Browse through brief employment and labor law updates from around the globe.

View all Q4 2017 Global Guide Quarterly updates

New Coalition Agreement: Employment Law, in General

Proposed Bill or Initiative

Author: Merel Goldschmidt, Attorney — Rutgers & Posch

On October 10, 2017, a new coalition agreement entitled “Confidence in the Future” was introduced to modernize the labor market, lower unemployment, make permanent work less permanent and flexible work less flexible, lessen employers’ burdens, provide opportunities for more people to be employed on open-ended contracts, and for independent contractors to have the latitude they need to do business. The measures contained in the agreement are aimed at bringing the labor market into a balance between job security and opportunities.

New Coalition Agreement: Dismissal Law

Proposed Bill or Initiative

Author: Merel Goldschmidt, Attorney — Rutgers & Posch

The recent coalition agreements introduced the ability to terminate an employment relationship based on cumulative grounds. While the Work and Security Act (“WWZ” an acronym for “Wet werk en zekerheid”), which is the Dutch dismissal law, enumerates an exhaustive list of reasonable grounds for dismissal, it requires for terminations to be based on only one ground. The coalition explained that the change is needed because employers sometimes need to terminate due to various problems (e.g., culpable actions combined with unsatisfactory performance and an impaired working relationship) and that the totality of the circumstances should be considered. Under the coalition agreements, an employee dismissed on cumulative grounds may receive extra compensation of up to half the transition pay (in addition to the standard transition pay).

Repeal of Proposal to Standardize Salaries of Top Public and Semi-Public Officials

Proposed Bill or Initiative

Author: Merel Goldschmidt, Attorney — Rutgers & Posch

In the Global Guide Quarterly’s 2017 Second Quarter, we reported on a proposal (known as WNT III) limiting the salary of all employees, and not only of senior officials, working in the public and semi-public sector, to ensure those salaries do not exceed those of government ministers. This proposal has been repealed under the coalition agreement.