Leistungen A-Z

• Forms: yes
• Online procedure possible: yes
• Written form required: yes
• Personal appearance required: no

• Application for short-time working allowance
• Notification of loss of work
• Payroll list for short-time working allowance – Annex to the claim for benefits
• Short application for short-time working allowance – for the duration of the Kug Regulation
• Online portal of the Federal Employment Agency for applying for benefits

In difficult economic times, employment costs can be burdensome for the company. If, for example, companies lose work due to an acute crisis situation because production has to be restricted due to a lack of supplies, short-time working can be reported. During short-time working, employees temporarily work less or not at all. The short-time working allowance then partially compensates for the loss of earnings. It is intended to relieve your business and help to preserve jobs.

Employers are responsible for reporting loss of work and applying for short-time working allowance. Workers don't have to do anything. Short-time working can be introduced for the company or limited to individual departments. The amount of the short-time working allowance depends on the respective income of the employees and the actual loss of work / earnings during short-time work:

• 60 percent of the lost net wage for employees without children in the household
• 67 percent of the lost net wage for employees with at least one child in the household

You will receive the short-time working allowance at the earliest from the calendar month in which your notification of the loss of work was received by the Federal Employment Agency. The short-time working allowance is a reimbursement. As an employer, you initially make advance payments when paying wages and salaries to your employees. The short-time working allowance is settled monthly in arrears with the Federal Employment Agency at the registered office of the payroll office and paid to you retroactively.

Temporary changes to the regulations for short-time working allowance are possible.

For example, due to the corona crisis, the regulations on short-time working allowances were temporarily changed. The amendments concern, among other things, the extension of the duration of the short-time working allowance, the contribution of minus hours, the crediting of income from secondary employment, entitlement to short-time working allowance for temporary workers and a gradual increase in short-time working allowance. You can find out more on the website of the Federal Employment Agency.

Short-time working allowance can be applied for in the event of temporary and unavoidable absence from work

• for economic reasons, or
• as a result of an unavoidable event (e.g. temporary closure of the authorities).

Minimum requirements:
An entitlement to short-time working allowance only exists if at least one third of the employees are affected by a loss of earnings of more than 10 percent of the gross salary. Due to the corona crisis, the proportion of employees who have to be affected by the absence from work has been temporarily reduced to at least 10 percent. You can find out more on the website of the Federal Employment Agency.

Operational requirements:

• Your establishment or department employs at least one employee.
• Short-time working allowance can also only be granted for one operating department.

Personal requirements:

• Employees subject to social insurance contributions who have not been dismissed and with whom no termination agreement has been concluded

Further prerequisite:

• Notification of absence from work to the Federal Employment Agency, enclosing a statement from the works council

Notification of absence from work (form)

• Appendix, if applicable, works agreement with the works council on short-time working
• Appendix, where appropriate, Opinion of the works council
• Appendix, if applicable, copy of the parts of the collective agreement relevant for short-time working

Application for short-time working allowance (form)

• Payroll list for short-time working allowance – Annex to the claim for benefits (form)

none

You can apply for short-time working allowance in writing or online. The procedure is two-stage: first you indicate the loss of work, then you make the application.

If you want to apply for short-time working allowance in writing:

• You announce short-time working to your employees. A works agreement is often concluded with the works council for this purpose. If there is no works council, you must obtain the consent of all employees who will be affected by short-time working.
• You notify the short-time work in writing to the competent office of the Employment Agency (notification of absence from work).
• The Employment Agency examines the notification and decides whether short-time working allowance can be granted.
• They calculate the wage and salary payments as well as the short-time working allowance on a monthly basis.
• You pay the remuneration for hours worked and the short-time working allowance for lost hours to your employees and pay social security contributions.
• You apply retroactively each month for reimbursement of short-time working allowance from the competent office of the Employment Agency (application for short-time working allowance and payroll list).
• The Employment Agency checks the application and the payroll list, and approved short-time working allowance is transferred.
• After completion of short-time work, the Employment Agency checks the submitted statements and, if necessary, corrects the approved short-time working allowance.

If you want to apply for short-time working allowance online:

• You submit the notification of absence from work, the application for short-time working allowance and, if necessary, other documents via the online portal "eServices" of the Federal Employment Agency.
• The remaining steps of the procedure correspond to the written procedure.

Application and payment:

• You will receive short-time working allowance at the earliest from the calendar month in which your notification of the loss of work was received by the Federal Employment Agency.  
• You must apply for short-time working allowance within 3 months of the end of the calendar month for which you wish to apply for short-time working allowance.

You can find the department of the Federal Employment Agency responsible for you via the service finder.

General:

Headquarters of the Federal Employment Agency
Regensburger Strasse 104
90478 Nuremberg

Phone: 0911 1790
E-mail: zentrale@arbeitsagentur.de

• Service Finder on the website of the Federal Employment Agency

You can find your local employment agency via the service finder.

Employer Service of the Federal Employment Agency
Phone: 0800 455520 (Toll-Free)

• §§ 95 et seq. of the Third Book of the Social Code (SGB III)

In the event of exceptional developments on the labour market (such as as a result of the spread of the coronavirus), the Federal Government or the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs may temporarily adapt the provisions on short-time working allowances by ordinance.

• Information on short-time working allowance including explanatory videos on the website of the Federal Employment Agency
• Forms, leaflets and flyers on short-time working allowance

Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs