Targeted at businesses ordered to temporarily cease or curtail operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the employment sustainability programme Antivirus offers only a limited wage compensation scheme under which the Czech government would pay 80 per cent of wages for employees of businesses that have ceased or curtailed operations due to quarantine (up to a maximum of CZK 39,000 per employee) and 60 per cent of wages for employees of businesses that have scrapped operations due to a drop in demand or delays in the supply of raw materials (up to a maximum of CZK 29,000 per employee).
“Based on the information available, the Czech government plans to offer the wage subsidy only to businesses that would not file a lawsuit in court seeking compensation for the employees’ remaining pay. This is an interesting, yet – in my humble opinion – legally quite questionable attempted barter profiting from a dire situation of employers and their employees. I, as well as my other colleagues, expect a number of compensatory lawsuits against the state government brought by businesses and private individuals alike to address these (unconstitutional) measures. We will do our utmost to ensure that at least some of the damage caused is compensated by the culprits behind today’s situation and not de facto by the tax payers themselves,“ says Tomáš Nielsen, Partner in Nielsen Legal.