Termination of employment by reason of redundancy and redundancy selection criteria (elimination of position)

1. Framework
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Seeking to comply with the obligations assumed under the Memorandum of Understanding on Specific Economic Policy Conditionality, signed on 17 May 2011, the Labour Reform executed through&nbsp, Act 23/2012, of 25 July, regarding the elimination of position procedure, replaced the statutory criteria for selection of the position to be made redundant in the event of a plurality of positions with identical functional content, with relevant and non discriminatory criteria to be determined by the employer. As regards the requirements for termination of employment by reason of redundancy, the referred statute released the employer from the obligation of offering the employee an alternative position that is available in the company and compatible with his professional category.
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However, when petitioned to review this regime, the CC issued a generally binding declaration of unconstitutionality on the grounds of breach of the rule against dismissals without good cause, laid down in article 53 of the Portuguese Constitution…