A Dutch employer cannot dismiss anyone without either a permit from UWV, a court order, or the employee’s signature on a settlement - and which of the three applies is decided by the reason, not by the employer’s preference.
This guide covers the grounds and the two approval routes, how redundancy selection actually works, the collective-redundancy threshold, settlement agreements and the fourteen-day withdrawal right, notice, and what the transition payment comes to.
Grounds And Who Approves Them
Article 7:669 of the Civil Code lists the grounds for dismissal, and an employer must fit the case into one of them before anything else happens.
Economic grounds - redundancy for financial reasons, restructuring, closure, relocation - and dismissal after two years of incapacity go to UWV for a permit.
Personal grounds - sustained underperformance, culpable conduct, a working relationship that has irretrievably broken down, a conscientious objection - go to the kantonrechter, the subdistrict court, which is asked to dissolve the contract.
The split matters because the routes behave differently: UWV assesses documents against a fixed test and issues a permit, while a judge weighs the case and can dissolve on the cumulative ground while awarding the employee extra compensation for the untidiness of it.
Underperformance is the ground that fails most often, and it fails for the same reason each time: no documented improvement plan, no real support offered, no reasonable time given to improve.
Some employees cannot be dismissed on economic grounds at all - those on sick leave, pregnant employees and those on maternity leave, and works council members.
Ontslag op staande voet, summary dismissal, is the only route that bypasses both UWV and the court, and it is reserved for urgent causes such as theft, fraud or violence.
It must be given immediately on discovering the facts and the reason stated at the moment of dismissal, and hesitation or a shifting explanation is usually fatal to it.
How Redundancy Selection Works
An employer facing job cuts does not choose who goes.
The afspiegelingsbeginsel applies within each category of interchangeable roles: employees are sorted into age brackets - 15 to 25, 25 to 35, 35 to 45, 45 to 55, and 55 and over - and the redundancies are spread across those brackets in proportion to their size.
Within each bracket, the shortest-serving employee goes first.
The rule replaced straight last-in-first-out precisely so that cuts would not fall disproportionately on the young, and it is the reason a long-serving employee in a crowded bracket can be selected ahead of a newer colleague in a thin one.
It does not apply where an entire department closes or where a role is genuinely unique, because there is then no category to spread across.
Agency workers, secondees and self-employed contractors doing interchangeable work must be released before employees in the same category - an employer cannot make staff redundant while keeping flexible labour on the same work.
Before applying to UWV, the employer must show it has looked for suitable redeployment elsewhere in the company or group, including roles the employee could fill after reasonable retraining.
Where 20 or more employees in one UWV region are to be dismissed within three months, the Wet Melding Collectief Ontslag adds a layer: notification to UWV and to the trade unions, and consultation with them before any decision is implemented.
A one-month waiting period runs from that notification, and it often produces a social plan with better terms than the statutory minimum.
Settlement, Notice And Compensation
Most Dutch dismissals never reach UWV or a court, because both sides sign a vaststellingsovereenkomst instead.
The agreement fixes the end date, the payment, the handling of holiday balance and any non-compete or confidentiality terms, and - critically for the employee - how the ending is characterised.
Wording that suggests the employee resigned or was culpable can cost them WW unemployment benefit entirely, which is why the phrase “at the employer’s initiative, no culpable conduct” is worth more than a small increase in the payment.
The employee has fourteen days from signing to withdraw in writing, with no reason required and no penalty.
The employer must set that right out in the agreement; if it is omitted, the period becomes three weeks.
A settlement should observe the notice period that would otherwise apply, because ending sooner creates a benefit gap the employee funds themselves.
Statutory notice from the employer scales with service: one month under five years, two months under ten, three months under fifteen, four months at fifteen years or more.
Where UWV grants a permit, the time the procedure took may be deducted from the notice period, but at least one month must always remain.
The transitievergoeding is due from the first day of employment in every employer-initiated termination, at one-third of a gross monthly salary per year of service, pro rata for part years.
Gross monthly salary for this purpose includes holiday allowance and structural components such as a fixed thirteenth month, so the figure is higher than base pay alone suggests.
It is not payable where the employee resigns without the employer being seriously at fault, or where the dismissal is for culpable conduct.
A judge can add a billijke vergoeding on top where the employer is seriously culpable - a manufactured redundancy, a dismissal in retaliation for a complaint - and that award has no statutory ceiling.
Challenging A Dismissal
The deadlines are short and they are hard.
An application to annul a summary dismissal, or to claim fair compensation, must be filed with the subdistrict court within two months of the contract ending.
A claim for an unpaid transition payment has three months.
Miss either and the claim is gone regardless of its merits, which is the single most common way a strong case is lost.
If you have been summarily dismissed, object in writing immediately, state that you remain available for work, and get advice the same week rather than waiting to see whether the employer reconsiders.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can my employer simply fire me?
No - a statutory ground is required, plus a UWV permit for redundancy and long-term incapacity or a court order for personal grounds.
The exception is summary dismissal for an urgent cause, which must be given immediately and is frequently overturned.
How is redundancy selection decided?
By the afspiegelingsbeginsel: employees in interchangeable roles are grouped into five age brackets and cuts are spread proportionally, with the shortest-serving person in each bracket going first.
How much severance will I get?
One-third of a gross monthly salary for every year of service, from day one, pro rata for part years.
Holiday allowance and a structural thirteenth month count towards the monthly figure.
Can I change my mind after signing a settlement?
Yes, within fourteen days of signing, in writing, without giving a reason.
If the agreement failed to mention that right, you have three weeks.
What is the deadline to challenge a dismissal?
Two months from the end of the contract to ask the court to annul a dismissal or award fair compensation, and three months to claim an unpaid transition payment.
Will a settlement affect my unemployment benefit?
It can, and the wording is what decides it.
The agreement must show the termination was at the employer’s initiative and not attributable to culpable conduct on your part, and it should respect the notice period that would otherwise have applied.
