Payment for downtime during quarantine

The Senate has amended Article 47 of the Labour Code, i.e. the regulation of downtime, in a new wording. The amendment entered into force on 19 March 2020.The key change in this case is the remuneration of downtime when it is declared due to a quarantine – the entire period of downtime will have to be paid at least the minimum monthly wage when the employee’s employment contract provides for a full-time working time (“full-time”). The requirement to pay an increase during the first days of downtime and the requirement for 40% of the average wage will no longer apply. However, it should be noted that the old version of this Article was in force from 16 to 18 March, so that if the worker was on downtime from 16 to 18 March, 7/3 of the worker’s average daily wage (1 day’s AWW for the first day, and 2/3 of the day’s AWW for the second and third days) must be paid for those days.

It should be noted that the new wording of Article 47 of the Code relates payment to the minimum monthly wage and not to the minimum hourly rate. This means that the calculation of the one-hour rate for downtime will have to be based on the minimum monthly wage divided by the number of working hours in the calendar month concerned.

For example, a worker working a normal 5-day, 8-hour week who is on downtime from 16 March onwards inclusive will be paid in three components:

  1. For the days 1 to 15 March, the normal salary;
  2. For the downtime from 16 to 18 March – 7/3 * the average daily wage (e.g. a daily AWW of EUR 50 corresponds to a monthly pre-tax wage of approximately EUR 1,050, in which case the pre-tax amount to be paid for these days would be EUR 116.67);
  3. For the downtime from 19 to 31 March – (€607 / 167 hours) * 72 hours = €261.70 before tax.
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