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EMPLOYMENT REDUNDANCY - EU law
Redundancies have unfortunately become a more frequent occurrence in the current unstable economic environment. Collective employment redundancy has also become more common, involving dismissing as redundant 20 or more people within a 90-day period. Sometimes employers might unfairly take the opportunity to dismiss employees whom they no longer want, or to dismiss employees unfairly, under the language of employment redundancy, or without providing for their due entitlements under employment law.
Both the EU and UK have implemented legislation which aims to protect the rights of employees and ensure that they are not unfairly dismissed. The Collective Redundancies Directive (Directive 98/59/EC) aims to give greater protection to workers in the event of a collective employment redundancy (defined as a employment redundancy where 20 or more people are to be dismissed as redundant within a 90-day period). The Directive requires employers to hold consultations with employees' representatives to discuss the proposed redundancies and consider alternatives to redundancies. I
f redundancies must go ahead, the consultations must look at ways to mitigate the negative consequences of redundancy upon the affected employees. The Directive lays down the procedure for collective employment redundancy, setting out three steps which must be followed: - The employer must announce in writing any projected collective redundancy to the relevant public authority (in this notice the employer must specify: the reasons for their decision; the period during which redundancies are to be effected; the number and category of workers normally employed and those to be made redundant; the criteria used to select those workers to be made redundant; and the method used to calculate compensation) - The employer must forward a copy of this notification to the employees' representatives who may then choose to send their views to the authority - The collective employment redundancy must not take effect for at least 30 days from the notification (a member state may grant authority to the authority to extend this period).
In this period the authority may try to seek alternative solutions The UK has implemented these provisions of the EU Directive by the enactment of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. If you are involved in a collective employment redundancy and are concerned that your rights under EU law are not being met you should get legal advice from an employment solicitor. If you think that the UK has failed to meet its requirements to implement the EU parental leave directives you should speak to a specialist EU law solicitor.
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