GIBRALTAR Law and Practice Contributed by: Emma Lejeune, Stuart Dalmedo, Nicholas Isola, James Castle and Louise Anne Turnock, ISOLAS LLP
must be undertaken by the employer with a view to reaching agreement with the employee rep - resentatives and must include a consultation about avoiding dismissals, reducing the number of employees to be dismissed and mitigating the consequences of the dismissals. Further, and as part of the consultation process, the employer shall disclose to the employee representatives and to the director the following in writing: • the reasons for the proposed redundancies; • the number and descriptions of affected employees; • the total number of employees of any such description employed by the employer at the establishment in question; • the proposed method for the selection of affected employees; • the proposed method of carrying out the dismissals; and • the proposed method of calculating the amount of any redundancy payments to be made. A failure to consult in a collective redundancy situation can give rise to a declaration by the Employment Tribunal, and the Employment Tri - bunal may also make a protective award of com - pensation. Employees dismissed for redundancy reasons are entitled to redundancy pay calculated by a statutory formula that is dependent on the employee’s years of service, subject to a maxi - mum of one year’s pay and provided that the employee has completed one year’s service. 4.5 Employee Representations There are no general mandatory rights under Gibraltar law except regarding the following.
• Various consultation requirements are imposed on employers in respect of collective redundancy situations (as discussed in 4.4 Termination of Employment Contracts ) or where an employee is affected by a transfer of an undertaking commonly known as TUPE. • Additionally, the Employment (Information and Consultation of Employees) Regulations 2005 provide a framework for the rights to infor - mation and consultation upon the request of employees. In such cases, the employer must make a formal agreement about what business information it will share with its employees and when it will consult them, provided the employer employs a minimum of 50 employees, and 15 employees or 10% of the total workforce (whichever number is greater) make the request. Before the con - sultation process commences, the employer must arrange for its employees to elect the relevant number of information and consul - tation representatives by ballot: this means one representative per 50 employees or part thereof, provided that that number is at least two and does not exceed 25. • Sub-Regulation 4 (1) of the Employment (Trade Union Recognition) Regulations pro - vide that if a trade union wants to negotiate with an employer on behalf of a bargain - ing unit (defined as the group of employees concerned), it must be (a) registered and (b) recognised by that employer. The trade union may apply in writing to an employer for recognition as a bargaining agent (any such application needing to comply with Sub- Regulation 4 (4)) with the employer required within ten working days of receipt of that application to inform the trade union in writing whether it recognises that trade union as a bargaining agent or refuses to recognise the trade union as a bargaining agent and state the reasons thereof (Sub-Regulation 4 (5)). If
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