Written by Onur Arslan, employment lawyer at Arslan Advocaten. Registered in the legal practice areas register of the Netherlands Bar for employment law and personal injury. Last updated: 31 August 2026.
Have you been told today that you are being dismissed? Sign nothing today and promise nothing. Have your situation assessed first — that is free of charge and costs you a day, not any rights. Call 070 450 0300 or request an assessment.
Which route to dismissal applies to me?
Which route applies is not determined by how bad the situation feels, but by the reason for the dismissal: business economic reasons and long-term incapacity for work go through UWV, all other grounds through the subdistrict court, and both routes can be replaced by a termination by mutual consent. The route determines your defence, your time limits and your room to negotiate.
Article 7:669(3) of the Dutch Civil Code lists nine reasonable grounds, lettered a to i. Grounds a and b — business economic reasons and long-term incapacity for work — go through UWV (article 7:671a of the Dutch Civil Code); grounds c to i through the subdistrict court, which rescinds at the employer’s request (article 7:671b of the Dutch Civil Code).
| Your situation | Which route in principle applies | Where to read on |
|---|---|---|
| Reorganisation, your job disappears | UWV, ground a | business economic dismissal, below |
| You have been ill for almost two years | UWV, ground b | dismissal and illness |
| You are often ill, not continuously | subdistrict court, ground c | grounds before the subdistrict court |
| Your employer considers that you are not performing well | subdistrict court, ground d | underperformance |
| There is a conflict at work | subdistrict court, ground g | workplace conflict |
| You are presented with a settlement agreement | no proceedings — you arrange it together | settlement agreement |
| You have been sent home with immediate effect | summary dismissal, no review | summary dismissal |
| You are still in your probationary period | no review, notice can be given immediately | dismissal during the probationary period |
| Your fixed-term contract is not being renewed | not a dismissal: it ends by operation of law | a fixed-term contract expiring |
| Your employer is bankrupt | the insolvency trustee gives notice, with a shortened period | dismissal in a bankruptcy |
| You are a statutory director | no preventive review | the statutory director |
| Twenty or more colleagues at once | UWV, plus the collective redundancy notification obligation | collective redundancy |
Two requirements apply in every route. Article 7:669(1) of the Dutch Civil Code provides that the employer can only give notice where there is a reasonable ground for it and redeployment within a reasonable period, whether or not with the help of training, in another suitable position is not possible or is not appropriate. So even a wholly justified ground for dismissal does not stand up if redeployment has not been seriously investigated.
Source: art. 7:669, 7:671a and 7:671b of the Dutch Civil Code (wetten.overheid.nl).
What is business economic dismissal and when is it allowed?
With business economic dismissal your job disappears for reasons that lie with the business and not with you: poor financial results, a reduction in work, a reorganisation, technological change, a relocation of the business or the closure of the enterprise. So your employer does not have to show anything about you, but does have to show everything about their own situation.
Ground a speaks of jobs disappearing as a result of the ending of the enterprise’s activities, or — viewed over a future period of at least 26 weeks — the necessary disappearance of jobs as a result of measures taken for efficient business operations because of business economic circumstances. Your employer must substantiate to UWV: the reason itself, with figures or a reorganisation plan; that the jobs are disappearing structurally; that the right employees have been put forward through the reflection principle; that redeployment is not possible; and that the flexible layer has as a rule been reduced first.
Where your defence stands a chance. UWV reviews the entrepreneurial decision with restraint; "things are not going badly at all" rarely achieves anything. The defence lies elsewhere: has the position really disappeared or only been given a different name, has the reflection principle been correctly applied, and has a suitable position genuinely been sought. That last point is worked out in article 9 of the Dismissal Regulation: what counts are jobs for which a vacancy exists or will arise within the reasonable period in article 10, and where the enterprise belongs to a group, also jobs at other enterprises in that group. A position is suitable where it matches your education, experience and capabilities.
Source: art. 7:669(1) and (3)(a) of the Dutch Civil Code; art. 9 and 10 of the Dismissal Regulation (wetten.overheid.nl).
What is the reflection principle and how does it work?
