Developments to date
Since this spring, the Czech Republic has been struggling with
the coronavirus SARS CoV-2. The response to the pandemic in the
field of labour law was the creation of the so-called
Antivirus programme, which aimed to mitigate the
economic impact of the pandemic by providing a state-backed
financial contribution to salary costs. This should prevent mass
redundancies and keep unemployment levels under control. Schemes A
to C of the Antivirus programme were created on an ad hoc basis as
an immediate response to the negative effects of the pandemic.
What is kurzarbeit?
Simultaneously with the launch of the Antivirus programme, the
so-called kurzarbeit (short-time work) system began to be
discussed. Kurzarbeit is a systemic legal
regulation designed to enable the state to provide financial
support to the private sector in any serious situation;
the aim is to compensate for wage costs (or their parts), prevent
collective redundancies of
