Announce Group Termination

When a number of employees are scheduled to be terminated, the employer must send a notice of the termination to the Directorate of Labour. A representative or a trustee of employees must also receive a copy of the notice.

Process

Definition of collective redundancies

Group termination shall be considered as the employer's termination of employees on grounds not related to each of them, when the number of employees who are terminated over a period of 30 days is:

• at least 10 employees in a business that usually has more than 20 and fewer than 100 employees;

• at least 10 % of the employees in a company that normally has at least 100 employees, but fewer than 300 employees.

• at least 30 employees in a business that normally employs 300 or more employees.

Therefore, if a company has 19 or fewer employees, the rules on collective redundancies do not apply even if 10 or more employees are made redundant.

Consultation with staff representatives

Trustees or other representatives of staff should be briefed on planned redundancies, together with the employer's justification. These representatives can then express their views and suggestions before making a final decision.

The employer shall provide the representatives of employees with the information relevant to the proposed termination and shall indicate in writing:

• the reasons for the proposed redundancies,

• number of employees to be terminated and the nature of their employment;

• how many people are usually employed and what kind of jobs they are doing;

• the period during which the planned redundancies are to be implemented,

• criteria to be used in the selection of workers to be terminated,

• information on special payments to employees in the event of termination other than those provided for in law or collective agreements and how these payments are calculated.

On the consultation

It is not specified in law what constitutes sufficient consultation nor is there a time frame for such consultation. It can be very different in each case how much consultation it needs to be.

Announcement of collective redundancies

The notice to the Directorate of Labour shall specify:

• the reasons for resignation,

• the number of employees in the company,

• the number of workers being laid off,

• for which period the resignations are to take effect. This refers to when the resigned person leaves his/her position.

• Whether and by what means the employees have been consulted by trustees or other representatives. It must state at least who was consulted and when. This includes main communications and meetings.

The notice is sent to the following email address: hopuppsagnir@vmst.is. A copy of the notice shall also be sent to the trustee or a representative of employees.

Why notify the Directorate of Labour?

It is important that the public employment services in Iceland have sufficient information about planned layoffs of employees. This will enable them to meet the effects of them in a timely manner.

Publication of information on collective redundancies

Each month, summaries of the number of collective redundancies received in the previous month are published by the Directorate of Labour. It is stated in what industry they work in and where in the country, the number of employees who are made redundant, when they will lose their jobs and the total number of employees of the companies concerned.

Members of the Confederation of Icelandic Employers

If the employer is a member of the Confederation of Icelandic Employers, information and a form are also available on the organisation.