| Abstract [eng] |
This article analyses the definition of transfer of business or part of business, the protection of particular employees’ rights in the European law, case law, and compares realisation of current provisions in the Lithuanian law and application in the national case law. The European Court of Justice case law is analysed with the aim to determine if the European directives regarding the safeguarding of employees’ rights in the event of transfers of undertakings, businesses or parts of undertakings or businesses were introduced into the Lithuanian law on the whole extent. According to the judgements of the European Court of Justice, the concept of the transfer of business or part of business should cover a wider number of transfers than it is stated in directives, including those transfers, where there is no contract between transferor and transferee, transfers as a result of a legislative or administrative decision. Purchasing or reorganisation of enterprise does not always coincide with transfer of business or part of business and can be considered as a separate type of acquirement of business or part of business. However, the Lithuanian Labour Code does not provide for a definition of transfer of business, as it is done by The European Court of Justice and in Lithuanian case law it is often recognised as reorganisation or structural changes. The most basic protected employees’ rights were analysed and it showed that the European law provides clear protected rights and its bounds. However, the European Court of Justice case law points some exceptions and narrows limits of the protection. While transposing directives into the Lithuanian law, any additional protection to the transferred employees’ was not settled except the provision of the Labour Code saying that the aforementioned transfer may not be a valid reason for the termination of employment relationships. Therefore the level of the protection of the transferred employees’ rights in the national law can’t be identified. Regarding the differences between EU and Lithuanian law, also having in mind that not all the provisions of the mentioned directives properly coincide with the Lithuanian law, appropriate adjustments are still required in the national law in order to unify the law of EU countries regarding the transfer of business or part of business. |
