Age in collective redundancies: a criterion for protection or discrimination? Regarding the National Court ruling of 15 October 2025

Abstract

The paper analyses the treatment of the age criterion in corporate restructuring processes, taking as a reference National Court Ruling 140/2025 of 15 October 2025. The ruling legitimises the exclusion of workers over the age of 55 from the collective dismissal process and expressly incorporates the notion of vulnerability of mature workers. It is particularly significant in that it shifts judicial control from a purely formal verification of business justification to a substantive examination of the actual effects of the redundancy measures. It concludes by highlighting the challenges that this interpretative shift poses for the effective protection of mature workers in workforce restructuring processes.