The hopes of companies for short-time work are deceptive

Berlin The news hit the medium-sized textile manufacturer suddenly. His energy supplier announced that it would exit the gas business and end the gas and electricity supply contract at the end of September. “We were a bit unsure because we had no security of supply,” says managing partner Hermann Müller, who actually has a different name, but does not want to read his name in the newspaper.

He briefly thought about reducing operations or even temporarily shutting them down and had it checked whether there was an entitlement to short-time work benefits. But the legal adviser waved it off. She saw little chance of success.