EU: the CJEC will have to determine whether individual employees can object to the non-respect of the information and consultation procedure

A more fundamental question concerns the nature of the right of information and consultation. Directive 98/59 on collective redundancies imposes a series of obligations on the employer in terms of information and consultation of the workers and/or their representatives. In the case which led to the preliminary ruling, several employees laid off by the Mono Car Styling Company in 2004 pressed charges because the employer failed to respect some procedural obligations imposed by the law on collective redundancies. Yet, Belgian law only allows individual employees dismissed to object to the procedure informing and consulting staff representatives if the latter notified “objections” on this procedure within a certain period of time. It is the compatibility with directives 98/59 of this prior objection by the staff representatives as a condition for an individual appeal to be admissible which gives the Court the opportunity to speak on the individual or collective nature of the information and consultation right. Indeed, to answer this question, it must first ask who benefits from the rights provided by the 1998 directive, including the right to be informed and consulted.
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law on collective redundancies.
Yet, Belgian law only allows individual employees dismissed to object to the procedure
informing and consulting staff representatives if the latter notified
“objections” on this procedure within a certain period of time. It is the
compatibility with directives 98/59 of this prior objection by the staff representatives
as a condition for an individual appeal
to be admissible which gives the Court the opportunity to speak on the individual
or collective natu

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