Global Crisis
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On February 22, the government extended the state of emergency by 90 days, to May 23. The extension also applies to the transitional provisions the government passed in the earlier phase of the pandemic for the protection of health and the economy. Among these transitional rules is the so-called Home Office Decree. This decree relaxed the regulation in the field of the otherwise strict and rigid rules pertaining to teleworking and home office work. This is vital for employers as a large number of employees are forced to work from home...

Part 2 of this series is about data protection. In case of questions, please contact Zoltán Balázs Kovács. How do you secure data in the home office environment? What policies should be in place to secure data and devices? What does a data breach mean? Employers must comply with the principle of accountability and demonstrate compliance (including by way of applying proper internal policies). This is important also from the perspective of data security...

Part 1 of this series discusses labour law and labour safety issues. What is it that has changed regarding home office and teleworking because of Covid-19? What can we expect in the future? How can employers prepare for the “new normal” and how can employees manage things from their side? Before Covid-19, teleworking and working from home in Hungary represented a percentage of 1.2 among employees aged between 15-64, according to Eurostat. With the second wave of Covid-19 sneaking up on us, it is necessary to realize that employers need to prepare for flexible working weeks and teleworking / home office for the foreseeable future...

In its notice published on May 18, 2020, the National Employment Service (Nemzeti Foglalkoztatási Szolgálat) laid down the fundamental criteria that must be met by an applicant to be eligible for the new EU-supported wage subsidy intended to help create new jobs in Hungary in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is an enormous difference between the Kurzarbeitwage subsidy and this job-creating wage subsidy...

The most general reason for setting up a trust is to ensure the effective and professional legal protection of assets. Contrary to a private foundation, there is no legal requirement to set forth a specific objective for the trust. However, the most common objectives of a trust include, among others, i) safeguarding the integrity of the assets, ii) protecting the assets against potential creditors, iii) succession planning, deviating from inheritance rules, iv) providing professional asset management, iv) providing secrecy and confidentiality, and v) tax planning...