An employer may extraordinarily terminate an employment contract if the continuation of the employment relationship on the agreed conditions becomes impossible due to a decrease in the work volume or reorganisation of work or other cessation of work (lay-off). Lay-off is also an extraordinary termination of an employment contract upon cessation of the activities of the employer or upon declaration of bankruptcy of the employer or termination of bankruptcy proceedings, without declaring bankruptcy, by abatement.

Collective termination of employment contracts (collective dismissal) means cancellation, within 30 calendar days due to lay-off, of the employment contract of no less than:

• 5 employees in an enterprise where the average number of employees is up to 19;
• 10 employees in an enterprise where the average number of employees is 20–99;
• 10 % of the employees in an enterprise where the average number of employees is 100 to 299;
• 30 employees in an enterprise where the average number of employees is at least 300.

Civil servants are excluded from the legislation.