The Court of Justice of the European Union has pointed out that European regulations do not impose an explicit obligation on employers to consult the workers concerned individually in case of collective redundancies. The provisions of the Directive refer to consultation of workers’ representatives and information to the competent public authority before collective redundancies. The Court specified that the right to information and consultation is granted to the workers’ representatives and not to individual workers, as in previous case law.
The Romanian courts asked several questions to the European Court concerning the obligation of employers to consult workers individually in case of collective redundancies, in absence of the elected workers’ representatives, and the answers were favourable to the employers.
The judgment emphasises that the provisions of the Directive do not require employers to consult and inform individually the workers affected by collective redundancies, in absence of the appointment of their representatives. The European directives concern the consultation of the workers’ representatives and not of individual workers.
However, it is essential that national legislation allow for the appointment of representatives and guarantee the protection of workers in accordance with the provisions of the Directive.
