ARTICLE · 02 FEBRUARY 2021

Reassignment Obligation Does Not Require Job Creation

Littler Mendelson

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The COVID-19 crisis appears to have significantly heightened the importance of reassignment investigations.

NetherlandsEmployment and HR

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By Jasper Hoffstedde

Apart from summary dismissal situations,¹ employers in the Netherlands can terminate an employment contract only if (i) they have reasonable grounds for doing so, and (ii) reassigning the employee within a reasonable timeframe is impossible or impractical. In other words, this is a dual requirement. It is therefore up to the employer to offer employees extra training if that would make them suitable for an open vacancy.

Reassignment investigation

The COVID-19 crisis appears to have significantly heightened the importance of reassignment investigations. In particular, the Dutch Employment Insurance Agency (Uitvoeringsinstituut Werknemersverzekeringen, or UWV) seems to have adopted a more critical stance regarding the efforts employers must make to satisfy its reassignment investigation obligations. The dismissal procedure via the UWV is the mandatory route for dismissal where the employment termination is for economic reasons or long-term (>

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