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.
15-12, 15-5, 17-4
Dismissals can be tried in court in order to be ruled invalid. If a dismissal is in contravention of the Working Environment Act, the court shall, if so demanded by the employee, rule the dismissal invalid. In special cases, and if so demanded by the employer, the court may decide that the employment shall be terminated if, after weighing the interests of the parties, the court finds it clearly unreasonable that employment should continue. This is seen as a safety valve, and could for instance be used in cases where the employee is to blame for the situation, for instance by having been active in developing a conflict with the manager .
An employee might also claim compensation. The amount is set by the court on basis of financial loss, circumstances relating to the employer and the employee, and other facts of the case.
Employees can take action through the courts following negotiation (for up to eight weeks, or six months if only compensation is claimed) with employees entitled to remain in their posts during this period. If the notice contains formal errors, is not given in writing or does not include the required information, the employee can initiate legal proceedings within four months. In such cases the notice shall be ruled invalid unless special circumstances make this clearly unreasonable.
There is no fixed compensation; compensation is awarded on the basis of case law.
Eurofound (2015), Norway: Effects of non-compliance with dismissal regulations, Restructuring legislation database, Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/legislationdb/effects-of-non-compliance-with-dismissal-regulations/norway
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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