<div><p>German courts are investigating 132 businesses over suspected fraud in the short-time working programme put in place by the government to protect jobs, the weekly Spiegel will report Monday.</p><p>The "Kurzarbeit" scheme allows firms hit by recession to cut costs by keeping staff at home or shortening their hours but without having to fire them.</p><p>The state pays up to 67 percent of a worker's salary for a period of up to two years, and over one million workers are covered by the scheme.</p><p>The Federal Labour Agency had found 856 suspected cases following a provisional assessment and after further checks, 132 cases were passed to prosecutors, according to Spiegel.</p><p>Eighty percent of the cases related to businesses with less than 100 employees.</p><p>The short-time working programme has allowed Germany to limit the waves of redundancy during the economic downturn.</p><p>In November 2009, German unemployment dipped to 7.6 percent of the workforce.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=66225488&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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