To be covered by the national legislation on mass redundancies a company should employ more than 20 persons and the dismissals should affect:

• a minimum of 10 workers in companies which normally employ 21 - 99 persons;
• a minimum of 10% of the workforce in companies which normally employ 100 - 299 persons;
• a minimum of 30 workers in companies which normally employ a minimum of 300 persons.

Seamen are excluded from the legislation.

For a dismissal to be accepted as 'collective', it should take place within a 30 day period for a reason which is unrelated to the employees’ performance.

The Collective Redundancies Act does not apply to dismissals resulting from an employer being wound up by court order.

The employer has an obligation to negotiate with the employees' representatives right after the announcement of restructuring with the aim to mitigate the effects of the collective dismissals.