Shanghai’s City-wide Covid Lockdown Underway
The epidemic has been effectively brought under control, according to a press conference on COVID-19 prevention and control held Monday (May 16), and is gradually reopening commercial outlets such as shopping malls, convenience stores, and pharmacies from Monday after weeks of closed management to ward off COVID-19.
During the lockdown period and the upcoming preparatory stage of reopening, enterprises, especially small, medium and micro enterprises, are facing, or will soon face several questions. We have listed the following questions that may be of interest to you in response to your inquiries.
About “Resumed Work Pass”
Q: How do we apply for the electronic pass for employees’ return to work?
A: To steadily promote the resumption of work and production, and strengthen the health management of the returning staff of the resumed production enterprises, the city data center has placed online the ” digital pass for the returning staff of the resumed production” (referred to as ” Resumed Work Pass “) on the page of “SuiShenMa code”.
Enterprises that are included in the “white list of resumption of work and production in Shanghai” and are located in a building with no positive case in the previous 7 days can apply for this pass. Eligible enterprises apply to the relevant departments in their districts.
About Employment Wages
Q: Can enterprises delay the payment of wages to employees if their normal operation is affected by the pandemic or other control measures?
A: Enterprises that have encountered difficulties in production and operation are allowed to postpone the payment of wages to employees if they can first reach an agreement with the trade union or employee representatives. In any case, the delay should NOT be longer than one month.
Q: When employees seek the termination of labor contracts and compensation from their pandemic-affected employers, citing reasons including their employers’ failure to make timely or full-amount payment of their wages or social insurance premiums, what is the appropriate approach to handle such cases?
A: For pandemic-affected enterprises, particularly medium-sized, small and micro firms, such conflicts between employers and employees should be dealt with through reconciliation and mediation to restore labor relations. Economic compensation should not be supported in such cases.
About Relief Policies
Q: What rent reductions and exemptions are enterprises in Shanghai eligible for?
A: Small and micro enterprises and private businesses are entitled to three-month rent relief in 2022 if their landlords are state-owned enterprises while those located in medium- and high-risk areas or whose operations are seriously affected by the pandemic prevention and control measures are eligible for a total of six-month rental waiver during the year. Such reductions and exemptions do not apply to the reletting case
Q: What tax incentives can enterprises enjoy?
A: On March 24, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation announced that from April 1 to December 31, small-scale VAT taxpayers falling in the 3 percent rate category are exempt from tax payment while tax payment by companies falling in the 3 percent prepaid rate category is temporarily suspended.
On the city level, Shanghai has also introduced a series of tax incentives, including value-added tax credit refunds and tax waivers, with priority for micro and small firms as well as private businesses.
Q: What aid policies can enterprises enjoy?
A: The preferential 1 percent unemployment insurance premium rate will remain in place, and the work-related injury insurance benchmark rate will continue to be temporarily reduced by 20 percent. Training subsidies, support for entrepreneurial activities, and refund of trade union fees will be extended to stabilize and expand jobs.
About Supportive Measures
Q: During the pandemic prevention and control period, how does one achieve credit repair?
A: The Shanghai Development and Reform Commission (Municipal Credit Office) has formulated an implementation plan to give full play to the positive role of social credit system construction in pandemic prevention and control.
At present, Shanghai has established a rapid-handling mechanism for credit repair during the pandemic. The credit repair application submitted by the enterprise through Government Online-Offline Shanghai will be transferred to the industry authorities on the same day.
Relevant processes of credit reevaluation and credit repair for key pandemic prevention enterprises will be completed within one working day.
Through online inquiry, SMS, and other diversified ways, enterprises can learn about the progress and obtain the repair certificate. Online electronic signatures will speed up the credit repair application process, and businesses won’t have to send in documents like identity certificates and credit reports that can be checked through data sharing.
According to the press conference on the prevention and control of the epidemic in Shanghai, Shanghai Vice Mayor Zong Ming said that Shanghai has now entered the first stage of resumption of work.
The next stage is the transition to normalized prevention and control. Shanghai plans to gradually resume operation of ground buses and rail transit from May 22 under conditions.
The final stage will be the full restoration of the city’s normal production and living order stage. From June 1 to mid-to-late June, under the premise of strictly preventing the rebound of the epidemic and controlled risk, Shanghai will fully implement the normal management of epidemic prevention and control, and fully restore the city’s normal production and living order.
Policies will be updated constantly, but the finish line is in sight!
If you have any further question, please contact us.
References:
50 Q&As on Work and Production Resumption in Shanghai
https://wsb.sh.gov.cn/(1)
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