Termination of the employment agreement

When you have been fired and you wish to contest your dismissal, there are two ways to proceed, depending on the reason of the termination of your contract:
• Dismissal due to economic conditions and dismissal in the event of long-term disability are processed via UWV WERK (UWV)
• In the event of dismissal for personal reasons, such as a conflict at work or improper functioning, the employer must request dissolution of the employment agreement from the district court.

Ending a contract mutually

When both the employee and employer agree to the end of a work contract, a settlement agreement or termination agreement can be agreed upon. A settlement agreement or redundancy package outline the terms of the deal.

In this agreement, the following items must be taken into account:
• The end date of the mutual agreement.
• Severance Pay / transition fee. (click naar pagina)
• The end date of possible clause, like a non-competing or non-soliciting clause, in the original contract or any limitations to acquisitioning property from the company.
• Release from work
• Confidentiality
• (positive) reference
• Final discharge

Unemployment benefits

In order to receive the unemployment benefits from the Dutch Unemployment Insurance act (UWV) after a redundancy package, the employee / Expat, must be involuntarily unemployed. Your unemployment benefits are safe, when a settlement agreement is signed on neutral grounds and when the notice period has been taken into account.

Notice period

Dutch law provides for the following statutory notice periods for the employer:

• fewer than five years of service: one month;
• more than five but fewer than ten years of service: two months;
• ten or more years of service but fewer than 15 years of service: three months;
• 15 of more years of service: four months.

The notice period for the employee is one month. It is possible to conclude a longer notice period for the employee, but to be valid the employer must then observe a notice period that is twice as long, i.e. to agree a notice period of two months, the employer must observe a notice period of four months, regardless of how long the employee has been employed by the company. A collective labour agreement can, if applicable, also contain different rules regarding the notice period.