The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the workplace. Employers have been confronted with new rules on protecting vulnerable employees and general measures designed at preventing a further spread of COVID-19. The authors discuss the situation in Switzerland and provide an update on the measures currently in place, with a particular focus on the legal framework for working in home office, now and in the future.

The pandemic has also taken a hard hit on the economy and, in spite of public funding, led to a rise in restructuring. The webinar will focus on common stumbling blocks when making employees redundant, such as:

• special considerations and procedures when letting go senior employees

• negotiating an enforceable severance agreement

• the increasingly common "mobbing-defense", i.e. the situation that an employee realizes that a termination of his/her employment is impending (often for reasons of inferior performance, after a new superior has started to look more closely) and tries to shift the blame on the employer

• an outline of the special procedure applicable if mass lay-offs are considered, including related pension fund issues.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.