CDA breaks redundancy law taboo with draft legislation

The Christian Democrats have come up with their own plans to reform the redundancy laws, despite an agreement in the coalition accord with the VVD Liberals and anti-Islam PVV not to make changes.


The draft legislation, which will be put forward by MP Eddy van Hijum on Wednesday, states that employers who do not take steps to improve their workers’ skills by offering them training, should have to pay more compensation if they sack staff.
This also means employers who make sure their workers’ knowledge is up to date will have to pay less compensation if staff are let go.
Courts
Van Hijum told Trouw he is not breaking the agreement to keep redundancy law off the political agenda because employment tribunals already look at issues such as re-education when assessing the size of redundancy payouts.
‘I just want to formalise what already happens in practice,’ he said.
At the moment, people who lose their jobs through no fault of their own are paid compensation based on the length of service, up to a maximum of €75,000 or one-year’s salary.
Employers
Social affairs minister Henk Kamp has also said he wants to make changes to the current compensation system in order to make it more flexible. Employers have criticised the current government for not tackling golden handshakes, which they say make it too costly and complicated to reduce staffing levels.
However, Geert Wilders’ PVV has said it will not accept any changes to redundancy law. The party has a formal alliance with the minority government.
MPs are due today to discuss Kamp’s measures to stimulate workers to stay on the job until they reach the age of 65.

Thank you for donating to DutchNews.nl.

We could not provide the Dutch News service, and keep it free of charge, without the generous support of our readers. Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter, and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day.

Make a donation