Spike in work hour reduction requests crashes gov't website

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment received over 48 thousand applications for working time reduction. The spike in applications means that their processing will take longer than usual, and is also resulting in the Ministry's website crashing every now and again, the Ministry said on Tuesday.

KLM is one of the many companies that applied for working time reduction for its employees. The airline applied for a 70 percent reduction for all personnel, KLM said on Monday. This is necessary because KLM has to reduce its flights to 10 to 20 percent of its usual schedule, due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions and drop in demand. The airline is currently in talks with the trade unions on how to best implement this working time reduction.

Companies that meet the conditions can apply for working time reduction, or so-called "part-time unemployment benefits" for their workers. This means that workers with nothing to do can be sent home, or have their working hours reduced. They will receive a benefit for the hours not worked, and remain fully employed by the company.

This existing regulation was extended by the government as one of its measures to help companies affected by coronavirus Covid-19.