News

Implementation rules UWV (Employees Insurance Agency)

At the end of November 2015, two resolutions were published: the ´Decision implementation dismissal rules on grounds of long-term incapacity for work 2015´, and the ´Decision implementation rules dismissal on commercial grounds 2015´. In these resolutions, rules have been included further elaborating the WWZ (Employment and Social Security Act) and the Redundancy policies. Included in these decisions are, for example, the kind of documents that have to be added to make it credible that there will be no question of recovery within 26 weeks of the incapacitated employee. In addition, the data which an employer has to submit to substantiate a commercial necessity for the dismissal are to be included, as is a further explanation of the ´age bracket´ principle and redeployment obligations.

Contracting self-employed or interim persons: the Deregulation employment relationship assessment Act

The Upper Chamber has insisted on postponing the ´Deregulation employment relationship assessment Act´, but it is to be expected that this act will as yet become operational in the course of next year. The minister plans to introduce the act in three stages: the present VAR (Declaration of Independent Contractor Status) remains valid until 1 April 2016; next, implementation of the act takes place from 1 April 2016 until 1 January 2017 (controls, but no sanctions), after which the procedures in accordance with this act will apply without restriction. In short, the implementation of this act means that the Tax Office will develop general standard contracts applicable to a great many situations and sectors. These general standard contracts will provide clarity about the situations in which the employer will not have to pay the national insurance contributions, given that activities do really take place in accordance with the agreement.

Evaluation WWZ (Employment and Social Security Act)

Mr. Asscher (Minister of Social Affairs and Employment), in a letter to the Lower Chamber, has included the first findings on the WWZ. Among others, this letter argues that the UWV (Employees Insurance Agency) is processing more than 90% of the dismissal requests in one round. Thus, not all of the intended targets are met, but the UWV is doing fairly well. On the pro-forma practice, the minister argues that it appears from the parliamentary history that the government is not in favour of this practice and that he expects it to disappear. We share this experience at De Grave De Mönnink Spliet Advocaten. On seriously culpable conduct (tiny loophole), and the fair compensation that in these cases may be awarded to the employee, he notes that judges are dealing with this in a prudent manner. He argues that the fair compensation that has been awarded in a number of cases of serious culpable conduct on the part of the employer varies in height and that this can be explained by the fact that the act does not impose a norm for this compensation and that it can be revised on appeal. This present evaluation will be followed by others, in which the dissolution procedure will be more closely evaluated.