In Ciupa and others v II Szpital Miejski, the ECJ has ruled that the EU Directive relating to collective redundancies requires that collective consultation must take place where an employer decides to implement a unilateral change to terms and conditions, such as pay or hours, to the detriment of the employees, which, in the event of their refusal, means that 20 or more employees’ contracts will be terminated, as such situations are capable of being regarded as a ‘redundancy’. This ruling confirms the often-overlooked position in UK law under S. 195(1) of TULRCA 1992 which defines a ‘redundancy’ for S.188 collective consultation purposes as a dismissal “not related to the individual concerned”, thereby requiring consultation collectively in such circumstances.

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