The reflection principle determines who has to go in a reorganisation: within a group of mutually interchangeable positions the employees are divided over five age groups, and within each age group the employee with the shortest period of service is the first to be considered for dismissal. The aim is that the age structure of the department stays roughly the same. So your employer may not choose for themselves who leaves.
The rule is in article 11 of the Dismissal Regulation: the number of employees considered for dismissal per age group must, as far as possible, correspond to the ratio of the number of employees in each of those groups. The five age groups are 15 to 25, 25 to 35, 35 to 45, 45 to 55, and 55 up to state pension age.
The application takes place per business establishment — not across the whole group — and starts with the question which positions are interchangeable. Article 13 of the Dismissal Regulation calls positions interchangeable where they are comparable in terms of job content, required knowledge, skills and competences and temporary or structural nature, and equivalent in terms of level and pay. That is the most contested point of the procedure. If you hold a unique position, the reflection principle does not apply and your job disappears without comparison. So employers have an interest in presenting a position as unique; whether that is justified depends on the actual content of the work, not on the job title.
By way of illustration. In a reorganisation at a warehouse some jobs disappear. An employee hears that he in particular has been put forward, because his position is called "senior order picker" and would therefore be unique; his colleagues are listed in the system as order pickers. In practice they do the same work, at the same level and for comparable pay. Whether the reflection principle had to be applied here depends not on the job title but on the actual content of the work — and that is precisely what has to appear from the reflection list and the job descriptions. This is an illustrative example of the rule, not a case handled by our firm.
Always ask for the complete reflection list with the reference date, job groups, years of birth and dates of joining. Without that list your nomination cannot be checked — and it is precisely there, and not on the figures, that these applications regularly founder.
Source: art. 11 and 13 of the Dismissal Regulation (wetten.overheid.nl).
How do dismissal proceedings at UWV work?
UWV reviews preventively: your employer has to request permission before giving notice, you are given the opportunity to file a written defence, and only once UWV grants permission may your employer give notice — observing the ordinary notice period. You do not have to sign anything; the procedure is in principle in writing.
The employer files an application with substantiation, you get a short period to file a defence, and the decision follows after that; UWV can ask both parties for a response once more. If permission is granted, the employer gives notice with the applicable notice period — the duration of the procedure may in principle be partly deducted from it, but at least one month must remain. Ask straight away for a copy of all the documents filed: your defence is your most important, and often only, moment, and preferably attacks the implementation and not the necessity.
Is permission refused? Then your employment contract continues, and in practice that is usually the signal for a considerably better termination proposal. Is it granted? Then you can ask the subdistrict court to restore the employment contract, or — where restoration is not appropriate — for fair compensation. Watch the forfeiture periods further on closely.
Source: UWV, application for dismissal on business economic grounds; art. 7:671a and 7:682 of the Dutch Civil Code.
When does a notification obligation apply to collective redundancy?
If your employer wants to end the employment contracts of at least twenty employees in one UWV region within three months, they must notify that intention in writing in advance to the trade unions concerned and to UWV, and consult those unions in good time. That follows from the Collective Redundancy (Notification) Act, and it concerns the number of terminations regardless of route: terminations by mutual consent count too.
Under article 3(2) of that Act the consultation relates at least to the possibilities of preventing or reducing collective redundancies, and to mitigating the consequences through social support measures. In practice the social plan comes out of that, and it almost always offers more than the statutory transition payment — always compare your proposal with it. In addition, a reorganisation decision is in principle subject to consultation of the works council.
There is moreover a waiting period of one month between the notification and the termination. If that has not been observed, or if there was no notification or consultation, you can have the termination set aside under article 7(1) of that Act — or ask for fair compensation (subsection 2).
Source: art. 3 and 7 of the Collective Redundancy (Notification) Act (wetten.overheid.nl).
On what grounds can the subdistrict court rescind my employment contract?
