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Cooling-off period:

from 1 July, after concluding a settlement agreement or agreeing to the dismissal, the employee enters a cooling-off period. In this period, s/he can reconsider the agreement. In writing, the employer has to draw the employee´s attention to this cooling-off period. We recommend to preferably include this in the settlement agreement or in the confirmation of the employee´s agreement to the dismissal. In the settlement agreement, this could for example be formulated as follows: “Employer draws the employee´s attention to the right of revoking this settlement agreement within fourteen days after concluding this agreement, in a written statement addressed to the employer”. In this period, the employee can announce, without giving reasons, not to agree to the arrangements, which will hereby be revoked.

Transition allowance:

All employees leaving employment after 1 July, who have been employed for two years or longer have a right to a transition allowance. This also applies to employees whose temporary contract expires after 1 July, and who at that moment have been employed for two years or longer.

Written notification:

at least 1 month before the end of a temporary employment, the employer has to notify the employee whether or not the contract will be continued and, when continued, under what conditions. NB.: the notification allowance is also owed when the contract is continued.

If the employer does not or not timely notify the employee, a financial sanction is then imposed. As of this moment, a judicial sentence has already been pronounced in which the court has issued judgment of payment of this fine, also called a notification allowance, while it was confirmed in this case that the employer had given oral notification and the employee had not contested this. So, do notify in writing, oral notification is not valid. The notification allowance equals the gross hourly wage multiplied by the months of employment. No holiday allowance or year-end allowance applies. In case of untimely notification, a pro rata allowance is owed. The allowance will not be deducted from a possible transition allowance or the employee´s WW (Unemployment Insurance Act)-benefit.

Transitional law chain rule:

the new law applies to any temporary contract concluded before and continuing after 1 July, So, the old chain rule (3 temporary contracts in at most 3 years with no cancellation of the contract being necessary) no longer applies to cases of continuation after 1 July. NB.: if an employment agreement for an indefinite period is concluded after 1 July, then a prior (but already terminated) employment agreement for a specified period counts in the chain if the period between the agreements does not span more than six months and a day.

WW (Unemployment Insurance Act):

hours set-off becomes income set-off. Being employed parallel to a WW-benefit becomes more rewarding after 1 July. The income from employment is no longer deducted per hour worked, but in proportion to the amount earned. Part of the amount earned is not deducted from the WW-benefit. NB.: this change can be of influence on the dismissal arrangements in which the employee´s WW-benefit is supplemented by the former employer to a percentage of the latest earnings received by the employee. Who then deserves the advantage of not reducing the earnings?