As a consequence of a recent wave of restructurings and therewith associated collective dismissals, the Federal Minister of Work intends to adjust the legislation on collective dismissals and has submitted in that regard 5 measures to the social partners for discussion. Concretely, the Minister suggested the following measures:
1) the parliament may call up enterprises that wish to proceed to a collective dismissal for a hearing;
2) enterprises in restructuring should make an impact-analysis of the restructuring on their subcontractors, as well as formulate proposals in order to absorb the impact of the restructuring on the subcontractors;
3) the position of the social mediator must be strengthened during the information and consultation procedure of the employees’ representatives, which is prior to any decision in regard to the collective dismissal;
4) enterprises should be obliged to work out a social plan in order to mitigate the consequences of a collective dismissal;
5) a guarantee should be foreseen that all measures of the social plan will be applicable to all the workers struck by the collective dismissal, including workers who quickly find a new job and temporary workers.
These measures will be discussed among the social partners and counter-proposals are expected. There is currently no deadline in that regard.