European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
Eurofound's ERM database on restructuring-related legal regulations provides information on regulations in the Member States of the European Union and Norway which are explicitly or implicitly linked to anticipating and managing change.
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To fall within the scope of the legislation and qualify as collective dismissal, an employer must plan to dismiss within 30 days at least 10 employees in companies with 21-99 workers, or at least 10% of staff in companies with 100-299 workers, or at least 30 employees in companies with 300 or more workers.
Legal grounds must be that the organisation, or a part of it, is shutting down or relocating, or that the employer decided to make organisational or technical changes to increase efficiency. Employers are required to justify redundancies for reasons of closure, or for technical or organisational changes as specified by the Labour Code. According the Labour Code, only a closure or a transfer of business as well as technical or organisational reasons are legitimate reasons for carrying out collective dismissals.
Crew members of vessels flying the flag of the Slovak Republic and employees working under fixed-term contracts are excluded from the legislation.
Some employers avoid being subject to collective dismissal legislation by frequently dismissing fewer employees within 30 days than specified by the labour code thresholds (10 employees, 10% of staff or 30 employees, depending on the size of the company).
Eurofound (2015), Slovakia: Definition of collective dismissal, Restructuring legislation database, Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/legislationdb/definition-of-collective-dismissal/slovakia
Between the end of 2022 and the first half of 2023, almost 300,000 employees working for ‘big tech’ companies were laid off across the world, making headlines for months in global media. This development has been a shock, considering the high numbers of jobs in well-known tech corporations with a reputation for offering good working conditions and well-paid positions.
The retail banking sector is fertile ground for studying the impacts of digitalisation on work and employment. Financial services are increasingly provided online, without the intermediary of customer-facing institutions. Many banks in the sector have been undergoing serial restructuring since the global financial crisis, and it is one of the few service sectors with stagnant or declining employment.
Since 2011, the Restructuring support instruments database of the EU PolicyWatch has been collecting information on measures that assist companies and workers to anticipate and manage restructuring. This article looks at measures in the database aimed at supporting employees and employers during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022).
Eurofound’s European Restructuring Monitor database reveals the impact of the energy crisis on employment in the EU. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, energy prices have hit record highs. The European Commission imposed sanctions and limitations on the import of oil and gas from Russia, which has reacted by reneging on supply commitments to many Member States.