The subdistrict court can rescind on grounds c to i of article 7:669(3) of the Dutch Civil Code — the person-related grounds — and in doing so reviews both whether that ground is fully substantiated and whether redeployment is not possible. A half-substantiated ground is no ground.
| Ground | What it is about | What the employer must in principle show |
|---|---|---|
| c | frequent sickness absence | unacceptable consequences for business operations, not caused by the working conditions |
| d | underperformance | unsuitability, timely notification and a genuine chance to improve |
| e | culpable acts or omissions | conduct such that continuation cannot be required |
| f | serious conscientious objection | that you refuse the work on grounds of conscience and adapted work is not possible |
| g | a disturbed working relationship | a disturbance that makes continuation impossible |
| h | other circumstances | the residual ground: detention, a missing work permit |
| i | the cumulation ground | a combination of two or more of grounds c to h |
The cumulation ground deserves a warning. Ground i is intended for cases in which no single ground is fully made out on its own, but the whole is. It is frequently invoked and far less frequently granted: a pile of unmade-out grounds does not become one made-out ground by itself. Where rescission is on ground i, the court can award an additional payment on top of the transition payment.
What you can do. You file a defence, you can make a counter-application of your own — for example for fair compensation — and you can point to a prohibition on termination: the court may in principle not grant an application where a prohibition on termination applies and the application is connected with it. Unlike at UWV, here there is a hearing, and money can be awarded.
Source: art. 7:669(3) and 7:671b of the Dutch Civil Code (wetten.overheid.nl).
Can I be dismissed for underperformance?
That is possible, but your employer then has to show that you are unsuitable for your position, that they told you so in good time, and that they gave you sufficient opportunity to improve your performance — and it is precisely on that last requirement that most cases founder. The unsuitability must moreover not be the result of insufficient care by the employer for your training or working conditions.
Ground d reads in the statute: "the employee’s unsuitability to perform the agreed work, (…) provided that the employer has notified the employee of this in good time and has given them sufficient opportunity to improve their performance".
Why the improvement process is decisive. Without an improvement process there is as a rule no ground d, however thick the file otherwise is. Courts do not look at whether a document with that title exists, but at whether you were given a genuine and serious chance: a concrete description of what falls short in conduct and results, a measurable goal, sufficient time, active support and training where needed, interim evaluations, and a fair outcome. A process that starts while the termination is already settled is not a process.
That last point is sharper than employers think. The case law accepts that an improvement process can only be dispensed with in the exceptional situation where it is crystal clear that the employee is not open to improvement and a process would be pointless in any event; that an employee defends themselves against their termination does not indicate that. Where the employer has already committed fully to termination, offering a process is water under the bridge and ground d is absent.
By way of illustration. An administrative assistant is told, after years without complaints, that her work falls short. An improvement plan of one page follows with the remark that it "really has to get better in the coming period", without concrete points and without agreed evaluation moments. A month later a termination proposal is on the table. The question is then not whether a document with the words improvement process on it existed, but whether she was given a genuine and serious chance: did she know what exactly had to change, did she get enough time and support for it, and was the outcome already settled before the process began? This is an illustrative example of the rule, not a case handled by our firm.
So respond in writing to every meeting report you disagree with: silence is later read as agreement.
Source: art. 7:669(3)(d) of the Dutch Civil Code; District Court of Overijssel, ECLI:NL:RBOVE:2025:1838 (rechtspraak.nl).
Dismissal because of a workplace conflict: what is a disturbed working relationship?
Ground g requires a disturbed working relationship so serious and lasting that the employer cannot reasonably be required to let the employment contract continue — and it is expressly not required that you are at fault for it. So you can lose your job to a conflict you did not start.
It follows from the case law that the circumstance that the employer can be blamed for the disturbance arising or continuing does not in itself stand in the way of rescission on ground g. The court examines whether the disturbance is genuinely serious and lasting, and whether the employer made sufficient effort to restore the relationship.
Where your position does lie: in that share of the employer’s. Anyone who caused a conflict themselves or let it escalate — through an unjustified suspension, by refusing mediation, through an unmade-out attempt at dismissal on another ground — runs the risk that the court will indeed rescind, but set fair compensation against it for seriously culpable conduct. So an imperfect ground for dismissal can be compensated with money, and with this ground that is often the heart of the case.
In practice: object in writing where you are placed on non-active duty and hold yourself available for work; in principle take up mediation, because refusing is held against you and accepting is not; have a suspension of pay assessed straight away, because that is by no means always allowed; and do not let the conflict escalate with emails you will later see again in a case file.
