Redundancy, restructuring and reorganization

A reorganization or restructuring often leads to a dismissal for economic reasons. Based on Dutch employment law, such a dismissal has to meet certain criteria. Three in short.

Criteria for dismissal

I. Your employer has to prove a dismissal is necessary for economic reasons. Dependent on the exact ground for dismissal, financial information such as profit and loss accounts and forecasts may need to be provided to demonstrate that there is a need to reorganize.
II. Your employer may not choose which employees are eligible for dismissal. The balance principle (“afspiegelingsbeginsel”) needs to be applied.  Based on this method, employees with interchangeable jobs need to be placed in different age categories. The employee with least years in service in the age group is eligible for dismissal, while maintaining the average age diversity within the interchangeable job groups as good as possible. Additionally, there are several exceptions such as for employees with fixed term contracts, flexible contracts and more.
III. Finally your employer needs to prove that there are no suitable other jobs within the company and the group in which you could be placed.

Talk to an expert

Even if there are certain business economic reasons it is wise to consult an employment law specialist to determine if the compensation offered is sufficient and whether the balance principle is applied correctly.

If a social plan is applicable it is advisable to have this checked by a specialist.

A budget to obtain legal advice is often offered by your employer.