Ladies and Gentlemen, legislative work is underway on the government's draft bill on interest subsidies for bank loans granted to ensure financial liquidity for entrepreneurs affected by COVID-19 and on amending certain other acts, i.e. the so-called Anti-Crisis Shield 4.0. You can follow the progress of the legislative process at http://www.sejm.gov.pl/sejm9.nsf/proces.xsp , under item 382.
The bill proposes a number of changes to existing laws, as well as new solutions that further complement the anti-crisis shield. Here are the key assumptions of the anti-crisis shield 4.0 project:
- Entrepreneurs who find themselves in a difficult situation due to the COVID-19 epidemic will be able to obtain interest subsidies on bank loans granted under agreements concluded by December 31, 2020. An Interest Subsidy Fund will be established for this purpose.
- Extending the possibility of obtaining wage subsidies from the Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund by entrepreneurs who have experienced a decline in economic turnover, also for employees who were not covered by the downtime introduced pursuant to Article 81 of the Labor Code, the economic downtime introduced pursuant to Article 15g of the Anti-Crisis Shield or the reduced working hours referred to in Article 15g of the Anti-Crisis Shield,
- Including micro-entrepreneurs and small entrepreneurs in the possibility of obtaining sureties and guarantees from BGK and expanding the catalogue of liabilities that can be covered by the guarantee,
- Introducing so-called "credit holidays." This solution allows borrowers who lost their job or other main source of income after March 13, 2020, to suspend their loan repayment obligations for a maximum period of three months, both in terms of principal and interest. This solution will apply to consumer loans and mortgage loans.
- Possibility of reducing employees’ working hours or placing employees on economic downtime if the employer notices a significant increase in the burden on the wage fund,
- Changes to the downtime benefit. Self-employed individuals who are also employed under an employment contract or a contract of mandate will be able to receive the downtime benefit (current regulations do not provide for this option). The benefit can be granted to such individuals three times.
- Employers will be able to oblige employees to use their accrued vacation leave on a date of their choosing. This eliminates the September 30 deadline for using accrued vacation leave, as provided for in the Labor Code.
- Introducing an upper limit of 10 times the minimum wage for employee benefits such as severance pay, compensation, and other similar benefits paid by the employer to the employee in connection with the termination of an employment contract. This applies to employers who, during the period of the state of epidemic or epidemic threat, experienced a decline in economic turnover or a significant increase in payroll burden. The limit will also apply to benefits paid for the termination of an agency contract, mandate contract, or other service contract.
- Possibility of terminating a non-competition agreement. A party to a non-competition agreement in effect after the termination of an employment relationship, agency agreement, contract for specific work, contract for the provision of services, or other contract to which the provisions of the Civil Code apply regarding mandate, for whose benefit the non-competition agreement has been established, will have the option of terminating the non-competition agreement with a 7-day notice.
- Clarifying the provisions on remote work by indicating that remote work may be assigned to an employee if he or she has the skills and technical and local capabilities, and the type of work performed allows it,
- Until June 28, 2020, it will be possible to obtain an additional care allowance both in the event of the closure of a nursery, children's club, kindergarten, school or other facility, as well as in the event that these facilities are open,
- Introduction to the Code of Petty Offenses of punishing the act of hindering or preventing the transmission of information via an IT system with a penalty of restriction of liberty or a fine of no less than PLN 1,000. This provision is intended, in particular, to protect the uninterrupted conduct of remote communications,
- The employer may suspend the obligation to establish or operate the Employee Benefits Fund, make basic contributions to the Employee Benefits Fund and the obligation to pay holiday benefits during the state of epidemic or epidemic threat,
- Extension by six months of the validity of permits for the sale of alcoholic beverages , the validity of which expires during the period of the state of epidemic threat or epidemic state, provided that a proportional fee for issuing the permit is paid before the expiry of the original validity period of the permit,
- Extension of the deadline for payment of the annual perpetual usufruct fee for 2020 until 31 January 2021.
The draft of the so-called Anti-Crisis Shield 4.0 is currently being processed by the Sejm and will then be submitted to the Senate for consideration. We will keep you updated on the final version of Shield 4.0 once it comes into force.
