The European Court of Justice has handed down its judgment in the Woolworths case, concerning the trigger point for collective redundancy consultation under UK legislation.  Back in 2013, the UK Employment Appeals Tribunal had considerably extended the burden of collective redundancy consultation by requiring all proposed redundancies across a business to be taken into account when deciding whether the threshold for collective redundancy consultation was triggered.  To the relief of UK employers, the European Court of Justice decided last week that there is no requirement under EU law for an employer to take account of the number of proposed dismissals across its entire business when determining whether the threshold for collective redundancy consultation has been reached.  It is sufficient to determine this by reference to each individual local establishment.
This briefing prepared by our employment team sets out the key issues in relation to the judgment and the implications for UK employers.  Should you have any questions in relation to the briefing or if you would like to speak to one of our employment specialists, please contact Kate Stephenson. For the full article, click here.