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.
Part E
No specific penalties are indicated with respect to non-compliance with dismissals regulation: the same penalties apply as for breaking labour related legislation.
In the case of violation of regulatory enactments regulating employment relations a warning or a fine from seven to 70 units of fine shall be imposed on the employer if it is a natural person, but a fine from 14 to 220 units of fine - if it is a legal person. A unit of fine is defined in Law on Administrative Liability.
There is a specific administrative liability for violation of prohibition of differential treatment in the field of employment relationship, which can occur, for example, while selecting employees for dissmissal. For this violation a warning or a fine from 28 to 70 units of fine shall be imposed on the employer if it is a natural person, but a fine from 70 to 140 units of fine - if it is a legal person.
There are several other different provisions of administrative liability - for not providing the employment contract in written, not ensuring the state specified minimal monthly wage if the person is employed for a normal working time, not ensuring the minimal hourly tariff rates, or withdrawal from collective bargaining.
Administrative offence proceedings for the offences of Labour Law is conducted by the State Labour Inspectorate.
The State Labour Inspectorate provides statistics on cases involving violations of dismissal regulations, along with other labour law infringements.
Eurofound (2015), Latvia: Effects of non-compliance with dismissal regulations, Restructuring legislation database, Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/legislationdb/effects-of-non-compliance-with-dismissal-regulations/latvia
This Eurofound research paper explores key trends in restructuring in recent years, highlighting the companies that announced the largest job losses and job gains in the EU. It builds on an analysis of company announcements recorded in Eurofound’s European Restructuring Monitor (ERM), alongside a new classification of restructuring events involving changes in company location.
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Employers increasingly use tools such as email, SMS and messaging apps like WhatsApp or Signal to communicate with employees. While these technologies offer both efficiency and convenience, their use in communicating sensitive information, particularly for notifying employees of dismissal, raises legal concerns. This article explores the legal framework on dismissals across the EU, with a special focus on the use of digital means for communicating employment dismissals. Drawing on examples from various Member States, it examines the legal validity of digital dismissals.
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In 2023, thousands of workers in big tech lost their jobs. Meta, Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft and Salesforce had been considered to offer good and secure jobs up to this point. Giants of the information and communication technology (ICT) sector, these companies are among the highest paying, with Eurostat data from 2022 indicating that workers in ICT had the second-highest median gross hourly earnings (surpassed only by earnings in the financial sector).[1] These layoffs were a shock, especially as the biggest companies had hired extensively during the COVID-19 pandemic. What happened in the two years after this redundancy wave – was that the end of the cuts or did the companies start expanding again?
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In 2024, the automotive sector in the EU came to the fore in public and policy discussions. The focus was on the slowdown in electric vehicle (EV) sales, rising global competition, belated investments in new technologies, and the potential closure of production lines in Europe. A number of European car manufacturers and suppliers announced their intention to make large-scale redundancies and change long-standing collective agreements on job security and wages, while workers raised concerns amid demonstrations and industrial action.
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