Being dismissed by your employer has grave consequences. Not only do you lose your income, you may also have trouble in finding a new job. The gravity of these consequences increase when you need a job to retain your residence permit. Besides the practical implications of an immediate dismissal, there are also negative legal consequences attached to it. In this blog, we explain what an immediate dismissal is under Dutch Law, what the (possible) legal consequences are thereof, and your options if you are suddenly confronted by such a measure. What is an immediate dismissal under Dutch Law? Immediate dismissal is when one of the parties, usually the employer, finds that there is an urgent reason. The urgent reason entails that you can no longer expect from the employer to continue the employment agreement. Examples of urgent reasons are: stealing from your workplace and using violence against your employer and/or colleagues. Please note that there is no exhaustive list of urgent reasons for an immediate dismissal under Dutch Law. The employer must clearly communicate the urgent reason to the employee forthwith. The dismissal itself must also happen as soon as possible after the employer became aware of the urgent reason. It is important to note that ‘forthwith’ and ‘as soon as possible’ does not mean ‘immediately’ in this context. According to the Dutch case-law, there may be a few days between the discovery of the urgent reason and the dismissal. The same goes for the period between the dismissal and the disclosure of the urgent reason to the employee. As there is no strict term in which the immediate dismissal and the disclosure of the urgent reason must take place, it depends on the circumstances of the case whether or not the immediate dismissal and disclosure of the urgent reason were forthwith. If all the previous mentioned requirements are met, the employer still has to weigh all the circumstances of the case before she can decide to immediately terminate the labor agreement. In conclusion, there are four requirements for an immediate termination: 1. there must be an urgent reason as mentioned in the Dutch Law;
2. the urgent reason must be disclosed to the employee in a clear manner;
3. the dismissal and the disclosure of the urgent reason to the employee must be forthwith; and
4. all circumstances of the case must have been taken into account. What are the legal consequences of an immediate dismissal for the employee? There are several ways in which an immediate dismissal can negatively impact your legal rights as an employee. Firstly, the immediate dismissal means that you are no longer eligible for unemployment benefits. Thus while you are in between jobs, you will not receive income from your employer, nor from the UWV. Secondly, your employer can demand compensation from you. This compensation is usually equal to the salary payment over the notice period that applies to you as an employee. Thirdly, you may lose your right to the so-called transition compensation. This compensation is based on your service years and is meant to compensate you for the period that you are in between jobs.
Losing the right to this compensation is therefore very unwelcome in practice. On the basis of the foregoing, an immediate dismissal has severe legal consequences for an employee besides the non-legal consequences. The follow-up questions are whether you can reverse the immediate dismissal, and if yes, how? What can you do when you are faced with an immediate dismissal? If you do not agree with the immediate dismissal, you have to communicate that to your employer. It is of utmost importance that you explain why you contest the employer’s decision and that you ask your employer to revoke the dismissal. In case your employer is still unwilling to withdraw the immediate dismissal, it is possible to start a court proceedings at the subdistrict court. For these types of cases, you are not obliged to assign a lawyer to represent you. However, it may be difficult to effectively defend your case if you are not (very) familiar with the Dutch Labor Law and the procedural rules. It is therefore highly recommended to contact a lawyer when you are confronted with an immediate dismissal. If you have any questions about immediate dismissal after reading this blog, please feel free to contact our office via telephone number 030 230 0230 or e-mail at: info@amice-advocaten.nl