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.
Labour Act: Article 121, 122; Bankruptcy Act: Article 119; Regulation on the contents and forms which are submitted in the pre-bankruptcy and bankruptcy procedure: Article 1
According to amendments to the Labor Act (NN 151/22), there were significant changes in Article 121, which stipulates the notice period to employees, although the main meaning has been retained. The notice period begins on the day on which the written notice of termination of the employment contract is delivered to the employee. The notice period for a worker who is temporarily incapacitated for work at the time of delivery of the decision on dismissal shall start from the date of cessation of his or her temporary incapacity for work. The notice is suspended during the following circumstances:
The notice period runs in the event of termination of the worker's employment contract during the liquidation or dissolution proceedings of the company by summary proceedings without liquidation in accordance with the company regulation. The notice period shall not run during the period of temporary incapacity for work. The notice period shall run during the period of temporary incapacity for work of a worker whose employment contract was terminated by the employer before the beginning of that period and with that decision, the worker was released from the obligation to work within the notice period, unless otherwise regulated by a collective agreement, an working regulation or an employment contract. Furthermore, the notice period shall run during annual leave and paid leave. If there has been an interruption of the period of notice due to temporary incapacity for work of a worker who has not been released from the obligation to work by the employer, the employment relationship with that worker shall be terminated at the latest six months after the date of the beginning of the notice period.
In case of ordinary dismissal (Labor Act (NN 151/22), Article 122 defines that the length of the notice period depends on the duration of the employment relationship. The standard notice period lasts:
(1) In the case of regular notice, the notice period shall be at least: 1) two weeks, if the worker continuously spent less than one year in employment relationship with the same employer 2) one month, if the worker continuously spent one year in employment relationship with the same employer 3) one month and two weeks, if the worker continuously spent two years in employment relationship with the same employer 4) two months, if the worker continuously spent five years in employment relationship with the same employer 5) two months and two weeks, if the worker continuously spent ten years in employment relationship with the same employer 6) three months, if the worker continuously spent twenty years in employment relationship with the same employer. (2) The notice period referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be increased by two weeks if the worker has reached the age of fifty, and by one month if he or she has reached the age of fifty-five. (3) A worker whose employment contract is terminated due to a breach of an employment obligation (notice due to the misconduct of the worker) shall be given a notice period of half of the notice periods set out in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article. (4) The employer shall pay the worker who is exempt from the obligation to work during the notice period the salary compensation and recognize all other rights as if he or she had worked until the expiry of the notice period. (5) During the notice period, the worker shall be entitled to be absent from work for at least four hours a week for the purpose of seeking new employment. (6) A collective agreement or employment contract may provide for a shorter notice period for the worker than for the employer than the deadline specified in paragraph 1 of this Article, in the case when the worker terminates the employment contract. (7) If the worker terminates the employment contract, the notice period may not exceed one month, if he or she has a particularly important reason for doing so. (8) By way of derogation from paragraph 1 of this Article, a worker who, at the time of termination of the employment contract has reached 65 years of age and 15 years of pensionable service, shall not be entitled to a notice period.
The notice periods apply with regular redundancy, while the extraordinary redundancy comes into effect at the time of delivery. This is a general regulation applicable when employers terminate employment contracts and it is not specific to restructuring. It appears that the system is applied successfully in most cases.
Rozman (2023) explains that as long as the circumstances mentioned in Article 121 persist (pregnancy; the use of maternal, parental, adoptive and paternity leave; leave of a pregnant worker and others like temporary incapacity for work during treatment or recovery from an injury at work or an occupational disease), the notice period does not run. However, it starts to run again after the end of those circumstances. This means that when the worker is going to be dismissed, the notice period is interrupted due to specific circumstances. After the end of these specific circumstances (e.g. parental leave ends), the first day after that the notice period resumes.
Eurofound (2015), Croatia: Notice period to employees, Restructuring legislation database, Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/legislationdb/notice-period-to-employees/croatia
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.
:quality(80))
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.
:quality(80))
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?
:quality(80))
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.
:quality(80))