In order to counteract the negative economic impact of
Covid-19 the Austrian government has implemented 'corona short
time work'.
The Austria Government has introduced a regulated regime of
short-time work (‘Corona-Kurzarbeit’). The intention
behind the short-time work is a temporary reduction of normal
working hours and remuneration. To take advantage of this regime,
the company has to discuss it either with the works council if
there is one, or with affected employees. In the first case, an
agreement about short time work is concluded between the employer
and the works council, in the latter case the employer has to
conclude individual agreements with every affected employee (based
on master agreements called ‘social partner agreement’
which are available on Chamber of Commerce or union websites). To
ease the process in view of restrictions on leaving home,
agreements with the employees can also be reached using email or
even WhatsApp. The employer must forward the
