Economic redundancy: obligations of the employer

Verified 08 November 2021 - Legal and Administrative Information Directorate (Prime Minister), Ministry of Labor

An employer who has to dismiss one or more employees for economic reasons must follow a procedure which depends on the number of employees affected by the dismissal. In particular, it must consult the Social and Economic Committee (ESC) in the companies of at least 11 employees.

Only one employee

The dismissal of a single employee for economic reasons must follow a specific procedure: calling for a prior interview, sending a dismissal letter and notification to the administration. Consultation of the ESC: titleContent is compulsory for an individual dismissal only if the dismissal is due to a reorganization of the company or concerns a staff representative.

The employer must send the employee a notice of meeting prior to dismissal by registered letter or by hand delivered letter against discharge.

The letter of invitation shall contain the following information:

  • Purpose of the interview
  • Date, time and place of interview
  • Possibility for the employee to be assisted by a person of his choice belonging to the company's staff (or by a employee's advisor outside the company if there are no staff representatives in the company)
  • Contact details of the City Council and the Labor Inspectorate where the departmental list of the employee's advisers can be obtained

The pre-interview cannot take place less than 5 working days after presentation of the registered letter or delivery of the letter of invitation.

During this interview, the employer must inform employees of the following:

The employer must send a letter of dismissal to the employee, by registered letter with notice of receipt (LRAR), after a minimum period of 7 working days according to the interview.

The deadline is 15 working days in the case of individual dismissal of an executive.

The letter must specify the following information:

  • Economic reason for dismissal
  • Possibility to benefit from a business security contract (CSP), if the company has fewer than 1 000 employees and the employee has not yet given an answer
  • Possibility to benefit from a reclassification leave, if the company has at least 1 000 employees
  • If necessary, the impossibility of reclassification
  • Possibility to benefit from a re-hire priority for 1 year from the date of termination of the contract and the conditions of its implementation
  • Limitation period to contest the lawfulness or validity of the dismissal: 12 months from the date of his notification

FYI  

after notification of the dismissal letter to the employee, the employer has 15 days to specify the reasons for the dismissal (by registered letter with notice of receipt) on his own initiative or at the request of the employee.

The employer must inform the Dreets: titleContent of redundancy within 8 days sending a letter of dismissal to the employee.

The contract shall not be interrupted as soon as the employee has been notified of the dismissal by the dismissal letter.

The employee must respect a notice, except in the following 2 cases:

At the end of the period of notice, the contract of employment shall end.

At the end of the contract, the employee shall, if entitled, receive the following amounts:

The employee must also recover the termination documents mandatory.

From 2 to 9 employees

An employer who has to make a collective redundancy of 2 to 9 employees over 30 days for economic reasons must follow a procedure in several phases: consultation of the employee representatives or the ESC: titleContent, calling for a prior interview, sending a letter of dismissal and notifying the administration.

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Company between 11 and 49 employees

Before making any redundancies, the employer must consult and bring together the employee representatives or the ESC: titleContent on the draft terms of dismissal and its conditions of application.

The employer must also send with the convening of the meeting:

  • All relevant information on the planned collective redundancy (e.g. economic, financial or technical reasons for the redundancy, number of planned redundancies, relevant professional categories, estimated timetable)
  • Measures envisaged to limit redundancies and to facilitate the redeployment of the employees concerned

The notice of meeting must be sent at least 3 days before the meeting.

The meeting should focus on:

  • Presentation and explanation of the planned economic redundancy
  • Answer questions from staff representatives or the EESC before seeking their views on the project

Company from 50 employees

The employer must consult the employee representatives or the ESC: titleContent.

The meeting notice and the agenda must be accompanied by all relevant information on the proposed collective redundancy.

In particular: economic, financial or technical reasons for the dismissal, number of planned dismissals, relevant professional categories, estimated timetable.

The notice of meeting must be sent at least 3 days before the meeting.

The ESC: titleContent may be assisted by a technical expert at his own expense.

The meeting should focus on:

  • Presentation and explanation of the planned economic redundancy
  • Answer questions from staff representatives or the EESC before seeking their views on the project

A portal also allows the dematerialized transmission of information in the context of economic redundancies:

Collective breaks in employment contracts portal (RUPCO)

The employer must send the employees a notice of meeting prior to dismissal by registered letter (or by hand-delivered letter against discharge).

The letter of invitation shall contain the following information:

  • Purpose of the interview
  • Date, time and place of interview
  • Possibility for the employee to be assisted by a person of his choice belonging to the company's staff (or by a employee's advisor outside the company if there are no staff representatives in the company)
  • Contact details of the City Council and the Labor Inspectorate where the departmental list of the employee's advisers can be obtained

The pre-interview cannot take place less than 5 working days after presentation of the registered letter or delivery of the letter of invitation.

During this interview, the employer must inform employees of the following:

The employer must send a letter of dismissal to the employees, by registered letter with notice of receipt (LRAR), after a minimum period of 7 working days according to the interview.

The letter must specify the following information:

  • Economic reason for dismissal
  • Possibility to benefit from a professional security contract (CSP), if the company has fewer than 1 000 employees and the employee has not yet given his answer
  • Possibility to benefit from a reclassification leave, if the company has at least 1 000 employees
  • If necessary, no reclassification
  • Possibility to benefit from a re-hire priority for a period of one year from the date of the termination of the contract and the conditions for its implementation
  • Limitation period to contest the lawfulness or validity of the dismissal: 12 months from the date of his notification

FYI  

after notification of the dismissal letter to the employee, the employer has 15 days to specify the reasons for the dismissal (by registered letter with notice of receipt) on his own initiative or at the request of the employee.

