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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If planned changes in business operations (that is, reducing or shutting down company activities, relocation, merger, change of the purpose of the organisation, of existing infrastructure or of the work organisation, introduction of new work methods, rationalisation or automatisation measures of considerable importance, change of the legal form or ownership structures, planned collective dismissals) bring about negative consequences (understood as reduction of the income, longer commuting obligations and job loss) for all or a considerable number of employees in companies continuously employing at least 20 staff members, a social plan can be agreed to avoid, reduce or remove the negative consequences for the employees (The social plan (or other measures) is not mandatory. The social plan is part of a works agreement (Betriebsvereinbarung, ArbVG §97) between the employer and the works council). If these changes result in dismissals, the social plan should particularly consider the interests of older workers.
Content of the social plan may include:
If the parties fail to agree on a social plan, the works council may refer the case to a public mediation and arbitration board (local labour and social court) consisting of a professional judge, two representatives of the company to be nominated by the employer and the works council and two other members from a list of people nominated to such boards. The board has to decide as quickly as possible, taking into account the interests of the company as well as of the employees. The decision of the board is binding and has to be implemented.
Regarding the understanding of a 'considerable number of employees' in relation to the necessity to establish a social plan, the court decided that 8% of the staff is not a sufficiently high share of employees affected.
Eurofound (2015), Austria: Employers obligation to support redundant employees, Restructuring legislation database, Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/legislationdb/employers-obligation-to-support-redundant-employees/austria
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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