Moratorium on mortgages and Social Security contributions agreed
Wednesday, March 18, 2020 @ 6:26 PM
TRADERS, the self-employed and small businesses forced to shut down due to Spain's being in a State of Alarm over the Covid-19 transmission risk will not have to pay their monthly Social Security, or National Insurance quota, the national government has announced.
With around 75% of Spain's companies being small or medium-sized businesses, many family-run, and over three million of its workforce being self-employed, the lockdown means no income whatsoever – so a petition on Change.org calling for their monthly Social Security standing order to be waived until normality returns very swiftly attracted hundreds of thousands of signatures.
President Pedro Sánchez, during the first-ever Parliamentary meeting via video-conference in Spain's history, has announced measures to help soften the effects including an immediate waiver of Social Security payments for traders who have to shut up shop or whose income is dramatically reduced due to their business being affected, as well as allowing firms to lay staff off straight away and without the usual paperwork and procedures.
These lay-offs are being permitted so firms do not have to make staff redundant as a result of diminishing income.
Some have opted to give their employees annual leave during the crisis, although not all of them can afford for this to be in addition to their usual four weeks a year.
Anyone who is laid off can sign on the dole straight away and continue to claim until their firm reopens and they can go back to work.
Normally, job loss – permanent or temporary – means the employee is able to claim a month's dole money for every four months worked, up to a maximum of two years, after which they need to start 'building it up' again.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com