Dismissal law & Corona

There are many questions about getting fired in the Corona era. What exactly is it all about?

Leave & Coronavirus

Your employer may not fire you because you have the corona virus. This is because during the illness, there is a ban on termination, and your salary must be paid compulsorily. Therefore, your employer may also not force you to take leave.

This may be different with leave that you had already taken, for example for a vacation: this is arranged differently for each company. This is because it cannot be the case that the whole company suddenly goes on vacation when it is possible again. Leave that you had already taken cannot be withdrawn in this case, otherwise everyone will have too many vacation days left. Check with your employer.

Resignation due to the effects of Corona

You could well lose your job because of the effects of the corona crisis. In fact, many companies are being affected economically; perhaps some tasks are falling away and sales are falling again as a result. However, the rules of dismissal law have not changed. If your employer wants to fire you, he or she must continue to follow the proper procedure.

In principle, you can be fired immediately even if you have just started work, and you are still on probation. Your employer does not have to take a notice period into account. However, the probationary period must meet the legal requirements. A probationary period cannot be agreed upon for temporary contracts of six months or less. It can therefore be important to check whether this has been agreed correctly.

Contract not renewed by Corona. Is this possible?

If you have a fixed-term contract that is about to expire, in principle your employer is free not to renew it. Note! This is not the same as terminating a temporary contract early. This is only allowed with UWV's permission.

Will your contract not be renewed? Then your employer must give notice (in writing) at least 1 month before your contract expires. Has your employer failed to do so? Then he or she must continue to pay your salary for a maximum of 1 additional month.

Dismissal by Corona on permanent contract?

If your employer wants to do this, permission is needed from UWV. This may be the case, for example, if your employer faces a structural reduction in work. He or she can then submit a dismissal request to UWV on the grounds of business economic reasons. It must be demonstrated that this is the case and that redeployment is not possible.

Of course, the government does want to prevent many people from being out of work. That is why a temporary emergency measure has been put in place: the Temporary Emergency Measure for Job Retention Override. This is to protect jobs and incomes as much as possible. Your employer can then receive temporary relief from wage costs (up to 90% of wages). Employers are entitled to this if turnover falls by at least 20% due to the effects of the virus.