Cassation Chronicle Employment Law 2023

In 2023, the Supreme Court rendered several judgments on matters of employment law. Employment and cassation lawyer Naomi Dempsey discusses the most notable and interesting judgments in her 2023 employment law cassation chronicle (cassatiekroniek arbeidsrecht 2023).

She notes, for example, that in 2023 the Supreme Court:

• did not define any further general rules or principles to distinguish employment agreements from agreements for services and that the ball is still in the legislature's court on that point;
• emphasised that good employment practices concern not only the final result but also how that result is achieved, and that the courts must fully assess how an employer has exercised its discretion to reduce a bonus;
• did not share the Enterprise Chamber's opinion, instead ruling that works councils have a right of prior advice on any proposed resolution to hire in a group of workers, not just when the recruitment of a group of workers is 'unusual';
• resolved the issue of what notice period must be used when calculating the fixed compensation under Article 7:677(2) of the Dutch Civil Code, specifically the one used for the party that gave the other party urgent reasons for summary dismissal;
• ruled that, in assessing whether the notification requirement of Article 7:677(1) of the Dutch Civil Code has been met, it is important to establish how the employee construed the letter setting out the reasons for their summary dismissal. A failure to properly investigate whether any urgent reasons exist does not rule out the possibility that an urgent reason does exist;
• established that the question whether entitlement to time off must be considered holiday leave must be assessed at the time of granting: if the time off is given to offer the employee some rest and relaxation due to their workload, this will qualify as holiday leave within the meaning of Article 7:634 of the Dutch Civil Code.

 

The chronicle is a valuable source of knowledge and insights for anyone dealing with cassation and other aspects of employment law.

Read the article (in Dutch only).