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Exceptional measures COVID-19

You will find below information on the measures decided by the government in relation to the exceptional situation generated by the COVID-19.

 

Changes regarding social security in the context of the COVID-19 crisis

From April 1, 2020 and until the end of the month in which the COVID-19 crisis state ends, the Caisse Nationale de Santé (CNS) will cover the payment of the monetary compensation to sick employees and non-employees, as stated in Article 9, paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Social Security Code, for type 1 work incapacity (sick leave or accident).

However, the usual payment of salary by the Employer, followed by a 100% reimbursement by the Mutualité des Employeurs (the Employer’s Mutual Fund), remains applicable for work incapacities due to leave for family reasons, including the extraordinary leave for family reasons implemented during the COVID-19 crisis, and the new leave for family support.

 

Emergency fund for very small businesses and self-employed workers

In the crisis context, the General Management of middle-classes has implemented an emergency fund for the self-employed workers :

The compensation represents a single lump sum capital grant of EUR 2.500.

It is exclusively intended to people meeting the 5 conditions below :

  1. The self-employed worker must be affiliated as such to the Centre Commun de la Sécurité Sociale as at March 15, 2020 ;
  2. The self-employed worker has the necessary authorizations and approvals for the activity he is carrying out as self-employed ;
  3. The professional income of the self-employed worker used for calculating social contributions for the year 2019 plus, where applicable, pensions paid by a pension insurance body must not exceed the amount of 2.5 of the minimum social wage (EUR 5.354,98 per month or EUR 64.259,70 per year) ;
  4. The self-employed worker employs less than 10 people ;
  5. The self-employed worker is facing temporary financial difficulties directly linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Careful: the compensation cannot be cumulated with the certified emergency compensation that has been implemented by the Grand-Ducal Regulation of March 25, 2020.

The request is to be made through the online assistant available on the professional area of MyGuichet.lu website.

After the speech on April 17, 2020 the self-employed workers and SMEs will benefit from a new financial compensation, which can be cumulated with previous aid; it will be of EUR 5.000, immediate and non-refundable. However, the compensation will be subject to certain conditions: the activity must still be stopped beyond April 20 or experience a 50% drop in turnover.

This compensation is granted independently of the draft law which will complete the existing aid instruments.

 

CONTACT

For more information about these exceptional measures due to COVID-19 and how Grant Thornton can help, please contact our experts at the following email address: HRpayroll@lu.gt.com.