Anti-crisis Shield 6.0 – new support for employers of selected industries

The Industry Shield, also known as Shield 6.0, has finally been signed. The vast majority of the provisions of the Act of 9 December 2020 amending the Act on special solutions related to preventing, counteracting and combating COVID-19, other infectious diseases and crisis situations caused by them, and certain other acts (Journal of Laws, item 2255) entered into force on Wednesday, December 16, 2020. However, many regulations on important forms of support will not come into force until the end of December.

Which industries will receive support? 

These provisions will help companies in industries most affected by the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.   

Companies that conduct a prevailing economic activity under one of the following PKD (Polish Classification of Activity) codes will be able to apply for support:

• 47.71.Z (Retail sale of clothing in specialised stores)
• 47.72.Z (Retail sale of footwear and leather goods in specialised stores)
• 47.81.Z (Retail sale via stalls and markets of food, beverages and tobacco products)
• 47.82.Z (Retail sale via stalls and markets of textiles, clothing and footwear)
• 47.89.Z (Retail sale via stalls and markets of other goods)
• 49.39.Z (Other passenger land transport not elsewhere classified)
• 56.10.A (Restaurants and other eating places)
• 56.10.B (Mobile catering facilities)
• 56.21.Z (Event catering activities)
• 56.29.Z (Other food service activities)
• 56.30.Z (Beverage serving activities)
• 59.11.Z (Motion picture, video and television programme production activities)
• 59.12.Z (Motion picture, video and television programme post-production activities)
• 59.13.Z (Motion picture, video and television programme distribution activities)
• 59.14.Z (Motion picture projection activities)
• 59.20.Z (Sound recording and music publishing activities)
• 74.20.Z (Photographic activities)
• 77.21.Z (Rental and leasing of recreational and sports goods)
• 79.90.A (Couriers on package tours and tour guides activities)
• 79.90.C (Other reservation service activities not elsewhere classified)
• 82.30.Z (Organisation of conventions and trade shows)
• 85.51.Z (Out-of-school forms of sports and leisure education)
• 85.52.Z (Out-of-school forms of cultural education)
• 85.53.Z (Out-of-school forms of driving education)
• 85.59.A (Learning of foreign languages)
• 85.59.B (Other out-of-school forms of education, not elsewhere classified)
• 86.10.Z (Hospital activities in the field of medical activity consisting in providing services as part of health spa treatment)
• 86.90.A (Physiotherapeutical activities)
• 86.90.D (Emergency ambulance activities)
• 90.01.Z (Performing arts activities - musical groups)
• 90.02.Z (Support activities to performing arts)
• 90.04.Z (Operation of arts facilities)
• 91.02.Z (Museums activities)
• 93.11.Z (Operation of sports facilities)
• 93.13.Z (Operation of fitness facilities)
• 93.19.Z (Other sports activities)
• 93.21.Z (Activities of amusement parks and theme parks)
• 93.29.A (Activities of escape rooms, houses of fear, places for dancing and other forms of organized entertainment or recreation)
• 93.29.B (Other amusement and recreation activities not elsewhere classified)
• 93.29.Z (Other amusement and recreation activities)
• 49.32.Z (Taxi operation - in the scope of exemption from social security contributions - November 2020)
• 96.01.Z (Washing and (dry-)cleaning of textile and fur products)
• 96.04.Z (Physical well-being activities)

The assessment of the marking of the predominant activity according to PKD is made on the basis of the data contained in the REGON (Polish National Business Register) as of September 30, 2020.

The main support solutions of the Industry Shield

The Act provides several dozen regulations, the most important of which are:

• exemption from ZUS (The Social Insurance Institution ) – exemption from the obligation to pay due contributions for the period from November 1, 2020 to November 30, 2020,
• one-off additional downtime pay – for people who, as of September 30, 2020, conducted one of the specified types of activity, with the possibility of extending it for next months and for other industries,
• subsidy for micro and small enterprises – the amount of support will be up to PLN 5,000,
• co-financing of employees’ remuneration – in the amount of PLN 2,000 for the period of 3 months,
• facilitations in the employment of employees – changes in occupational medicine examinations.

Exemption from the obligation to pay ZUS contributions for November 2020

The Act exempts from the obligation to pay due social security and health insurance contributions as well as the Labour Fund, Solidarity Fund, Fund of Guaranteed Employee Benefits and Bridging Retirement Pension Fund for the period from November 1, 2020 to November 30, 2020.

