SEPE: Cases in which you can work in another company while in ERTE and continue to collect unemployment

Susana Zamora

The extension of the ERTE until next September, as businessmen and unions have agreed with the Government, could leave thousands of workers in Malaga out of the labor market this summer, where as of May there were still more than 24,000 people affected by this employment suspension formula.

But with a summer season that promises more job opportunities to meet the upturn in demand in the service sector and to fill the positions of those who go on vacation in companies not linked to the hotel and tourism industry, the question arises as to whether while still affected by an ERTE, you can accept a job in another company. And if so, what repercussion would it have for the worker who is collecting an unemployment benefit and on his right to return to his job in the company once the ERTE has ended.

From the Public Employment Service (SEPE) they clarify that in the event that a worker has his contract suspended due to a temporary employment regulation file (ERTE), he can carry out another work activity, both as an employee and on his own. "The suspension of the employment relationship means for the worker and for the company the release of the respective obligations to work and pay for the work," they specify. That is, the ERTE does not terminate the employment relationship, it only suspends it and in the meantime the employee can provide his services in another company, unless his contract includes exclusivity or non-competition agreements. Although it is not mandatory, it is advisable to inform both companies of your new employment situation, so that if you return to your initial job you do not cause setbacks for either of them.

What is mandatory is to notify the State Public Employment Service of the jobs you have while receiving unemployment, in order to suspend said benefit. And it is that if you find a full-time job, you will no longer be unemployed and, therefore, you will have to stop receiving the unemployment benefit you received for being in the ERTE.

Only in the event that the work is part-time, the affected person may choose between suspending the unemployment benefit or requesting the administration to be able to make it compatible with that contract, although the part proportional to the time they work will be subtracted from it. However, after the entry into force of Royal Decree-Law 30/2020, of September 29, 2020, in certain cases when the unemployment benefits recognized in the field of force majeure employment regulation files; employment records due to impediment or activity limitations and records for economic, technical, organizational and production reasons linked to Covid-19 are compatible with the performance of a part-time job not affected by suspension measures, it will not be deducted from the amount of benefit proportional to the time worked.

In addition, financial compensation has been created for those workers affected prior to the measure and whose amount of unemployment had already been reduced in proportion to the time worked with part-time employment. All of them will be able to request it until June 30, 2021 and its amount will be equivalent to what they did not receive due to the deduction.