In 2015, the introduction of the Work and Security Act brought about a lot of changes to Dutch employment law. Since the introduction of this Act, employers and employees often have to decide quickly whether to take a dispute to court. If this decision is not made timely, their chances are likely to be lost.
An employee who does not agree with his dismissal with immediate effect must, for instance, request the court to declare his dismissal void within two months after the day on which his employment contract has ended. A request for payment of the transition compensation must be submitted within three months after the employment contract has ended.
There are also strict periods for the employer. For instance, the employer must actually terminate the employment contract within four weeks after having received permission by the UWV. If the UWV denies the application for dismissal, the employer will be granted a period of two months to request the subdistrict court to dissolve the employment contract as yet.
These periods are expiry periods. This means, it is not possible to interrupt these periods by, for instance, writing a letter in which you invoke your rights. If you submit your application or terminate the employment contract too late, your rights will lapse. Recent case law has shown that judges apply expiry periods strictly, too late means too late. Even an application that was submitted just one second late was considered to be too late (the fax was received precisely at 00:00 h by the court, whereas it should have been received before 24:00 h.).
More information
This newsletter provides a brief insight into Dutch employment law and the potential consequences for your Embassy. But the Embassy desk of our firm also focuses on:
- Labour law
- Rent law / Real estate
- Investment / Doing business in the Netherlands
- Matrimonial issues
- Immunity issues
Jan Dop,
Head of Embassy Desk
embassydesk@russell.nl