Exemption from the obligation to pay the above-mentioned contributions require the following conditions:

• conducting prevailing economic activity as of September 30, 2020 within the scope of the following PKD codes:
  47.71.Z, 47.72.Z, 47.81.Z, 47.82.Z, 47.89.Z, 49.32.Z, 49.39.Z, 56.10.A, 56.10.B, 56.21.Z, 56.29.Z, 56.30.Z, 59.11.Z, 59.12.Z, 59.13.Z, 59.14.Z, 59.20.Z, 74.20.Z, 77.21.Z, 79.90.A, 79.90.C, 82.30.Z, 85.51.Z, 85.52.Z, 85.53.Z, 85.59.A, 85.59.B, 86.10.Z, 86.90.A, 86.90.D, 90.01.Z, 90.02.Z, 90.04.Z, 91.02.Z, 93.11.Z, 93.13.Z, 93.19.Z, 93.21.Z, 93.29.A, 93.29.B, 93.29.Z, 96.01.Z, 96.04.Z,
• registration of the entity as a contribution payer by June 30, 2020,
• proving that the revenue obtained in November 2020 was lower by at least 40% compared to the revenue obtained in November 2019.

In the event that the entrepreneur paid the contributions before the positive consideration of the application, the contributions will be refunded.

The deadline for submitting the application with required statements to ZUS is January 31, 2021.

One-off additional downtime pay

The amendment provides the introduction of a one-off additional downtime pay for entities which, as of September 30, 2020, conducted one of the specified types of activity. The downtime pay is due in the amount of 80% of the minimum wage applicable in 2020, i.e. PLN 2,080.00.

The condition for receiving it is obtaining in October or November 2020 a lower, by at least 40%, revenue from this activity compared to the revenue obtained in October or November 2019, respectively.

Support is directed to specific industries, marked according to PKD as the type of predominant activity with the code:
47.71.Z, 47.72.Z, 47.81.Z, 47.82.Z, 47.89.Z, 49.39.Z, 56.10.A, 56.10.B, 56.21.Z, 56.29.Z, 56.30.Z, 59.11.Z, 59.12.Z, 59.13.Z, 59.14.Z, 59.20.Z, 74.20.Z, 77.21.Z, 79.90.A, 79.90.C, 82.30.Z, 85.51.Z, 85.52.Z, 85.53.Z, 85.59.A, 85.59.B, 86.10.Z, 86.90.A, 86.90.D, 90.01.Z, 90.02.Z, 90.04.Z, 91.02.Z, 93.11.Z, 93.13.Z, 93.19.Z, 93.21.Z, 96.01.Z, 96.04.Z 
Therefore, it will be necessary to attach additional documents to the application, i.e. a declaration of the type of predominant activity (PKD) and a declaration of a decrease in revenues.

One-off subsidy up to PLN 5,000

There will be a possibility to apply for a subsidy up to PLN 5,000 for micro and small entrepreneurs, i.e. employing up to 9 employees. The subsidy will be in the form of non-returnable aid, provided that business activity is carried out for 3 months from the date of granting the support.

To be eligible for the grant, an entity will need to meet the following conditions: 

• as of September 30, 2020, an entity should conduct prevailing business activity within the scope of the following PKD codes:
  47.71.Z, 47.72.Z, 47.81.Z, 47.82.Z, 47.89.Z, 49.39.Z, 56.10.A, 56.10.B, 56.21.Z, 56.29.Z, 56.30.Z, 59.11.Z, 59.12.Z, 59.13.Z, 59.14.Z, 59.20.Z, 74.20.Z, 77.21.Z, 79.90.A, 82.30.Z, 85.51.Z, 85.52.Z, 85.53.Z, 85.59.A, 85.59.B, 86.10.Z, 86.90.A, 86.90.D, 90.01.Z, 90.02.Z, 90.04.Z, 91.02.Z, 93.11.Z, 93.13.Z, 93.19.Z, 93.21.Z, 93.29.A, 93.29.B, 93.29.Z, 96.01.Z, 96.04.Z,
• as of September 30, 2020, business activity must not have been suspended,
• the revenue from the business activity obtained in October or November 2020 should be at least 40% lower than the revenue obtained in October or November 2019, respectively.

The subsidy will be granted by district employment agencies, on the basis of applications that can only be submitted electronically until January 31, 2021.

Co-financing of employees’ remuneration

Co-financing of remunerations from the Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund in the amount of PLN 2,000 per month per employee applies to both employees employed with an employment contract and civil contractors (from whose contracts social security contributions are paid).

Co-financing is due for a period of 3 calendar months from the month of submitting the application.

Co-financing will not be granted to the remunerations of employees:

• whose remuneration received in the month preceding the month in which the application for granting benefits for the protection of jobs was submitted had been higher than 300% of the average monthly salary for the previous quarter announced by the President of the Central Statistical Office and in force on the date of submission of the application. This remuneration for the third quarter of 2020 is PLN 5,168.93, and therefore three times its amount is PLN 15,506.79,
• employed in the period shorter than 3 months before submitting the application.

