How summary dismissal differs from the other termination routes
Dutch dismissal law is a closed system. An employer that wants to end a permanent contract has a limited number of routes, and summary dismissal is the only one that does not involve either your agreement or a prior test by an outside body.Under the ordinary route the employer needs permission before it can give notice. Redundancy for business economic reasons and dismissal after two years of incapacity for work go to the UWV, which grants or refuses a dismissal permit; dismissal for reasons connected to the individual, such as demonstrated underperformance, a disturbed working relationship or a combination of grounds, goes to the sub-district court, which dissolves the contract or refuses to. Both routes take time, both require the notice period to be observed afterwards, and both trigger the statutory transition payment. Where the court dissolves on the cumulative ground it can award up to half the transition payment again on top.The consensual routes are quicker. In a termination with your consent the employer gives notice and you agree in writing; the notice period applies and the transition payment is due, because the employer is the party terminating. In a settlement agreement the contract ends by mutual consent; there is no statutory duty to pay a transition payment, so any severance is a matter of negotiation, and the notice period is normally respected on paper so that your benefit position is not damaged. Both consensual routes carry a statutory right to change your mind, discussed further below.Summary dismissal sits outside all of this. It takes effect the moment it is given, the wage stops the same day, no permit is needed and no notice period is observed. That is precisely why the conditions are strict and why the burden of proving them rests entirely on the employer. If you are dismissed with immediate effect, the practical consequence is that you carry the risk of income loss while the legality is being tested, which is why speed matters more here than in any other dismissal situation.The three-part test the court applies
A summary dismissal is valid only if all three requirements are met at the same time. The employer must prove each of them, and a defect in one is enough to bring the dismissal down even where the underlying conduct actually occurred.An urgent reason
Article 7:678 of the Civil Code defines an urgent reason as acts, characteristics or conduct of the employee that mean the employer cannot reasonably be required to allow the employment to continue. The article lists examples, including theft, embezzlement, serious insult or assault, gross neglect of duties, and persistent refusal to comply with reasonable instructions, but the list is not exhaustive and appearing on it does not make a dismissal automatically valid.What decides the case is the weighing exercise. The court looks at the nature and seriousness of the conduct, at the nature and duration of the employment relationship, at how you have performed over the years, and at your personal circumstances, including your age and the consequences the dismissal will have for you. A first incident after fifteen years of unblemished service is not judged in the same way as the same incident in the third month. The court also asks whether a milder measure would have sufficed: a formal warning, a suspension, or a request to the sub-district court to dissolve the contract. Employers who never consider that question tend to lose on it.Company rules matter here in a specific way. Where an employer has a clear policy that states that certain conduct leads to immediate dismissal, that the policy is applied consistently, and that you were demonstrably aware of it, the threshold is easier to meet. Where the rule exists on paper but similar conduct by others went unpunished, the employer has a problem.Given without delay
The dismissal must follow the discovery of the urgent reason without delay. That does not mean within the hour. An employer is allowed a short period to establish the facts, to hear you and to take internal or legal advice, and where the investigation is genuinely necessary and pursued with speed the courts accept it. What is not accepted is drift: a week of silence after the facts are known, a decision postponed until after a holiday, or a suspension that runs on without anything happening. The reasoning is simple. If the employer could tolerate the situation for weeks, the situation was evidently not so urgent that the contract could not continue for one more day.The requirement bites twice. It applies to the discovery of the facts and it applies to the giving of the dismissal itself, and both moments have to be documented. This is why the timeline is the single most valuable document you can produce.Communicated immediately and precisely
The reason must be stated to you at the moment of dismissal, and it must be stated precisely enough that you know immediately what you are accused of and can decide whether to accept it or contest it. In practice this is confirmed in a dismissal letter sent the same day. The reason communicated then fixes the case: the employer cannot add new grounds later, and it cannot rely on a formulation that reserves the right to supplement the reasons. Vague wording such as a general reference to a breach of trust, without the underlying facts, regularly proves fatal on its own.Ask for the written reason on the day it happens, and keep whatever you are given. If the employer refuses to put it in writing, record in your own written protest what you were told and when.Which reasons hold up and which usually do not
There is no fixed list of conduct that always justifies immediate dismissal. What the case law shows is a pattern: reasons that are serious, provable and recent tend to hold, and reasons that are cumulative, disputed or stale tend to fail.Dismissals are most often upheld where the employee took money or goods belonging to the employer, a colleague or a customer, however small the amount, because the breach of trust rather than the value is the point; where there was violence or a credible threat of violence at work; where safety rules were deliberately ignored in a way that put others at risk; where confidential information or trade secrets were passed on, which frequently overlaps with a contractual confidentiality clause carrying its own penalty; where the employee persistently refused to carry out reasonable instructions after being warned; and where the employee falsified records, hours or expense claims.Dismissals usually fail where the complaint is really about performance. Underperformance calls for a documented improvement process and, if that does not work, an application to the sub-district court; it is not an urgent reason, and using instant dismissal for it is the clearest example of the wrong termination route. They also fail where the employer assembles a collection of minor breaches that were never the subject of a warning, where the facts are genuinely in dispute and the employer never heard the employee’s version, where the alleged incident is weeks or months old, and where the real ground is economic or a long absence through illness, both of which are reserved to the UWV.A single incident of unacceptable conduct that is out of character, in a long and otherwise clean employment record, occupies the grey zone. It may well justify a warning, a suspension or even dissolution of the contract by the court, and still not justify ending the contract on the spot without pay. That distinction, between conduct that is unacceptable and conduct that is so unacceptable that the contract cannot last another day, is where most of these cases are actually decided.What to do in the first hours
