Facts
The G. group is composed of the public limited companies A., B., C., D., E. and F. In April and June 2009, the group carried out collective redundancies affecting 92 and then 152 employees in total. Trade union X. sued all the companies in the group before the Cantonal Labour Relations Chamber of Geneva, arguing that the consultation procedure provided for in Art. 335f CO had not been complied with.
By decision of 15 June 2010, the cantonal authority partially upheld the trade union's request. A. SA, B. SA, C. SA, D. SA, E. SA and F. SA then filed a civil appeal with the Federal Tribunal.
Considerations
The Federal Tribunal upheld the appeal in respect of E. SA and F. SA. It considered that these two companies, which had 6 and 15 employees respectively at the time of the redundancies, did not meet the conditions of Art. 335d CO to be subject to the consultation procedure in the event of collective redundancies. The Tribunal ruled that the cantonal court had violated federal law by applying a cantonal definition of collective redundancy to these two companies.
On the other hand, the Tribunal confirmed that the redundancies carried out at A. SA, B. SA, C. SA and D. SA should be considered as collective redundancies within the meaning of Art. 335d CO, as these companies employed more…