As a rule, a collective redundancy situation applies where:
(i) the dismissal implies a specified/determinable number of employees (e.g. 10 employees in the case of companies employing between 21 – 99 employees);
(ii) the dismissal takes place within a period of 30 calendar days;
(iii) the dismissal occurs for one or more reasons not related to the individual workers concerned.
For the purpose of calculating the number of redundancies, “๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ค๐ค๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ’๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ด.โ
๐๐ผ ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ผ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ฏ๐ ๐บ๐๐๐๐ฎ๐น ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐๐ฟ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐ฐ๐๐น๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ป๐๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐บ๐ถ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐?
Although counter intuitive, according to the case law, for the calculation of the number of employees actually dismissed one has to also take into account the employment contracts terminated by agreement of the parties and/or resignation if such termination has materialized “๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ญ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ’๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ/๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ” (Bucharest Court of Appeal, Decision No 1637/2018).
The Court notes that the notion of “๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ” cannot exclude the forms of termination of employment achieved by agreement of the parties or by resignation, where the role of the employer was decisive.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐?
Rather than trying to avoid a collective redundancy by encouraging part of the workers concerned to have their employment contract terminated by mutual agreement or by resignation, employers should perform individual dismissals in batches by limiting the number of dismissed workers to the maximum allowed by law within any given 30-day period.
Dismissals effected in batches should be further based on separate resolutions adopted by the employer. Dismissals effected in batches but based on one single resolution, shall be deemed as a collective redundancy even if the dismissals occured over several months.
This article was first published by our Romanian member firm Suciu – Employment and Data Protection Lawyers on 24 April 2023. For more information on this topic or to discuss your specific case, please contact our representative Andreea Suciu, Managing Partner of the firm.
