Short-time work: what happens to the working time account first

The loss of work has to be unavoidable

Short-time work allowance is available under sections 95 to 109 SGB III where there is a substantial, temporary and unavoidable loss of work. Under section 96(4) SGB III it is not unavoidable as long as it can be prevented wholly or partly by granting leave or by releasing working time credit.

In practice that means the hours account is emptied before short-time work allowance flows. So the balance at the business decides when the benefit starts at all, and an account nobody keeps cleanly is a real risk at this point.

Which credits are protected

Not every credit has to be run down. Section 96(4) sentence 2 SGB III names the exceptions; the most important in practice are these.

• Credit contractually earmarked for a particular use, for instance for release from work, qualification or partial retirement.
• Credit older than one year.
• Credit up to ten percent of the annual working time owed excluding overtime.
• Credit intended exclusively to offset seasonal losses of work.
• Nobody has to build up a negative time account: requiring negative hours is not provided for.

What has to be recorded

Settling the short-time work allowance requires the target and the actual working time for every person and every accounting month. The Federal Employment Agency checks that afterwards, on the basis of the business's working time records.

Anyone who in that situation submits paper timesheets or a spreadsheet that can be changed afterwards has a problem of proof. Recording with a traceable change history takes care of this point by itself.

The documents have to be kept; the agency can object to the settlement years later as part of the final audit and reclaim benefits paid.