Collective Redundancies

The provisions of EU Council Directive 98/59/EC apply in the case of collective redundancies, that is the dismissal of:

10 or more employees in establishments normally employing more than 20 employees but less than 100 employees;
10% or more of the number of employees in establishments employing 100 or more but less than 300 employees; and
30 employees or more in establishments employing 300 employees or more

In any such circumstances, the employer is expected to comply with the procedure of consulting with the employee’s representative covering ways and means of avoiding the collective redundancies or reducing the number of employees affected by such redundancies. The employer must also provide the employees’ representative and the Director of Labour with a written statement providing information about the reasons for the redundancies, the number of employees he intends to make redundant, the number of employees normally employed by him, the criteria proposed for the selection of the employees to be made redundant, details regarding any redundancy payments which are due and the period over which redundancies are to be effected.

The collective redundancies may only become effective within 30 days from the date when the employees’ representative and the Director of Labour are notified about the intended redundancies, unless this 30 day period is shortened or extended by the Director of Labour. If no resolution to the redundancies is attained, the employer would be bound to lay off the persons engaged last in the class/es of employment affected by such redundancies.