The Chamber of Labor of Lower Austria and bankruptcy administrator Michael Lentsch gave the employees of the insolvent Level Europe GmbH information about the current state of affairs and informed them about the application for insolvency payment.

The bankruptcy of the airline Level Europe affects around 200 employees in Vienna. The Chamber of Labor of Lower Austria is now informing that both the June salaries and the vacation pay are still outstanding. Now experts from the AK are providing information on how those affected can register their payment claims with the insolvency remuneration fund.

Two works meetings were also held at Vienna Airport for this purpose. Works council, chamber of labor and trustee Michael Lentsch provided information about the current state of affairs and the possibilities of obtaining from the insolvency remuneration fund. Due to the applicable corona protection regulations, the information event had to be divided into two groups.

According to AK NÖ, the fact that Level Europe had the entire workforce on short-time work in the months before bankruptcy proceedings opened posed a number of challenges with regard to calculating the insolvency remuneration -Insolvency expert Felix Hochedlinger. "Details for the Corona short-time work have been constantly changed and the calculation basis for such cases has only been regulated by regulation for a few days."

The June salary and the aliquot special payments are still open for the Level Europe workforce, i.e. the pro-rated vacation and Christmas bonuses up to the opening of bankruptcy. AK Niederösterreich collects these demands for the employees at the insolvency remuneration fund and LG Korneuburg. “We can't promise it, of course, but the fund usually works very quickly, especially in the case of major bankruptcies. We are therefore assuming that the money should be in the account by July ”, says Hochedlinger.

In the next few days it will also be decided which parts of the company the trustee will at least temporarily close. The employees concerned can then, as it is officially stated, “declare their justified early exit from the company in accordance with Section 25 IO”. AK Niederösterreich will inform the employees about the details in two works meetings next week. Meanwhile, the works council is fighting for jobs. There is to be an appointment at the Ministry of Economic Affairs with the trustee.

The bankruptcy filing came as a surprise to the employees of Level Europe, especially since many do not remember the Niki bankruptcy. “The situation is very uncomfortable. But at least we're in good hands, ”says Julia Knafl, flight attendant at Level Europe since March 2018. Lotte Hösle-Ferstl has also been with us since the beginning. She is the airline's HR manager: “The fact that the experts at AK advise us and register our claims helps in this stressful situation”. Both employees know what they are talking about: They were already employed by Fly Niki. The airline slid into bankruptcy two and a half years ago, when Level Europe took over a quarter of its employees. “It doesn't get any easier the second time,” says HR Manager Hösle-Ferstl, “on the contrary. Now you know what it means when you lose a great team and so much competence is lost ”.