The Austrian government has reached a compromise in response to the ECJ’s ruling that the former regulation was discriminatory. While introducing a paid holiday over Good Friday for all employees (Levelling-up) would have been complied with the ECJ’s decision, the Austrian government went with a different approach by abolishing Good Friday altogether (Levelling-down), to avoid employers having to provide double pay. Instead they’ve decided on the introduction of a personal holiday for everyone, which is also to replace the former Good Friday provision in collective labor agreements. This personal holiday will be counted as a regular leave day. However, if economic reasons deem it necessary that an employee works on his/her personal holiday, then extra holiday payments have to be made. In effect, the Evangelical Church Augsburg Confession, the Evangelical Church Helvetic Confession, the Old Catholic Church and the United Methodist are losing a public holiday, while nothing changes for everyone else.

Alexander Isola and Stefan Weileder were appointed liquidators for Borckenstein, a subsidiary of the Italian Fil Man Made Group. The company filed for insolvency at the Regional Court for Civil Matters in Graz at the beginning of this year. Alexander Isola and Stefan Weileder previously acted as liquidators for Borckenstein in 2016 in restructuring proceedings.

Stefan Weileder started his career at Graf Isola in 2006 and will now further support the expanding law firm in his new role as equity partner.

In this year’s IFLR1000 Guide 2019 the prestigious British publication International Financial Law Review (IFLR) has named Graf Isola (f.k.a. Graf & Pitkowitz) as a Top Tier Firm in the following practice areas: Banking & Finance, Project Development and Capital Markets. Partners Ferdinand Graf and Otto Waechter have furthermore been recommended as highly regarded attorneys.