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The European Works Council of the HSBC bank decided to challenge several Brexit-related decisions made by the bank’s central management, by taking its case to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), which is the UK authority responsible for resolving disputes involving EWCs. The bank had made the following announcements to the EWC: 1/ a change to the central management representative who, with effect from 1 January 2021, would be an Irish representative; 2/ a change in the governing law (from UK law to Irish law) applicable to the agreement establishing the EWC; 3/ all sites in the United Kingdom would cease to come within the scope of application of the agreement; 4/ the representatives of UK employees who had previously sat on the EWC would henceforth be excluded from it, even though they account for 8 of its 20 seats. The agreement establishing the EWC makes reference to countries forming part of the European Economic Area, both in respect of the operations covered and the appointment of members. Consequently, in a move that was to be expected, in their decision of 22 June, the CAC panel members upheld the employer’s decision to exclude the UK representatives with effect from the end of the transition period marking the UK’s permanent departure from the EU. On the other hand, they granted the EWC a period of time to instigate further legal proceedings to challenge the change of governing law.
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