An employer who employs more than 30 workers, and who, in the next three months, intends to terminate the employment contract of at least five workers for economic, technical or organizational reasons, is obliged to consult with the Workers’ Council and the Union. The obligation to consult is based on the act in written form (“Redundancy Management Programme”) prepared by the employer and begins at least 30 days before the termination notice is given to the affected workers.
The act in written form is submitted to the Workers’ Council or the Union before the start of consultation, and contains, in particular, the following information: reasons for the planned termination of the employment contract; the number, category and gender of workers whose contracts are subject to termination; actions that the employer believes can be taken to avoid some or all of the planned layoffs (e.g. reassignment of the worker to another position with the same employer, retraining where necessary, temporary reduction of working hours); actions that the employer considers could help workers find employment with another employer; measures that the employer considers can be taken in order to retrain the worker for employment with another employer.
The founder of this Law Office prepared the Programme for taking care of redundant workers, and implemented the complete procedure for the layoff of over 30 workers. Mass layoff in Bosnia and Herzegovina (German: Massenentlassung in Bosnien und Herzegowina). A number of workers filed a lawsuit before the competent court to challenge the layoff procedure, but all plaintiffs’ claims were rejected.
Thus, by the judgment of the Municipal Court in Sarajevo of 6 December, 2018, case number 65 0 Rs 613264 16 Rs, the plaintiff’s claim was rejected by which the plaintiff requested that the defendant’s decision on the termination of the employment contract be annulled as illegal and that the defendant undertakes to return the plaintiff to work, as well as recognize all his rights from the employment contract as unfounded.
The Cantonal Court in Sarajevo confirmed the judgement of the first instance court in case number 65 0 Rs 613264 19 Rsž on 8 September, 2022, and obliged the plaintiff to compensate the defendant for the costs of the litigation of the Municipal Court in Sarajevo from 26 March, 2019, case number 65 0 Rs 613265 16 Rs, which the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo confirmed on 22 March, 2023 in case number 65 0 Rs 613265 19 Rsž, and in the judgment of the Municipal Court in Sarajevo of 14 December, 2017, case number 65 0 Rs 609902 16 Rs which the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo confirmed on 12 December, 2022, case number 65 0 Rs 609902 18 Rsž.
If you need counselling on the subject of Mass layoff in Bosnia and Herzegovina (German: Massenentlassung in Bosnien und Herzegowina) as a company, company member, director or founder or you need corporate law attorney for your company or for your business idea, then you are in the right place with us and you can contact our corporate law attorneys directly by phone (+387 62 342 463), WhatsApp, Viber or e-mail (rasid@haracic.ba).
