• Dismissals following an employee’s refusal to accept a unilateral, far-reaching relocation of the workplace may count toward the thresholds for mass dismissals, the European Court of Justice held in a June 2026 decision.
• Whether a workplace relocation is equivalent to a dismissal depends on the circumstances of the individual case, in particular the distance involved, the permanence of the change, and any compensatory measures offered.
• In the event of a site relocation, employers may want to assess early on whether a mass dismissal notification to the German Federal Employment Agency (Agentur für Arbeit) and the involvement of the works council (Betriebsrat) are required.

Site Relocation of More Than 600 Kilometers

The employer is an Italy-based company specializing in the manufacture of power generators. It ceased production at a site in Campania and relocated operations entirely to a new site in Sardinia. The two sites were more than 600 kilometers apart, separated by the Mediterranean Sea. Several employees failed to report to the new workplace, whereupon the employer initiated disciplinary proceedings and terminated their employment contracts. The Italian appellate court submitted a request for a preliminary ruling to the ECJ pursuant to Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, asking whether such dismissals must be treated as notifiable mass dismissals for the purposes of the Collective Redundancies Directive.

The Significance of the...

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