Christian Berg has a problem. As an employment lawyer who is of counsel to Squire Sanders’ Frankfurt office, Berg is working on a transaction involving the Japanese purchase of an enterprise that spans 18 jurisdictions, many of them in the European Union.
Naturally, the purchaser is thinking about cost efficiencies including mass layoffs, known as “collective redundancies” in the EU. And while the master purchase agreement remains unsigned and no formal decision has been made, Berg needs to consider whether the time has come for the vendor or the purchaser to consult with the affected workers councils (unions) about the justification for any job losses.
