Skip to main content

Table 2 Legal coverage or scope of the general EPL regime: Excluded enterprises

From: Coverage of employment protection legislation

Firm size

Country

none

Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada (Federal only), Central African Republic, Chile, China, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Gabon, Georgia, Ghana, Honduras, Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, Jordan, Lesotho, Luxembourg, FYR of Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mexico, Republic of Moldova, Mongolia, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Syrian Arab Republic, United Republic of Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia

≤5

Austria, Korea

≤10

Germany

≤15

Sri Lanka

≤30

Turkey

  1. Source: ILO (2015b)
  2. Note:
  3. Morocco, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland – collective dismissal rules do not cover all enterprises (exceptions exist by enterprise size), but individual dismissal rules apply to all enterprises
  4. Portugal, Venezuela, Australia, and Italy – have different rules for enterprises of different size (as recorded in EPLex indicators, which are computed separately for each broad category of enterprises); though all enterprises are covered by EPL provisions
  5. France – there is no general exclusion based on the size of the enterprise. However, the LC provides for exemptions from some procedural requirement for enterprises employing less than 11 workers in particular with respect to sanctions in the event of non compliance with dismissal (procedural and substantive)requirements. See art. L. 1235-5 LC and art. L. 1235-14 LC (on economic dismissal)
  6. United States of America – there is no federal law regulating the termination of employment as such. The United States has an “at will” employment system which allows for the dismissal of workers for any reason, or for no reason at all. With the exceptions of the State of Montana, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the non-metropolitan territory of the US Virgin Islands, there is currently no legislation specifically focused on employment termination. Some of the laws, as reflected in EPLex indicators, are federal anti discrimination laws which operate to provide some measure of protection to employees in regard to termination; they are supplemented in many of the fifty states by similar legislation
  7. There are no exclusions in the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, as amended through April 18, 1990, 29 U.S.C. secs. 151-169; in Occupational Health and Safety Act of 1970, as amended through January 2004, 29 U.S.C. secs. 651-678; or in The Jury System Improvements Act of, Pub. L. 95-572, as amended by Public Law 110-406 of 13 October 2008, 28 U.S.C. sec. 1861 et seq.. Note, however, the following:
  8. • Title VII of the Civil Rights Act: covers only employers having 15 or more employees (42 U.S.C. sec. 2000e(b) [sec. 701]).
  9. • The Age Discrimination in Employment Act: covers only employers having 20 or more employees (29 U.S.C. sec. 630 (b) [sec. 11]).
  10. • The Americans with Disabilities Act: covers only employers having 15 or more employees (42 U.S.C. sec. 12111(5)(A) [sec. 101]).
  11. • The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008: covers only employers having 15 or more employees ([sec. 201]), referring to sec. 701b of the CRA (42 U.S.C.A. § 2000e(b)). The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993: covers only employers having 50 or more employees ([sec. 101]
  12. • The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act: covers only employers with 100 or more employees, not counting employees who have worked less than 6 months in the last 12 months and not counting employees who work an average of less than 20 hours a week (42 U.S.C. sec. 2101).
  13. Moreover, some of these laws also include worker-related exclusions, such as for example worker tenure or accumulated hours of work
  14. Thus, in the US, different workers in enterprises of different size may be covered by different provisions
Back to article page