Implementing mass redundancies in Europe and Asia

For global employers, it’s crucial to grasp the legal nuances of mass redundancies across different jurisdictions. Redundancies often arise from restructuring due to factors like skills shortages, rising costs, location instability, and rapid technological change. At EU level, Directive 98/59/EC aims to improve protection for workers affected by collective redundancies, setting out rules on the information and consultation of workers’ representatives before the redundancies are made, as well as provisions on practical support for the employees who are laid off. However, significant local variations persist, not only in Europe, but in Asia as well.

Our updated mass redundancies guide highlights some of the key legal features of collective redundancy exercises in a number of European and Asian jurisdictions. We attempt to answer many of the questions you might be faced with when having to implement a collective redundancy project and to help you navigate the legal risks and likely challenges that may arise in that context, by outlining the thresholds to be met for collective redundancy regulations to apply, the applicable information and consultations requirements, the procedural steps to be followed, the selection criteria to apply, the statutory costs triggered as well as the potential consequences of non-compliance with the applicable rules.

This guide is informative only and not intended to provide you with comprehensive legal advice. There might be additional compliance requirements and/or costs depending on the jurisdiction(s) in scope. Please reach out to any of us for additional support (contacts are at the back of this guide).