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On 2 December 2020, the London Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), the first instance in UK EWC law, ruled that HP Inc. central management had not sufficiently informed the EWC of 349 job cuts. On 7 May 2020, the EWC held an extraordinary video conference during which central management had provided only superficial documentation. Management claimed that all important information was only available in the US.
In the oral video hearing held on 5 November 2020, the EWC argued that due to the lack of economic figures it was not in a position to "to undertake an in-depth assessment of the possible impact" as required by Article 2-f of the EWC Directive. It was therefore unable to render an opinion. The company nevertheless carried out the planned layoffs. The CAC, after reviewing extensive documents, minutes and emails, confirmed the EWC's reasoning but did not impose any sanctions. In July 2019, the Employment Appeal Tribunal for England and Wales had already rejected an EWC's claim for injunctive relief in the comparable case of the US company Oracle (see report in EWC News 3/2019).
The CAC based its decision in particular on the following aspects: The central management had not presented any economic reasons for the job cuts in each specific case. There was also no breakdown by country and by activity. There was insufficient information on the associated savings and costs. The impact on remaining workers and clients was also not communicated. In fact, the meeting held on 7 May 2020 was a sort of "song and dance act" without the possibility of analyzing the reasons behind the restructuring. The CAC decision on HP Inc. reminds us of the ruling in the case against Alcatel-Lucent, the telecom equipment supplier, in France in April 2007 (see report in EWC News 2/2007).
CAC ruling despite change of national law
HP Inc., a successor of Hewlett Packard, is the world's largest manufacturer of printers with a 40% market share. In October 2015, the division for enterprise customers was spun off under the name Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). Of the original 300,000 employees worldwide, only 50,000 remain at HP Inc., mostly in sales and services. Hewlett Packard was already involved in a court case in 2012. Once again, this was also triggered by inadequate information on collective redundancies (see report in EWC News 3/2012). Afterwards, the EWC was dissolved and negotiations took place for years in the successor companies (see report in EWC News 1/2017). Negotiations failed at both HPE and HP Inc. and both operate on the basis of the subsidiary requirements ("EWC by law"). The EWC of HP Inc. which represents 9,350 employees in the European Single Market was previously operating under UK law but since 1 November 2020 is now under Irish jurisdiction. Although the dismissals have been completed and the CAC is now no longer competent, the case was taken to its conclusion. In Germany, such court proceedings are dismissed if they concern past, completed procedures, as was the case most recently with Deutsche Telekom (see report in EWC News 2/2019)
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4/2020
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