Informing us of a collective redundancy

• You will be making 20 or more employees redundant within a period of 3 months.
• You have genuine business reasons for proposing the redundancies. 
• Your employees, who are facing redundancy, all work in 1 of the regions of the Collective Redundancy (Notification) Act (‘WMCO-gebied’).

To inform us of a collective redundancy,  complete the Notification form for collective redundancy proposals (‘Melding voornemen tot collectief ontslag’). You will need to log in to the employer portal with your EH3 level eHerkenning account to do this.

Keep in mind that starting a collective redundancy process involves significant preparation and paperwork. We therefore recommend contacting our Employment law department (‘Arbeidsjuridische Dienstverlening’) for guidance before beginning this process.

Make sure you do the following when completing the form:

• specify the reasons for the redundancies
• report how many employees are facing redundancy and categorise them according to age, role and gender
• specify how many employees normally work within your organisation 
• provide the agreed end date for the employees facing redundancy
• specify the criteria used to select the employees for redundancy
• provide the calculations for the severance package (‘afvloeiingsregeling’) if applicable
• describe the process that will be used to end your employees’ contracts

Please also let us know whether your organisation has a works council and if you consulted them during this process.

To properly assess your collective redundancy proposal, we need to be informed of the following types of redundancies/dismissals:

• dismissals/redundancies agreed upon by mutual consent or with your employee’s consent
• dismissals/redundancies approved by us
• dismissals/redundancies approved by your redundancy committee (through your collective agreement)
• dismissals/redundancies approved by a district judge (‘kantonrechter’)

It is important to follow the correct procedures when initiating a collective redundancy. Make sure you therefore do the following:

• Inform both us and the trade unions of your plan to start a collective redundancy process.
• Invite the trade unions to a meeting to discuss the proposed redundancies and your plans. If the trade unions do not respond to the invitation within the required timeframe, you will not need to consult with them any further.
• Discuss the proposed redundancies with your works council if your organisation has one.

We will confirm we have received your form within 1 week of you sending it. You will then have to wait 1 month before any of the following steps can be taken:

• the employment contracts can be terminated
• the settlement agreement (‘vaststellingsovereenkomst’) can be signed
• the contracts can be terminated in court by a district judge (‘kantonrechter’)

Please note: You will not have to wait to do any of these things if the trade unions agree to the collective redundancy proposal in writing.