Workers to get stipend after April 10
The first payments of a special handout of 800 euros for workers hit by the coronavirus crisis will be made after April 10. The emergency stipend concerns people who are out of work either because their employers were forced to shut down their business by the government or because their contracts have been suspended by enterprises hurt by the pandemic.
As applications for the benefit continue to pour into the Labor Ministry’s relevant databases, by Friday 460,000 employers had applied on the Ergani platform for benefits for 720,211 workers, while another 130,000 workers filed for the stipend on supportemployees.yeka.gr.
Labor Minister Yiannis Vroutsis told Skai TV on Friday that the first category of workers – those at businesses where operations have been suspended on the orders of the government – will receive the 800-euro handout once the process (which is organized according to their tax registration numbers, or AFMs) is completed this Friday. The others, working for companies that are still open but have sustained severe losses, will receive the benefit by the end of the month.
“Enterprises can apply until April 20, which is the deadline for harmed businesses, meaning that their employees could get the handout in May from the second category. Employees in the first category will all get their money in April,” Vroutsis assured. He added that if the crisis drags on, “the time frame for the benefit will be expanded to May as well.”
The possibility has also been left open that six scientific categories (economists and accountants, medical doctors, lawyers and notaries, education professionals, researchers and freelance scientists) who are entitled to a 600-euro allowance for training programs will also be able to apply for the 800-euro emergency stipend.
Last Friday Vroutsis also launched the public invitation for the special training program for scientists hurt by the epidemic. He said that 400 euros of the total 600-euros training subsidy will be paid to the 180,390 scientists who stand to benefit from the program as of April 14; the remaining 200 euros will be paid out after the completion of the training program. The period for the declaration of interest in the scheme begins this Thursday and expires on April 20.
