries periods of inactivity, reduction in the volume of sales or interruptions in the supply in the value chain that makes it difficult or prevents them from paying Of the same. This request will entail, if estimated, the corresponding re-adaptation of the reimbursement schedule.
• Said request must always be made before the end of the voluntary payment period and must be expressly estimated by the body that issued the concession resolution.

• The submitted application must include:
• a) A supporting report in which the difficulty of meeting the payment of the next due date is adequately motivated in accordance with the provisions of the previous section. This justification must include an image of the accounts just before the situation referred to in section 1 occurred, a qualitative and quantitative explanation of how this impact occurred, its economic and financial assessment, as well as an action plan. to alleviate these effects.
• b) In the event that the investment period has not expired, a technical and economic report justifying the investments made against the loan up to that moment must be included, broken down by item. A table will be included with the data of the investments and expenses executed (invoices and payments), as well as the expenditure commitments made, all duly accredited.
• c) A responsible declaration that the company is up to date with its tax and social security obligations, that it has no debts for repayment of aid or loans with the Administration, and that it has complied with its obligations to present accounts before the Commercial Registry.

• Changes to the calendar may not be authorized in the following cases:
• a) That there is no sufficiently proven impact to justify this modification.
• b) That the company is not up to date with its tax and Social Security obligations.
• c) That the company has debts for repayment of aid or loans with the Administration.
• d) That the company has not fulfilled its obligations to present accounts before the Mercantile Registry.
• e) That the maturity of the debt is the consequence of a refund due to default or resignation.
• f) That in the case of projects that are within the investment justification period, there is not a sufficient degree of progress and that it does not guarantee the fulfillment of the objectives committed in the concession resolution.
• In the event that this is established for the corresponding program, the request for modification of the concession will be made following the instructions in the guide published for this purpose by the General Secretariat for Industry and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises.
• The maximum term for the resolution of the procedure and its notification is one month from the presentation of the application. If after said period the competent body to resolve has not notified said resolution, the interested parties will be entitled to consider the request rejected.