The German government has moved quickly and decisively to protect businesses from the short-term impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. A new law was passed by parliament using remote voting procedures and comes into today, 27 March 2020. The Covid-19 Suspension of Insolvency Law (COVInsAG) provides a protective shield for businesses against the economic fallout caused by the extraordinary measures taken to limit the spread of the SARS- CoV 2 virus which causes the illness we now know as Covid-19.

The law addresses three main areas:

Cash pooling during the COVID-19 pandemic provides particular challenges for management. What the most important issues on which to focus?

Many businesses, particularly those operating internationally, have set up group cash pooling systems to optimise payment processes and maximise liquidity. A well-structured cash pooling system offers a treasury department transparency over the group's liquidity and by centralising financing requirements can reduce costs.

Businesses in all sectors are facing very challenging times arising from the outset of, and reaction to, the Coronavirus (COVID-19). With the challenges in some instances being unprecedented, directors of affected companies need to be cognisant of their duties especially around decisions they are looking at making to get through current difficulties

Eine Betriebsprüfung beim Arbeitgeber kann dazu führen, dass Sozialversicherungsbeiträge nachgefordert werden. Die Folge kann eine drohende Insolvenz sein.

Die Restrukturierungs-Richtlinie ist in aller Munde. Wir zeigen, welche Auswirkungen sie auf das Arbeitsrecht hat.

Der vollständige Name lautet: Richtlinie (EU) 2019/1023 des Europäischen Parlaments und des Rates vom 20. Juni 2019 über präventive Restrukturierungsrahmen, über Entschuldung und über Tätigkeitsverbote sowie über Maßnahmen zur Steigerung der Effizienz von Restrukturierungs-, Insolvenz- und Entschuldungsverfahren und zur Änderung der Richtlinie (EU) 2017/1132.

Overview

The recent approval by the Irish High Court of a scheme of arrangement that restructured US$1.65bn of liabilities of Ballantyne Re plc (Ballantyne) confirms Dublin as one of the most effective restructuring venues in the EU. The detailed decision of Justice Barniville (available here) offers significant precedential value and is a clear endorsement that Irish schemes can be used to implement complex cross border restructurings. The Irish statute governing schemes is very similar to that of England and Wales.

Essence of the Ballantyne scheme:

The EU Parliament adopted the Directive on future "Preventive Restructuring Frameworks", which creates the basis for uniform preventive restructuring across the European Union and will fundamentally change how companies deal with financial difficulties and restructuring.

Until now, the EU has suffered from a regulatory patchwork in this area with no regulations in some markets and sophisticated procedures in others. The new directive mitigates the dangers and risks posed by the former uneven regulatory landscape.

The EU Parliament adopted the Directive on future "Preventative Restructuring Frameworks.

This creates the basis for a uniform legal framework for preventive restructuring within Europe. To date there has been a "patchwork" of regulations in the EU: in some cases there are no regulations at all, in others there are sophisticated procedures in place. The new directive now counteracts the dangers and risks of such regulatory differences.

Cash flow is the life blood of the construction industry, goes the mantra. Construction projects often have long supply chains. When cash stops flowing down the chain, businesses can fail. There is all too much recent evidence of this.

Someone in the chain (say, a main contractor) could seek to provide in a contract that it does not have to pay the party below (subcontractor) until it has been paid by the party above (employer). This is a 'pay-when-paid' clause.

Welche Stolpersteine drohen, wenn einige Arbeitnehmer noch nach der Betriebsstilllegung für Abwicklungsarbeiten benötigt werden, zeigt der Fall Air Berlin.

Als Air Berlin im November 2017 Insolvenz anmeldete, war das Schicksal der rund 6.000 Arbeitnehmer eine der in der Presse am meisten diskutierten Fragen. Bereits ein halbes Jahr später hatten etwa 3.000 von ihnen einen neuen Arbeitsplatz gefunden, die meisten bei anderen Fluggesellschaften. Hunderte andere wurden zunächst in Transfergesellschaften betreut.

Welle von Kündigungsschutzklagen