Source: art. 7:669(3)(g) of the Dutch Civil Code; art. 7:671b(9).
What is my notice period on dismissal?
The employer’s notice period rises with the length of your employment: one month for less than five years, two months for five to ten years, three months for ten to fifteen years and four months for fifteen years or more. Your own notice period is in principle one month, however long you have been employed.
Article 7:672(2) of the Dutch Civil Code names four steps, measured on the day notice is given:
| Length of employment on the day notice is given | Employer’s notice period |
|---|---|
| shorter than five years | one month |
| five years or longer, but shorter than ten years | two months |
| ten years or longer, but shorter than fifteen years | three months |
| fifteen years or longer | four months |
Three things to check. The day against which notice is given: notice is in principle given against the end of the month, unless another day has been designated in writing or by usage (subsection 1) — so notice on 10 March with a period of one month as a rule leads to an end date of 30 April. What your collective agreement or contract says: the statutory period can only be shortened by collective agreement; extending it in writing is allowed (subsection 7). What happens with an end date that is too early: then under subsection 11 your employer owes you a payment equal to the wages over the missing period — a separate entitlement alongside the transition payment, with a short forfeiture period.
With a termination by mutual consent no notice period applies, but UWV does work with the notional notice period in determining the start date of your unemployment benefit. An end date that is too early then costs you one or two months’ income; see the page on the settlement agreement.
Source: art. 7:672 of the Dutch Civil Code (wetten.overheid.nl).
When may my employer not dismiss me?
In a number of situations a prohibition on termination applies: your employer may then not give notice to end the employment contract, and the subdistrict court may in principle not grant an application for rescission connected with it. The prohibitions on termination are in article 7:670 of the Dutch Civil Code and form the core of what is colloquially called "protection against dismissal".
The most important prohibitions concern: illness — the employment contract can in principle not be terminated during the time you are unfit to perform your work because of illness, with a duration limited in the statute and a few exceptions (subsection 1); pregnancy and childbirth, during pregnancy and for a period around maternity leave; military or alternative service; membership of the works council or comparable bodies, where candidate members are often protected too; trade union membership and activities; grounds of discrimination, including race, religion, sex, sexual orientation and taking leave; the transfer of an undertaking itself; and applying for an expert opinion from UWV.
The prohibitions are not absolute. Article 7:670a of the Dutch Civil Code names exceptions: if you refuse without proper grounds to comply with your reintegration obligations, the prohibition on termination during illness does not apply — provided your employer first gave you a written warning — and it does not apply on the closure of the enterprise’s activities either. The prohibitions on termination moreover in principle do not apply to notice during the probationary period, to summary dismissal and to notice with your own written consent.
That last point is the most expensive on this whole page. A prohibition on termination only protects you for as long as you do not give it away yourself. Anyone who consents to a termination during illness or pregnancy gives up that protection. So always have that assessed in advance; with illness it works through into your Sickness Benefits Act, unemployment benefit and WIA position, see dismissal and illness.
Source: art. 7:670 and 7:670a of the Dutch Civil Code (wetten.overheid.nl).
Can I be dismissed if I am ill?
For as long as you are ill the prohibition on termination in article 7:670(1) of the Dutch Civil Code in principle applies, but that prohibition is limited in duration and has exceptions — and after long-term incapacity for work your employer can still request permission through UWV on ground b. So illness makes you better protected, not untouchable.
This subject touches on more than dismissal law alone: on the continued payment of wages during illness, the reintegration obligations, the risk of a wage sanction, the dormant employment, and on what happens to your Sickness Benefits Act, unemployment benefit and WIA position if you consent to a termination. The frequently asked question whether you can resign yourself while you are ill or on sickness benefit belongs there too — the answer is almost always that you should not do so without prior advice, because you can put your benefit at risk.
Read on: dismissal and illness.
I have been dismissed summarily. What now?
Act immediately: object in writing, hold yourself available for work, ask for continued payment of wages, and file an application with the subdistrict court within two months of the end date — after that your power to challenge the dismissal lapses. Summary dismissal is the heaviest instrument in employment law and is reviewed against strict requirements.
