DON’T MISS
IamExpat FairIamExpat Job BoardIamExpat Webinars
Newsletters
EXPAT INFO
CAREER
HOUSING
EDUCATION
LIFESTYLE
EXPAT SERVICES
NEWS & ARTICLES
Home
Career
Dutch news & articles
Employer pays small fortune for 'It's my way or the highway' approach
Never miss a thing!Sign up for our weekly newsletters with important news stories, expat events and special offers.
Keep me updated with exclusive offers from partner companies
By signing up, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with our privacy policy

Godelijn Boonman, an Attorney-at-Law at GMW Advocaten, illustrates your rights and the company's responsibilities around being dismissed in the Netherlands with an interesting case study.



Related Stories

Can your employer enforce a salary cut?Can your employer enforce a salary cut?
Expat contracts & Dutch labour lawExpat contracts & Dutch labour law
Top 10 points in a Dutch employment contractTop 10 points in a Dutch employment contract
Working in the Netherlands: non-compete clauses Working in the Netherlands: non-compete clauses
Sign an annuity agreement by end 2013 at the latest!Sign an annuity agreement by end 2013 at the latest!
A step-by-step guide to cross-border employment from GMW lawyersA step-by-step guide to cross-border employment from GMW lawyers
GMW Lawyers: A guide to Dutch employment contractsGMW Lawyers: A guide to Dutch employment contracts
Get to know your redundancy and residence rights in the NetherlandsGet to know your redundancy and residence rights in the Netherlands
For expats of all colours, shapes and sizes

Explore
Expat infoCareerHousingEducationLifestyleExpat servicesNews & articles
About us
IamExpat MediaAdvertisePost a jobContact usSitemap
More IamExpat
IamExpat Job BoardIamExpat HousingIamExpat FairsWebinarsNewsletters
Privacy
Terms of usePrivacy policyCookiesAvoiding scams

Never miss a thing!Sign up for expat events, news & offers, delivered once a week.
Keep me updated with exclusive offers from partner companies
By signing up, you agree that we may process your information in accordance with our privacy policy


© 2025 IamExpat Media B.V.
© 2025 IamExpat Media B.V.
Contact GMW Advocaten
Godelijn Boonman
Godelijn is partner of GMW Advocaten and is the head of the section employment law and the Legal Expat Desk. She is considered to be the undoubted employment law specialist for the expat/international community because of her extensive expertise and experience in international employment law matters and her international upbringing - she is aware of the ins and outs of the expat liefstyle from her own experience (Africa and England) and she is bilangual.

Godelijn is highly experienced in dealing with both non-contentious and contentious international employment law matters including (collective) redundancy packages and dismissal. She works for both companies and individual employees, enabling her to keep an open mind to both sides of a case.

Because of her expertise, Godelijn is often asked to be the key note speaker at international seminars. She has a keen interest in the international community and has been a member of the advisory board of the Women’s Business Initiative International since its beginning.
Read more

Employer pays small fortune for 'It's my way or the highway' approach

Paid partnership
Feb 25, 2013
Paid partnership

In the unlikely event you are faced with the dissolution of your employment contract because of (alleged) malfunctioning, it is good to know that judges might grant ample compensation when your employer lacks a complete personnel file of malfunctioning and has not given enough opportunity to improve yourself.

Only recently, an employee was granted a compensation of 300.000 euros by the Dutch sub district Court. The fact that the international employer was unfamiliar with Dutch employment law was no excuse.

Background information

The employee started working for the international company in 2008, with business locations in Asia and North-America. In 2011, he was promoted to Human Resources manager. During his first evaluation as manager in January 2012, he was informed by his employer that he did not perform the job effectively.

According to his employer, the employee failed to take (enough) responsibility for his department and he did not respond correctly to criticism. Moreover, the employee engaged in emotional unstable behaviour which did not match the culture of the organisation.

Only five days after this evaluation, the employer suspended the employee, blocked his email-account and requested the sub district Court dissolution of the employment agreement. 

Different management style

The sub district Court was apparently not amused by the employer’s line of actions. In the judge’s opinion, the employee had performed his tasks properly since the beginning of his employment relation. No kind of malfunctioning could be proven sufficiently to the Court.

In addition, the alleged malfunctioning had not been explicitly pointed out to the employee. From the personnel file, it could only be proven that the employee might have had a different management style.

However, another management style does not necessarily result in incapability of performing ones duties, according to the Court!

Performance Improvement Plan

The sub district Court neither agreed with the statements of the employer that a Performance Improvement Plan had been given to the employee. As the lapse of time between the evaluation and the request to the sub district Court to dissolve the employment agreement was only a week, it did not sound very credible that the employer actually gave the employee the opportunity to improve himself.

The employee was not even provided the opportunity to write down his own comments in reply to his evaluation. This way of handling, in combination with the suspension and blocking the email-account of the employee, made the employer acting against what is expected from an employer in the Netherlands.

Having established itself recently in the Netherlands and thus unfamiliarity with Dutch employment law was not a valid excuse for the international employer. According to the Court, due to the current dispute, dissolution of the employment agreement was inevitable. However, the employee was entitled to a compensation of 300.000 euros.

Conclusion

In the Netherlands, it is important for an employer to start writing a Performance Improvement Plan if an employee is performing poorly. Furthermore, it is of great importance that an employer starts monitoring all the efforts undertaken to coach the (malfunctioning) employee

In this case, the employer’s behaviour was clearly unacceptable, according to what is expected from employers in the Netherlands, which resulted in the employee making a small fortune.

Godelijn Boonman is Attorney-at-Law at GMW Advocaten / Legal Expat Desk. For more information, please comment below.

Contact GMW Advocaten
By Godelijn Boonman