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.
France: Public authorities information and consultation on dismissals
Phase
Labour Code
Native name
Code du travail
Type
Public authorities information and consultation on dismissals
Added to database
08 May 2015
Article
L. 1233-24-1, L.1233-46, L. 1233-53, L.1233-57-12 and L.1233-57-13
Description
Any employer has to notify the labour inspectorate of each collective redundancy plan affecting a minimum of 10 or more employees over a 30-day period. In companies with less than 10 employees, the employer notifies the labour inspectorate in maximum 8 days after sending the dismissal letters to the redundant employees.
If employee representative bodies are present within the company, notification has to be provided to the labour inspectorate the day following the first meeting with the employee representatives. The information provided to the employee representatives are sent to the regional labour authorities at the same time ('Direction régionale de l'économie, de l'emploi, du travail et des solidarités - DREETS'). On or before the same day, the employer has to notify its intention to launch negotiations on a Job saving plan ('Plan de sauvegarde de l'emploi').
In companies with fewer than 50 employees, administrative authorities have 21 days to make sure that existing employee representatives have been informed and consulted in compliance with legal provisions and collective agreements, that worker representatives have been informed of any measures to avoid forced dismissals, or to reduce the number of job reduction and to facilitate employees' redeployment. Finally, the administrative authorities have to check that these measures are properly implemented.
Commentary
Obligations of employers seeking external redeployment in case of redundancies: Companies that are not under judicial redress, are not insolvent and have more than 1,000 employees are obliged to attempt to find an investor in the case of a closure of the establishment that would result in collective redundancies (Labour Code, L.1233-57-14 to L.1233-57-22).
In this framework, the employer has to inform and consult the employees' representatives, and immediately the public authorities (Labour Code,L.1233-57-1) that will inform the elected representatives of the impacted territory – and also the mayor of the city where the closure is expected (Labour Code, L.1233-57-13).
Additional metadata
Cost covered by
None
Involved actors other than national government
Other
Involvement (others)
Labour inspectorate
Thresholds
Affected employees: 2 Company size: No, applicable in all circumstances Additional information: No, applicable in all circumstances
Eurofound (2015), France: Public authorities information and consultation on dismissals, Restructuring legislation database, Dublin,
https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/legislationdb/public-authorities-information-and-consultation-on-dismissals/france
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.
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.
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?
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.