In order to benefit from this form of support, the employer will have to meet the following conditions:

• conduct business activity as of September 30, 2020, the revenue from which in one of the three months preceding the month of submitting the application had been lower by at least 40% compared to the revenue obtained in the previous month or in the same month of the previous year,
• not to be in arrears in paying tax liabilities, social security contributions, health insurance, the Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund, the Labour Fund or the Solidarity Fund by the end of third quarter 2019,
• does not meet the conditions for declaration of bankruptcy referred to in Art. 11 or Art. 13 sec. 3 of the Act of 28 February 2003 - Bankruptcy Law,
• no restructuring or liquidation proceedings are pending against him,
• cannot terminate the employment contract for reasons not related to the employee for the period covered by the co-financing of employee's remuneration.

Co-financing applies to industries:

47.71.Z, 47.72.Z, 47.81.Z, 47.82.Z, 47.89.Z, 49.39.Z, 56.10.A, 56.10.B, 56.21.Z, 56.29.Z, 56.30.Z, 59.11.Z, 59.12.Z, 59.13.Z, 59.20.Z, 59.14.Z, 74.20.Z, 77.21.Z, 79.90.A, 82.30.Z, 85.51.Z, 85.52.Z, 85.53.Z, 85.59.A, 85.59.B, 86.10.Z, 86.90.A, 86.90.D, 90.01.Z, 90.02.Z, 90.04.Z, 91.02.Z, 93.11.Z, 93.13.Z, 93.19.Z, 93.21.Z, 93.29.A, 93.29.B, 93.29.Z, 96.01.Z, 96.04.Z

Co-financing applications may be submitted in electronic form to the Voivodeship Labour Office, appropriate due to the place of business of the employer, by February 28, 2021.

Facilitations in the employment of employees 

The Shield 6.0 facilitates the employment of employees during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. According to the introduced changes, an employee who has a current medical certificate stating that there are no contraindications to work in an administrative and office position, will be able to be employed in such a position by another employer, without the need to refer him to another initial medical examination.

The employer will be able to use the proposed solution only if he determines that the employee is to be employed in a position whose conditions correspond to those described in the referral for medical examinations.

Facilitations in employment will also apply to employees employed in positions other than administrative and office. The same or another employer, with whom the future employee would be employed, will not have to refer the employee for preliminary examinations, if the employment occurs within 180 days (and not 30 days as it is today) after the termination or expiry of the previous employment relationship.

This solution will also apply to employees taking up work simultaneously for another employer. However, it will not apply to employees employed to perform particularly dangerous work.

In order to make it easier for entrepreneurs and employees to carry out medical examinations, after the state of an epidemic or state of epidemic emergency is recalled, the periods and deadlines related to the performance of (suspended) preventive examinations of employees have been extended to 180 days.

Solutions for the tourism industry

The key Industry Shield solutions for the tourism industry are:

• Additional downtime pay (up to three times) for tourism organizers and managers of hotel facilities, with a decrease in revenue in the calendar month preceding the month of submitting the application by at least 75% compared to the revenue obtained in the same calendar month in 2019.
• Exemption from ZUS for July - September 2020 for tour operators, with a decrease in revenue in the calendar month preceding the month of submitting the application by at least 75% compared to the revenue obtained in the same calendar month in 2019.
• Exemption from ZUS for November 2020 for PKD 79.90.A, i.e. for tour guides and travel guides.
• One-off additional downtime pay for PKD 79.90.A, i.e. for tour guides and travel guides.
• Exemption from ZUS for November 2020 for PKD 79.90.C, i.e. other reservation service activities not elsewhere classified. For example, IATA agents selling airline tickets operate under this code.
• Exemption from ZUS for November 2020 for PKD 93.19.Z, i.e. other activities related to sport, which also includes the activities of mountain guides.
• One-off additional downtime pay for PKD 93.19.Z, i.e. other activities related to sport, which also include the activities of mountain guides.
• The extension of the support granted in the form of exemption from ZUS and the downtime pay by means of a regulation will facilitate the granting of further support for the tourism industry.

The effective date of the Industry Shield regulations

The provisions on co-financing of employee remuneration and subsidies entered into force 3 days after their publication in the Journal of Laws, i.e. from December 19, 2020.

In turn, the provisions on exemption from paying social security contributions and additional downtime pay will enter into force after 14 days from publication in the Journal of Laws, i.e. from December 30, 2020.

In case of any questions or the need to discuss this issue, please contact our expert Agnieszka KOŹLAREK:

e-mail: ekspert@rsmpoland.pl

tel. +48 61 8515 766

fax +48 61 8515 786