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Wave of layoffs at Saturn in Cologne

Tough measures at Saturn in Cologne. Almost 60 employees will be made redundant by the end of the year. Whether the dismissals will be legal remains to be seen. At first glance, the case seems to have a few stumbling blocks in store.

Ceconomy operates the well-known consumer electronics stores Mediamarkt and Saturn. The company has had a new CEO for a few days now. Bernhard Düttmann, previously a member of the Supervisory Board, is now in charge as Chairman of the Management Board. Initially, however, only on a temporary basis. Right at the start of his work, Düttmann announced that he wanted to initiate a number of changes and implement them together with the operational management team. These include the restructuring and realignment of the sales branches. The aim is to have smaller stores and the product range will be adapted. This fits in better with the concept and is more sustainable.

A third of the workforce to leave

For the Cologne branch on Hansaring, this will lead to very tangible changes. It was announced today that around a third of the workforce at the huge branch will be made redundant by the end of the year. 57 employees are affected. According to newspaper reports, however, it is not yet known exactly who will be affected.

Let’s take a first look at this from a labor law perspective: As the employer, Ceconomy can only give effective notice of termination to the 57 employees if there is a reason for termination that meets very specific requirements. Whether these will be met can, of course, at best only be speculated on the basis of the information known from the press. However, the hurdles that the employer has to overcome are high. If mistakes are made, the dismissals could be invalid.

Dismissals for operational reasons justified?

Ceconomy will base the dismissals on operational reasons. There must then be an organizational decision that results in the employment requirement for the 57 employees ceasing to exist by the end of the notice period at the latest. At first glance, this does not appear to be a problem, as Ceconomy has announced its intention to change the stores, in particular to reduce their size. At second glance, however, there are a number of hidden pitfalls. The mere fact that the company wants to focus on smaller stores in future does not mean that jobs will be lost. More is needed for this. The employer must explain how it will organize work in the future and what specific measures will lead to it needing fewer staff than before.

This requires good planning and a lot of time to prepare before a dismissal is announced. In our day-to-day work, we sometimes find that decisions are made and announced prematurely. The scenario here: A new boss arrives and almost 60 redundancies are to be announced in the same month. An employment lawyer quickly pricks up his ears at these key points. What exactly has been decided? How exactly is this to be implemented? How many jobs will actually be lost and by when? It is possible that Saturn, or Ceconomy, considered all these questions carefully in the run-up to the decision. But it is also possible that this is the famous courage to leave a gap.

Social selection must be carried out

Once it has been clarified that the jobs will actually be eliminated, it must be further examined who exactly can be dismissed. The person who is least in need of protection must be affected. The decisive criteria are age, length of service, maintenance obligations and severe disability. The employer must determine and weigh up all of these criteria. Mistakes are also easy to make here. If the wrong person is selected, the dismissal is invalid.

No further employment opportunities available?

After all, the employer must carefully check whether there are other employment opportunities somewhere in the company where the affected employees can be deployed. This may be at a different location and in some cases even at significantly worse conditions. If there is another position, it must be offered. If it is not offered, the dismissal is invalid.

Dismissals of this magnitude are also likely to constitute a so-called mass dismissal. This means that the employer must involve the authorities before the dismissal is announced. This is another step that requires some planning. A works council may need to be involved, if there is one.

Check termination carefully

It is therefore worthwhile for Saturn employees to have the dismissals closely scrutinized. The case looks set to be an interesting one. Experience shows that in many cases employees can save their jobs or at least negotiate a severance package. The chances are particularly good if the employer announces a radical restructuring of the company with a lot of media attention and big words, which later turns out to be not so simple after all.

You are welcome to contact us if you are affected or require further information.

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