Are Employment Agreements Still Valid During a Pandemic?

COVID-19 (coronavirus) has disrupted daily life for all of us. As an employer, you may be wondering whether you must honor the terms and conditions of the employment agreements with your key or executive level staff or whether you can terminate or amend those employment agreements at this time. The short answer is that it depends.

The specific terms of the particular employment agreement will control how and when you can terminate the contract, press pause on the contract, furlough employees covered by employment agreements, or even amend the employment agreement to react to the disruption of business activities around the globe. Many employment agreements also contain force majeure provisions which can be applied in circumstances of pandemics like coronavirus.

Even without force majeure provisions, employers have a number of options and available remedies in dealing with employment agreements in times of crisis.