Facts
In the second half of the 1990s, the companies belonging to the SAirGroup made arrangements with a number of their employees, referred to as "Option 96" or "Option 2000", whereby the employees were released from the obligation to perform work and were to receive a reduced salary until they reached the regular retirement age.
On October 24, 2001, the attorney-at-law lic. iur. Karl Wüthrich, who had been appointed as the provisional administrator, sent a letter to the "Early Retirees according to the Social Plan of the Swissair Group", in which he explained that their former employers were not entitled to preferentially treat individual creditors during the moratorium or in a possible subsequent bankruptcy, and that the claims of the early retirees were in competition with the claims of suppliers, customers, and business partners of the companies concerned. As the administrator, he could not enter into the existing social plan agreements to the detriment of the bankruptcy estate, which would lead to the immediate suspension of payments, but not to the termination of the aforementioned agreements.
The association "IG according to Option 96/Option 2000 released employees" and N. (as a personally affected released employee) then filed a complaint against the decision of the provisional administrator.
Considerations
The Federal Court dismissed the complaint. It stated that the provisional administrator had acted lawfully by instructing the debtor to suspend payments to the early retirees.…