This Northern Ireland case, which arose out of the closure of the Bonmarché chain of stores, had similarities with the 'Woolworths' case i.e. where collective redundancies take place, should each establishment or place of work be deemed to be a separate unit for consultation purposes or should all of the units be linked? The importance for the parties is the amount of time that employers are required to consult with employee representatives before effecting the redundancies - and the possibility of protective awards for affected employees should redundancies be 20 or more.

The CJEU referred to other judgements, particularly Rockfon (C 449/93, EU:C:1995:420), where "the term ‘establishment’ in Article 1(1)(a) of Directive 98/59 must be interpreted as designating, depending on the circumstances, the unit to which the workers made redundant are assigned to carry out their duties. It is not essential in order for there to be an ‘establishment’ that the unit in question is endowed with a management that can independently effect collective redundancies."

The CJEU further referred to the judgment in Athinaïki Chartopoiïa (C 270/05, EU:C:2007:101), where "the Court further clarified the term ‘establishment’, inter alia by holding, in paragraph 27 of that judgment, that, for the purposes of the application of Directive 98/59, an ‘establishment’, in the context of an undertaking, may consist of a distinct entity, having a certain degree of permanence and stability, which is assigned to perform one or more given tasks and which has a workforce, technical means and a certain organisational structure allowing for the accomplishment of those tasks."

In paragraph 28 of the judgment in Athinaïki Chartopoiïa (C 270/05, EU:C:2007:101), "the Court held that since Directive 98/59 concerns the socio-economic effects that collective redundancies may have in a given local context and social environment, the entity in question need not have any legal autonomy, nor need it have economic, financial, administrative or technological autonomy, in order to be regarded as an ‘establishment’."

Consequently, according to the case-law of the Court, where an ‘undertaking’ comprises several entities meeting the criteria set out in these cases, it is the entity to which the workers made redundant are assigned to carry out their duties that constitutes the ‘establishment’ for the purposes of Article 1(1)(a) of Directive 98/59. http://bit.ly/1Hc4SEI