We are pleased to present to you the 2nd edition of our WTS Global Mobility Newsletter for 2020. Virtual work is here to stay and the challenge for employers is whether or not this should also be made available for cross-border workers in general – not only during times of a pandemic (e.g. COVID-19).

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first half of 2020, many companies were faced with local employees and business travellers who were stuck in another country and continued to work virtually. There were also foreign local hires, who could not start at their desks due to closed borders and who just started their work from their home country.

Although there is another lockdown again in many countries right now, the COVID-19 crisis will pass, but the demand for home office/work from anywhere will remain. There are huge compliance and HR issues, ranging from taxation, social security, immigration, duty of care to compensation levels, payroll and permanent establishment risks.

Within this WTS Global Mobility Newsletter, we would like to show you the most important consequences country by country, based on a small case study – a typical example seen a lot in practice over the last few months.

The example is very simple – but are the consequences just as simple?

A company has an employee who should work in the same country where the company is situated. However,

a) due to COVID-19, the employee is working remotely from a different country – his home country,

b) even after the COVID-19 crisis (and therefore without any grace periods), he is still working from a different country – his home country.

We hope you find our newsletter useful and we welcome your feedback and suggestions.

Our experts in the WTS Global Mobility team will be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding any aspect of this newsletter.

The full document can be viewed here.