The national government extended the validity of the Formal Employment Support Program (Paef), in fact, companies that have seen their profits reduced by 20 percent or more due to the crisis generated by the covid-19 pandemic, can apply to the new cycle of the Program, regardless of its size.
The PAEF is a subsidy created during the quarantine by the National Government that seeks to give employers a contribution that they can request once a month during the months of May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December 2020 , and January, February and March 2021.
The application period began on November 19 and runs until the 26th of that month. In this way, employers who applied for this call can obtain support for the payment of their payroll corresponding to September, October and November 2020, filling out an independent form for each month of application.
During the first stage of this initiative, which had four calls, the disbursement of 3.1 trillion Colombian pesos was achieved, destined for 134 thousand companies that protected the employment of 3.37 million workers throughout the country.
All companies that are approved for the benefit will obtain 40 percent of a minimum wage for each of their male workers (351,000 colombian pesos). However, this cycle has some peculiarities which are that, for each woman employed, 50 percent of a minimum wage will be granted, instead of the 40 percent originally raised.
Likewise, the tourism, gastronomic and entertainment sectors, which have taken longer to reactivate than the rest of the sectors, will receive a subsidy of 50 percent for each worker employed.
In other words, gambling operators who are part of the entertainment industry will get 50 percent of a minimum wage for each worker on their payroll (439,000 pesos).
This is because the gambling and betting guild has been classified since May 6, 2020, within the ISIC Rev4 activities. A.C. of DANE, that is, their main activity is economic and service activities in the tourism, hotel and gastronomy sectors, and artistic, entertainment and recreation activities, with ISIC number 9200.
All legal entities, natural employers, non-profit entities, consortia and temporary unions, associated work cooperatives and autonomous patrimonies can apply, these are some of the requirements for legal and natural persons.
This is the first time since the pandemic that the Colombian government has put the entertainment industry and casinos in the front of the line.
