How is a staff reduction carried out by law?

When a reduction is lawful

The reduction must be real: the number of employees or the staff list must have changed because of a change in the technology, in the organisation of production and work, or because the volume of work fell. In a dispute, the employer proves that the dismissal is lawful.

The duties of the employer

1. Warn the employee in writing, against signature, at least two months before (article 165 of the Labour Code).
2. Offer the available vacancies.
3. Take account of the preferential right to keep the job.
4. In a mass dismissal, inform the labour body and the trade unions.

The criteria for a mass dismissal

Article 98 of the Labour Code sets the criteria for a mass dismissal in exact numbers: for example, the reduction of fifty or more employees within thirty calendar days, or of five hundred or more employees within ninety days.

Advice for the employee

Keep the warning letter, the list of the vacancies offered and your refusal in writing. In court, these documents are what decides the case.