The employer must inform the Dreets: titleContent dismissals pronounced within 8 days following the dismissal letters sent to the employees concerned.

The contract shall not be interrupted as soon as the employee has been notified of the dismissal by the dismissal letter.

The employee must perform a notice, except in one of the following cases:

At the end of the period of notice, the contract of employment shall end.

At the end of the contract, the employee shall, if entitled, receive the following amounts:

The employee must also recover the termination documents mandatory.

From 10 employees

An employer who has to lay off at least 10 employees over a period of 30 days for economic reasons must follow a procedure that varies according to the number of employees in the company.

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Company up to 49 employees

Before making any dismissals, the employer must consult the employee representatives or the ESC: titleContent on the draft terms of dismissal and its conditions of application.

The EESC must hold 2 meetings separated by a maximum of 14 days.

He must send the following information to the staff representatives, together with the convening of the meeting:

  • All relevant information on the planned collective redundancy (economic, financial or technical reasons for the redundancy, number of planned redundancies, relevant professional categories, estimated timetable, etc.)
  • Measures envisaged to limit redundancies and to facilitate the redeployment of the employees concerned

The notice of meeting must be sent at least 3 days before the meeting.

The meeting should focus on:

  • Presentation and explanation of the planned economic redundancy
  • Answer questions from staff representatives before seeking their views on the project

Company from 50 employees

An employer of 50 or more persons who intends to lay off at least 10 employees must set up a employment protection plan (ESP).

He must consult the ESC: titleContent the proposed operation and its conditions of application.

In this context, a minimum of 2 meetings, separated by at least 15 days, must be organized by the employer (except in the case of judicial adjustment or liquidation).

The employer shall address the ESC: titleContent all relevant information on the planned collective redundancy: economic, financial or technical reasons for the redundancy, number of planned redundancies, relevant professional categories, estimated timetable.

The notice of meeting must be sent at least 3 days before the meeting.

The employer must also send the CSE and the Dreets: titleContent dematerialized using the RUPCO portal   all information concerning the planned dismissal.

The ESC must deliver its opinion on the basis of its consultation:

  • 2 months where the number of redundancies is less than 100,
  • 3 months for a number of redundancies between 100 and 249 inclusive,
  • 4 months from 250 redundancies.

In the absence of an opinion within these time limits, the ESC is considered to have been consulted.

A collective agreement or agreement may provide for different time limits.

The employer may:

  • Either negotiate with the representative trade unions a majority collective agreement on a PES
  • Set unilaterally the content of the PES and the criteria for consultation of the representative bodies of staff

In the two cases, the ESC may appoint an accountant. The employer has 10 days to request information from the employer. The latter must respond within 8 days (renewable). The expertise may be in the economic and accounting fields, health, safety or the potential effects of the project on working conditions.

In the presence of staff representatives or an ESC in the company, the employer is not obliged to call for a prior interview each employee whose economic dismissal is envisaged.

On the other hand, in the absence of staff representatives or SSCs in the company, the prior interview for each employee concerned is compulsory. The employer must then send each person a notice of meeting prior to dismissal by registered letter or by hand delivered letter against discharge.

Warning  

where the economic dismissal of one or more protected employees is envisaged, prior maintenance is mandatory.

The letter of invitation shall contain the following information:

  • Purpose of the interview 
  • Date, time and place of interview 
  • Possibility for the employee to be assisted by a person of his choice belonging to the company's staff (or by a employee's advisor outside the company if there are no staff representatives in the company) 
  • Contact details of the City Council and the Labor Inspectorate where the departmental list of the employee's advisers can be obtained

The pre-interview may not take place less than 5 working days after presentation of the registered letter or delivery of the letter of invitation.

During this interview, the employer must inform the employees:

The employer must send the employees, by registered letter with notice of receipt (LRAR), a letter of dismissal which must specify the following information:

  • Economic reason for dismissal 
  • Possibility to benefit from a professional security contract (CSP), if the company has fewer than 1 000 employees and the employee has not yet given his answer 
  • Possibility to benefit from a reclassification leave, if the company has at least 1 000 employees 
  • If necessary, the impossibility of reclassification 
  • Possibility to benefit from a re-hire priority for a period of one year from the date of the termination of the contract and the conditions for its implementation 
  • Limitation period to contest the lawfulness or validity of the dismissal: 12 months from the date of his notification

The length of time it takes to issue a termination letter depends on the size of the company. However, a collective agreement or agreement may provide for more favorable time limits for employees.

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Company of less than 50 employees

The letter of dismissal must be sent to the employees after the expiry of a period of 30 days following the notification of the proposed dismissal to the Dreets: titleContent.

Company from 50 employees

The dismissal letter must be addressed to the employees:

  • after the notification of validation or approval of the job protection plan (PSE) by the Dreets: titleContent.
  • or on expiry of the time-limits laid down for the administrative authority to take a decision (15 or 21 days).

In the event of a notification not respecting the deadlines, the employee may claim the remedies provided for irregular dismissal.

FYI  

after notification of the dismissal letter to the employee, the employer has 15 days to specify the reasons for the dismissal (by registered letter with notice of receipt) on his own initiative or at the request of the employee.

The employer must inform the Dreets: titleContent of redundancy within 8 days sending a letter of dismissal to the employee.

Dreets has to agree.

The decision of Dreets can be appealed by the employer before the administrative court within 2 months of its notification.

The contract shall not be interrupted as soon as the employee has been notified of the dismissal by the dismissal letter.

The employee must perform a notice, except in one of the following cases:

At the end of the period of notice, the contract of employment shall end.

At the end of the contract, the employee shall, if entitled, receive the following amounts:

The employee must also recover the termination documents mandatory.

FAQ