Phase
Labour Code
Native name
Code du travail
Type
Definition of collective dismissal
Added to database
08 May 2015

Article

Art.L.166-1 Court of Appeal, 8e, No. 74/25, n° CAL-2022-00650 du rôle, 12 June 2025


Description

Subject to rules applicable to collective dismissals as stipulated by the Labour Code, employers must dismiss 7 employees within 30 days, or 15 employees within 90 days, for reasons that are not related to the employee's behaviour, but for economic reasons or in the framework of recovery, reorganisation, restructuring measures resulting in job losses, liquidation, bankruptcy.

The layoffs must concern at least four dismissals for reasons not related to employees’ behaviour. All other contract terminations by the employer (for reasons not related to employee’s behaviour) on the initiative of the employer, such as voluntary departures, redeployment, early retirement, etc. are considered as redundancies in calculating the threshold.

Public sector employees are excluded from the regulation on collective dismissals.


Commentary

A court ruling in June 2025 clarified the interpretation of the collective agreement, stressing that objective interpretation prevails. A signatory union may ask for interpretation action on an in-place collective agreement, asking the court to rule abstractly on ambiguous clauses. The court guided objective interpretation, including first references to the collective agreement text, then to related legislation, and last, to the social purpose. The court also ruled that the previous application does not amount to acquiescence or acceptance.


Additional metadata

Cost covered by
None
Involved actors other than national government
National government
Involvement (others)
None
Thresholds
Affected employees: 7
Company size: 7
Additional information: Two company eligibility thresholds are applicable: - 7 employees within 30 days - 15 employees within 90 days

Citation

Eurofound (2015), Luxembourg: Definition of collective dismissal, Restructuring legislation database, Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/legislationdb/definition-of-collective-dismissal/luxembourg