I. RISK TO COMPANIES FROM THE IMPACTS OF THE CORONA PANDEMIC The corona pandemic leads to a decline in sales revenues worldwide. Demand is plummeting. At the same time, supply chains in the globally networked economy are no longer reliable. Obligations to pay compensation for the inability to supply are impending, particularly in cases of no-fault supply guarantees. The liquidity and therefore the continued existence of many companies are at risk ...
When the corona pandemic broke out, many employers allowed their employees to work in home office or even forced them to do so. In the meantime, many uncertainties have been clarified and the desire for normality is increasing among both employers and employees. Therefore, in the following, we will describe what employers must take into account when employees return from home office. 1 ...
On May 29, 2020, the “Act to Mitigate the Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Competition Law” entered into force. It includes provisions for a one-off extension of the examination periods of the Federal Cartel Office in the context of merger control. This applies exclusively to the examination periods for merger control notifications received by the Federal Cartel Office between March 1 and May 31, 2020 ...
In the fight against the further spread of the Corona virus, the federal government issued the so-called Corona Occupational Health and Safety Ordinance on January 21, 2021, which has come into force on January 27, 2021, and remains effective until March 15, 2021 ...
Issuers need to make transparent the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their companies. The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) emphasized the importance and obligation of timely and transparent disclosure of “high-quality information” in a recent statement issued on May 29, 2020. It recalled the corresponding obligation for issuers to report on important matters and encourages companies to comply with their disclosure obligations ...
In the context of the Corona crisis the German Federal Government has demonstrated that it is capable of acting quickly and pragmatically. The conditions for payment of short-time working benefit had already been adapted to the corona situation through past measures, and on May 14, 2020 the German parliament approved further changes through the Social Package II. The changes of relevance to employment law are set out briefly below ...
Various European countries already passed emergency legislation which, among other things, enables companies to hold general meetings without physical presence rights and obligations in the 2020 general meeting season. The German legislator is now also drafting appropriate special provisions for the current crisis ...
In recent weeks, the corona-related effects on the economy have led to hectic activities by the EU Commission, the federal government, and the German states to make State support services available at short notice and in a manner that is as unbureaucratic as possible. This article provides an overview of the measures taken at federal and state level and their legal framework ...
STATUS QUO (ON MARCH 18, 2020) The Europe-wide spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) is now also directly affecting the professional sports sector. As a consequence, there are not only games that are being played without fans and soccer leagues suspended from the Bundesliga all the way down to the 3rddivision, but even entire remaining seasons (including of the German Ice Hockey League and the German Volleyball League) have been canceled ...
On March 28, 2020, the Act on Measures in Corporate, Cooperative, Association, Foundation, and Home Ownership Law to Combat the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic (COVID-19 Act) entered into effect. Among other things, the COVID-19 Act provides for substantial facilitations for stock corporations to hold general meetings. The most important innovation for use in practice is the possibility of holding general meetings entirely virtually, i.e ...
The Corona Warning App, commissioned by the German Federal Government, has been available for download since June 16, 2020. The availability of the app raises numerous employment-law issues ...
On June 16, 2020 the German government released its Corona-Warn-App. There are some key points employers should be aware of concerning the app: NO OBLIGATION FOR EMPLOYEES TO USE THE APP ON THEIR PERSONAL SMARTPHONES An employer may be thinking about instructing its employees to install and use the Corona-Warn-App on their own devices to reduce the infection risk among its employees. That is not permitted ...
German Parliament - Rejects 19(11)581 After a mere ministerial declaration more than three weeks ago, the German Federal Government has now also intro-duced a draft of an act which is intended to put recent and future virtual works council decisions on a legal basis ...
On April 8, 2020, the federal government adopted draft wording presented by the Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection for a draft bill to mitigate the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in event contract law in order to protect organizers of recreational events and operators of recreational facilities from considerable outflows of liquidity ...
