Dismissal procedures and protections
Do you have a company in the Netherlands, and do you want to dismiss staff? You must follow a dismissal procedure. In some situations you are not allowed to dismiss an employee, for example in the case of a dismissal ban.
Reason for dismissal
In the Netherlands, you must have a valid reason for dismissing employees. Valid reasons are, for example, refusal to perform work, culpable conduct, excessive sickness absence, reorganisation, or company closure.
Employee agrees with dismissal
If your employee agrees with the dismissal, there are 2 options you can follow:
- Dismissal by mutual consent: you and your employee mutually agree to end the employment contract. You have to record the terms of the dismissal in a written settlement agreement (termination agreement). You do not have to pay a transition payment, but you do need to reach a final settlement, for instance on unused vacation days. An agreement on dismissal compensation or severance pay is an option. You must take into account the notice period.
- Termination with employee’s consent: you decide to end the employment contract and your employee agrees with this in writing. You must pay your employee a transition payment, and you must take the notice period into account.
For dismissal by mutual consent and termination with employee’s consent you do not need approval by the Employee Insurance Agency (Uitvoeringsinstituut Werknemersverzekeringen, UWV) or the sub-district court.
Employee reconsideration period
Your employee has 14 days to reconsider the dismissal. During this period, they can revoke their consent without giving a reason. You must clearly state this reconsideration period in your termination agreement. If you fail to do so, the reconsideration period will be automatically extended to 21 days.
Employee does not agree with dismissal
If your employee does not agree with the dismissal, you need the approval of the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) or the sub-district court. The grounds for dismissal determine which of these 2 you need to ask for permission. If you dismiss an employee without approval, the dismissal is not legally valid. The employee can then ask the sub-district court to undo the dismissal. The employment contract will continue to exist and you must continue to pay wages to your employee.
Permission for dismissal from the Employee Insurance Agency
You must request permission from the Employee Insurance Agency if the dismissal is:
- for economic reasons, such as bankruptcy or restructuring. You must submit a redundancy request for economic reasons
- due to an employee's long-term incapacity to work. You must submit a dismissal request because of an occupational disability
If you request a dismissal for economic reasons, you must prove they are genuine economic reasons. You must also prove that the employee was selected fairly, and that you did your best to find a suitable alternative role for them. If a job with similar duties becomes available within 26 weeks, you must first offer it to this employee.
Without UWV’s permission you cannot dismiss your employee. If you disagree with UWV’s decision, you cannot file an objection with them. You will have to turn to the sub-district court to start proceedings for termination of the employment contract.
Your collective labour agreement (CAO) may provide for a (sector) dismissal committee that is independent and unbiased. If so, this committee will evaluate a dismissal for economic reasons rather than the Employee Insurance Agency.
Permission from the sub-district court
You have to submit a request for dismissal to the sub-district court if there are other reasons for dismissal, such as unsatisfactory performance or conflict. You send a request for the termination of the employment contract (verzoek tot ontbinding van de arbeidsovereenkomst, in Dutch) to the district judge and to the employee or their representative. The court will check if all the relevant legal criteria for dismissal have been met, and submit a verdict. Do you disagree with the sub-district court regarding a dismissal? Then you can appeal against the decision within 3 months.
Are there several reasons why an employee does not perform well and therefore you want to dismiss the employee? And are these reasons separately not sufficient ground for dismissal? You can combine these reasons and ask the sub-district for dismissal on cumulative grounds (in Dutch). The court may tell you to pay your employee an extra sum on top of the transition payment (at most 50% of the transition payment).
Consent or permission not needed for dismissal
In some cases, you can dismiss an employee without approval for dismissal, even when they do not consent to the dismissal. This is the case when the employee:
- has reached the state pension age (AOW-leeftijd)
- falls into a category where no permission for dismissal is required, for example, specific categories of domestic workers
- is dismissed due to bankruptcy
- is still in the probationary period
Notice period
As an employer, you must take the notice period into account. Dismissal procedures take time to go through UWV or sub-district court. You may subtract some of this time from the notice period. However, a notice period of at least a 1 month must be observed.
Dismissal of multiple employees (collective redundancy)
Do you want to dismiss more than 20 employees for economic reasons within a 3-month period and within 1 geographical work area? This is called collective redundancy. You have to report a collective redundancy to the UWV.
Dismissal or redundancy ban
You are not allowed to dismiss employees in certain circumstances due to a dismissal or redundancy ban (opzegverbod). This ban protects employees from dismissal who, for instance:
- are ill, for the first 2 years of their illness. You are also allowed to dismiss an employee after 2 years of long-term illness
- are pregnant and in their maternity leave, as well as in the first 6 weeks after they return
- have requested parental or compassionate leave
- are member of or candidate for your works council, or another representative or health and safety committee within your business
- are member of or are active in trade unions
- are a health and safety professional or a Data Protection Officer who you want to prevent from doing their work
The dismissal or redundancy ban does not apply to employees in their probationary period, or when you are facing bankruptcy.