The basis is article 7:677 of the Dutch Civil Code: either party is entitled to terminate the employment contract immediately for an urgent cause, communicating that cause to the other party immediately. Three requirements are contained in that, all of which have to be right — an urgent cause, immediate termination, and immediate communication. If one is missing, the dismissal does not stand up. The same article also gives you that power, but resigning summarily yourself is extremely risky: without an urgent cause you risk both your unemployment benefit and damages payable to your employer.
Read on: summary dismissal.
Can I be dismissed during the probationary period, and do I keep my right to unemployment benefit?
During a valid probationary period the employment contract can be terminated by both parties at any time, without a notice period, without permission from UWV or the subdistrict court and without the prohibitions on termination applying — but the probationary period must have been validly agreed, and it more often is not than people think. For your unemployment benefit, a dismissal during the probationary period on the employer’s initiative does not in principle amount to culpable unemployment.
When is a probationary period clause invalid? Article 7:652(6)(a) of the Dutch Civil Code provides that no probationary period can be agreed where the employment contract has been entered into for at most six months; any clause conflicting with that article is void (subsection 8). So a contract of exactly six months with a probationary period clause is a contract without a probationary period — and notice "during the probationary period" is then ordinary notice without permission, which you can challenge. In addition the probationary period must be the same for both parties and have been agreed in writing, and the statute sets maximum periods depending on the contract’s duration.
What this means for your unemployment benefit. Alongside the question whether you have become culpably unemployed, there is the weeks requirement: you worked at least 26 weeks in the last 36 weeks before your unemployment. That requirement is the sticking point with a short period of employment: anyone out on the street after two weeks’ probation who was not working before that will as a rule not meet it. The dismissal is then not the problem — your employment history is.
Source: art. 7:652 of the Dutch Civil Code (wetten.overheid.nl); UWV, "When are you entitled to unemployment benefit?".
Is the non-renewal of a fixed-term contract the same as dismissal?
No: a fixed-term contract in principle ends by operation of law on the agreed date, without notice being given and without UWV or the subdistrict court being involved — but in most cases you do have a right to timely notification and in principle to a transition payment. The difference is legally large and practically small: you have lost your job just as much, but the route to it is a different one.
The notification obligation. If your contract lasts six months or longer, your employer must let you know in writing at the latest one month before it ends by operation of law whether they will continue it, and if so on what terms (article 7:668(1) of the Dutch Civil Code). If they do not do so at all, they owe you a payment equal to one month’s wages; if they notify you late, a pro rata payment for the days they were late (subsection 3). This payment is separate from the transition payment and therefore comes on top of it. Note the short period: the power to claim it before the subdistrict court lapses two months after the day on which the employment contract ended.
The transition payment. Where your contract is not continued on the employer’s initiative, there is in principle a right to a transition payment — including with a short period of employment, because the threshold of two years’ service has lapsed. Your employer almost never pays it of their own accord: you have to ask for it. See transition payment and, if you work through an agency, agency workers.
Source: art. 7:667, 7:668 and 7:686a(4) of the Dutch Civil Code (wetten.overheid.nl).
What happens to my job if my employer goes bankrupt?
In a bankruptcy the insolvency trustee gives notice to end the employment contracts, and they may do so with a shortened period: article 40 of the Bankruptcy Act provides that notice can in any event be given with a period of six weeks. The trustee needs permission from the supervisory judge for that, but not from UWV or the subdistrict court — the preventive review falls away.
What you can expect financially runs through UWV. In a bankruptcy or inability to pay, UWV takes over arrears of wages and related items — including overtime, expense allowances and a thirteenth month — up to at most 13 weeks, and in addition the wages over the notice period up to at most 6 weeks after the date notice was given. If you have no other work after that, an unemployment benefit follows under the ordinary conditions. Holiday allowance and holiday days not taken can also be taken over; what applies in your case depends on the accrual period and on the application.
Source: Dutch government, "How do I get an income if my employer has financial difficulties?"; UWV, benefit because of inability to pay; art. 40 of the Bankruptcy Act.
Apply for that benefit in good time and do not wait until the trustee gets in touch. A restart is moreover no guarantee: where the business is taken over after the bankruptcy, the new owner is in principle not obliged to take on the staff — where the takeover happens before the bankruptcy, your rights in principle do transfer.
