Employees working for an insolvent company will have to be given at least 30 days’ notice of redundancy under new legislative reforms to be introduced by the Government. The proposal is part of a new Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment Action Plan to boost the rights of employees hit by insolvency.

Currently, collective redundancies cannot take effect until after a statutory 30 day period of notification to employees. This does not apply to collective redundancies triggered by insolvency but the Government is now planning to remove that exemption.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The media is brimming with articles on the rise of cryptocurrencies and digital assets. Whether it’s news on the rising value of Bitcoin, the acquisition of digital art for large amounts of money, the release of the latest Kings of Leon album as an NFT (non fungible token), or articles on people who have invested in cryptocurrency scams, crypto assets are taking center stage.

• A veszélyhelyzeti jogalkotás részeként a napokban kihirdetésre került egy több rendeletből álló jogszabálycsomag[1], amelynek egyik fő eleme a veszélyhelyzet során a vállalkozások reorganizációjáról szóló 179/2021. (IV. 16.) Korm. rendelet („Reorganizációs Rendelet”).

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The UK government has extended its suspension of various rules and procedures affecting distressed businesses as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. However, with the UK lockdown easing on a rolling basis up to 21 June 2021, these may be the last of the blanket extensions across all of these areas. Expect the gradual reintroduction of some of the rules and procedures from 1 July onwards.

The Extensions to the End of June 2021

The UK Restructuring Plan took its first foray down the well-trodden path of lease restructuring over the last week. The Restructuring Plan has been used through to court sanction in five cases so far: however, none has sought to compromise landlord claims, the preferred tool for which has until now been the CVA.

On March 27, 2021, President Biden signed into law the COVID-19 Bankruptcy Relief Extension Act (the Extension Act). The Extension Act temporarily extends certain COVID-19 bankruptcy relief provisions enacted as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act), which were further amended and/or extended as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act (the CAA). Certain of the amendments included in the CAA and the Extension Act are highlighted below:

Debtors and Paycheck Protection Program Loans

On 1 March 2021, Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. (“Brazos”) commenced a chapter 11 bankruptcy case in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Brazos is a Texas-based non-profit electric cooperative corporation that provides wholesale electricity to its members, which, in turn, provide retail electricity to Texas consumers.

Volatile commodity prices in 2020 led to the bankruptcy of many oil and gas producers. While some analysts expect oil and gas prices to rise during 2021, the US Energy Information Administration’s 2021 annual outlook advises that a return to 2019 levels of US energy consumption will take years.[2]