Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2007:101
Date: 2007-02-15
Language of the case: Greek
Court formation: First Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Social Policy
Concepts: Employment protection and protection of employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Greece

Summary of the Judgment 1. Social policy – Approximation of laws – Collective redundancies – Directive 98/59 (Council Directive 98/59, Art. 1(1)(a)) 2. Social policy – Approximation of laws – Collective redundancies – Directive 98/59 (Council Directive 98/59, Art. 4(4)) 1. Directive 98/59 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to collective redundancies, in particular Article 1(1)(a), is to be interpreted as meaning that a separate production unit of a company, which has distinct equipment and a specialised workforce, whose operation is not affected by that of the other units, and which has a chief production officer who ensures that the work is carried out properly, is responsible for supervision of the entire operation of the unit’s installations and ensures that technical questions are solved, comes within the definition of an ‘establishment’ for the purposes of that directive. The fact that decisions concerning the operating expenditure of each unit, the purchase of materials and the costing of products are taken at the company’s headquarters, where a joint accounts office is set up, is irrelevant in that respect. Given that the objective pursued by that directive concerns, in particular, the socio economic effects which collective redundancies may have in a given local context and social environment, the entity in question need not have any legal autonomy, nor need it have economic, financial, administrative or technological autonomy, in order to be regarded as an ‘establishment’. Nor is it essential, in order for there to be an ‘establishment’, for the unit in question to be endowed with a management which can independently effect collective redundancies, or for there to be a geographical separation from the other units and facilities of the undertaking. (see paras 28-29, 31-32, operative part) 2. The derogation in Article 4(4) of Directive 98/59 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to collective redundancies applies only when the termination of the activities of an undertaking or an operating unit follows a judicial decision. In all other cases, and particularly when the termination of the establishment’s activities is solely of the employer’s volition, the employer has the obligation to pursue consultations with the workers during a supplementary period before the competent public authority. (see para. 36)