Why is the position of a statutory director different?
For a statutory director there is no preventive dismissal review: the general meeting can dismiss them at any time, and their employment contract can be terminated without their written consent — without permission from UWV and without the involvement of the subdistrict court. That is a deliberate choice by the legislature: it is not for the state to judge the trust between a company and its director.
The construction has two layers. In company law terms the statutory director can be dismissed at any time by the general meeting under article 2:244 of the Dutch Civil Code, and that decision takes effect immediately. In employment law terms article 7:671(1)(e) of the Dutch Civil Code provides that their employment contract — unlike that of other employees — can be terminated without written consent. A valid dismissal under company law as a rule also brings the employment to an end, unless a statutory prohibition on termination stands in the way or the parties have agreed otherwise.
What does remain. The notice period applies as normal, the prohibitions on termination in principle do too, the right to a transition payment continues to exist, and where there is seriously culpable conduct fair compensation can be awarded. The statutory cooling-off period on a termination agreement, by contrast, in principle does not apply to a director (article 7:670b(5) of the Dutch Civil Code).
Practical consequence: the fight is almost always fought afterwards, about money. The preparation before the shareholders’ meeting is therefore decisive: the convening notice, the right to be heard and the question whether the decision comes about validly.
Source: art. 2:244 of the Dutch Civil Code; art. 7:671(1) and 7:670b(5) (wetten.overheid.nl).
What is fair compensation and when do I get it?
Fair compensation is an additional payment on top of the transition payment, which the court can award where the end of the employment is the result of seriously culpable acts or omissions by the employer, or where the employer has breached the statutory rules on dismissal. It has no formula and no statutory maximum, but the bar is high and the burden of proof lies with you.
It arises, among other things, where the employer gives notice without the required consent or permission (article 7:681 of the Dutch Civil Code — you can then choose between setting aside the notice and fair compensation); where the court rescinds at the employer’s request and the dismissal is the result of the employer’s seriously culpable conduct (article 7:671b(9)); where you yourself apply for rescission on that ground (article 7:671c(2) of the Dutch Civil Code); and where the notice conflicts with ground a or with the redeployment requirement and restoration is not appropriate (article 7:682 of the Dutch Civil Code).
How the amount is determined. The Supreme Court set out the framework in the New Hairstyle ruling of 30 June 2017, ECLI:NL:HR:2017:1187. It follows from that that what matters is an assessment of all the circumstances of the case, and that the consequences of the dismissal for the employee may play a part in that — even though the compensation is by its nature tied to the blame attaching to the employer. Courts look at, among other things, the expected loss of income, the prospects on the labour market, how long the employment would probably have lasted without the culpable conduct, and the seriousness of the blame.
Source: Supreme Court 30 June 2017, ECLI:NL:HR:2017:1187 (rechtspraak.nl).
What counts in practice as seriously culpable includes — always depending on the circumstances — giving notice without the required permission, a demonstrably constructed file, dismissal in response to a justified complaint, or deliberately making the working relationship unworkable in order to force a rescission. A disturbed relationship or underperformance is expressly not that in itself. See also transition payment.
I have received a dismissal proposal. What should I do now?
Sign nothing, promise nothing, ask for everything in writing and have it assessed within a few days — a deadline of 24 or 48 hours is a negotiating instrument, not a legal reality. For as long as you have signed nothing, your employment contract simply continues, with pay, accrual and full protection against dismissal.
- Say nothing substantive in the meeting itself. "I will take this away and have it looked at legally" is a complete answer.
- Do not consent orally. A termination agreement has to be entered into in writing, so an oral "yes" in principle does not create a valid agreement — but it does colour your file.
- Ask for everything on paper: the proposal, the reason, the end date and your period for responding. Ask straight away for a budget for legal review; that is a customary request.
- Do not report sick and do not resign as a first reaction. Both are hard to undo and affect your benefit.
- Gather your documents: the employment contract, the collective agreement, the job description, appraisal and assessment reports, the correspondence of the last few months and, in a reorganisation, the reorganisation plan and the reflection list.
What the assessment is about is rarely whether the dismissal is "allowed", but: how strong is the route your employer would have to follow if you do not cooperate, what time limits are running, and what is your proposal worth compared with what you would obtain before the court or UWV. Those three determine your negotiating position — and it is almost always stronger than it feels on the day of the meeting. If you are presented with a document, read the checklist on the page settlement agreement.
What does dismissal mean for my unemployment benefit?
For your unemployment benefit what matters is not that you have been dismissed, but whether you have become culpably unemployed — and that depends on the reason for the dismissal and on what is on paper about it. A dismissal on the employer’s initiative for business economic reasons, for underperformance or because of a disturbed relationship does not in principle lead to culpable unemployment. Resigning yourself and a summary dismissal for an urgent cause as a rule do.
In addition UWV sets three requirements that are independent of your reason for dismissal: you worked at least 26 weeks in the last 36 weeks before your unemployment, you worked at least 10 hours a week on average and lose 5 or more of them, and you are immediately available for paid work.
Note the application period — it is shorter than people think. You can apply for unemployment benefit from one week before your first day of unemployment, and at the latest until one week after it. If you have already been unemployed for more than a week when you apply, UWV says you will probably temporarily receive a lower benefit or none at all. So apply around the end date and do not wait until the final settlement of pay has been paid out.
Source: UWV, "When are you entitled to unemployment benefit?" and "Applying for unemployment benefit".
If your employment ends by mutual consent, UWV moreover works with the notional notice period and your benefit can start later than the end date in the agreement. A severance payment is in principle not deducted from your benefit, but for tax purposes it does count towards your income in the year of payment. Both points are worked out on the page settlement agreement.
What can I do if I disagree with my dismissal?
You can put up a defence, but you have to be quick: the law has short forfeiture periods which the court applies of its own motion and which you cannot interrupt with a letter. This is the part where most strong cases are lost — not on the merits, but because there was too long a wait.
| What you want to achieve | Period | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Setting aside the notice, or fair compensation | two months after the end date | art. 7:686a(4)(a) |
| Compensation for irregular notice | two months | art. 7:686a(4)(a) in conjunction with 7:672(11) |
| Restoration of the employment contract after UWV permission | two months | art. 7:686a(4)(a) |
| Notification payment for a non-renewed fixed-term contract | two months | art. 7:686a(4)(a) |
| A transition payment | three months | art. 7:686a(4)(b) |
| Revoking your consent to a notice of termination | fourteen days, or three weeks if you were not informed of that right | art. 7:671(2) and (3) |
| Rescinding a termination agreement within the cooling-off period | fourteen days, or three weeks if it was not stated | art. 7:670b(2) and (3) |
Source: art. 7:671, 7:670b and 7:686a of the Dutch Civil Code (wetten.overheid.nl).
A forfeiture period is something different from a limitation period: it cannot be interrupted, it runs on at weekends and during holidays, and the court has to apply it even where your employer does not rely on it. Once the period has passed, the claim simply no longer exists — however strong your case is on the merits.
What you can do today: object in writing and demonstrably, with the date in it; hold yourself available for work and ask for continued payment of wages; note the end date and add two and three months to it — those are your final dates; and have it assessed within a few days which claim is the strongest in your case.
Mistakes commonly made on dismissal
Most of the damage in a dismissal case does not arise through the employer, but through decisions the employee takes themselves in the first week. Most often seen: signing or consenting orally straight away; resigning out of anger, which as a rule costs you both your unemployment benefit and your transition payment; not responding to meeting reports; not asking for the reflection list; acquiescing in a suspension; refusing mediation; signing during illness or pregnancy; and applying for unemployment benefit too late. The most expensive mistake is letting the forfeiture period expire — the only one that is entirely irreparable.
About this advice
Arslan Advocaten handles employment law cases from offices in The Hague, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Tilburg and Eindhoven. We assess your dismissal situation free of charge: you tell us what is going on, we tell you which route your employer has to follow, how strong their position is, what time limits are running and what there is to be gained. Besides Dutch we speak Turkish and Polish. With a termination proposal the employer, incidentally, often bears the cost of legal assistance in whole or in part — ask about that expressly.
Call 070 450 0300 or send us your question through the contact form. We will let you know where you stand and what the next step is.
This page gives general information and is not legal advice about your own case.