The first hours decide how strong your position is later, and almost everything that helps you costs nothing.Do not sign anything. Employers frequently present a termination by mutual consent, a receipt for company property or a statement of the facts at the moment of dismissal. Signing can convert a contestable summary dismissal into an agreed termination and can damage your benefit position. Say that you want to read it first, and ask for a copy of anything you are shown.Ask for the reason in writing, with the date and the time of the dismissal, and protest in writing the same day or the next. The protest does not have to be long. State that you dispute the dismissal, that you invoke its invalidity, that you remain available to perform your work, and that you claim continued payment of wages. Send it by email and keep the sent copy. Contrary to what many employees assume, that letter is not a formality: it fixes your position, it shows you did not acquiesce, and it is the first document a court will read.Write down the timeline while it is fresh: when the alleged incident happened, when the employer must have learned of it, who was present, when you were called in, what was said and by whom, and when the dismissal was given. Secure the evidence you legitimately have, which means saving emails, messages, rosters, appraisals and payslips that are already yours, and noting the names of witnesses. Do not take confidential company data that is unrelated to your case; doing so can hand the employer a second urgent reason.Then deal with your income. Wages stop immediately, and unemployment benefit is normally refused after a summary dismissal, so apply to the UWV anyway and take legal advice quickly. The two-month period for going to court runs from the date of dismissal, and it is the one deadline in this area that cannot be repaired.The two-month deadline and what you can ask the court
You have two months from the day of the summary dismissal to lodge an application with the sub-district court. The period is a forfeiture period: it does not stop while you negotiate, it is not extended because the employer promised to reconsider, and once it has expired the dismissal stands however defective it was. File first and negotiate afterwards; nothing about lodging the application prevents a settlement, and in practice a pending case makes a reasonable settlement considerably more likely.The application is made to the sub-district court of the place where you normally work or where you live. It sets out the facts, the timeline and the evidence, and it asks the court to test the dismissal against the statutory requirements. You have a choice between two outcomes, and it is a real choice.The first is annulment. If the court annuls the dismissal, the contract never ended: the employment continues, and the employer owes wages from the date of the dismissal onwards, with the statutory increase for late payment where appropriate. Annulment is the right request where you want the job back, or where you want the wage claim to keep running while the parties look for a solution.The second is compensation instead of annulment. Where returning is not realistic, you can accept that the contract has ended and ask the court for a fair compensation, together with compensation for the notice period the employer did not observe, calculated on the wage you would have earned during that period. In the same application you can claim the transition payment and the outstanding items of the final settlement.Whichever you choose, ask in the alternative. An application that asks for annulment and, if that is refused, for compensation, keeps both routes open and costs nothing extra. Bring the employment contract, the collective agreement if one applies, the dismissal letter, your written protest, the timeline, recent payslips and the evidence you have gathered; the strength of the file usually matters more than the length of the argument.Wages, the final settlement and the transition payment
Whatever happens to the dismissal itself, everything you had already earned up to the moment it was given remains due. A correct final settlement covers the gross salary up to the date and time of termination, the payment of accrued but untaken statutory and contractual holidays, the accrued holiday allowance including the allowance over the paid-out leave, and any bonus, commission, allowance or expense reimbursement you had already earned. Ask for it in writing and itemised, and check the leave balance against your own records; errors in these calculations are common and are easier to correct before the parties fall out entirely.The transition payment is a separate question and the position is more nuanced than employers tend to present it. As a rule the payment is due whenever the employer terminates the contract or does not renew it, and it accrues from the first day of employment, so even a short contract generates an entitlement. The exception is that no transition payment is due where the ending of the contract is the result of seriously culpable conduct on the employee’s part. An urgent reason and seriously culpable conduct are not the same test, although in practice they often overlap, and the court can still award the payment in whole or in part where withholding it would be unreasonable. A dismissal that is upheld therefore does not automatically extinguish the entitlement, and it is worth claiming in the alternative.The maximum amount of the transition payment is adjusted annually by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment and published in the Staatscourant, so check the figure that applies in the year the contract ends rather than relying on an older article. One further point catches people out: if your employer is declared bankrupt, there is no claim to a transition payment against the estate, and the UWV wage guarantee scheme does not cover it.Unemployment benefit after a summary dismissal
A valid summary dismissal normally means no unemployment benefit. The Unemployment Insurance Act refuses benefit where the unemployment is culpable, and conduct that amounts to an urgent reason for immediate dismissal is the textbook case. The UWV assesses this itself, on the file, and it does not simply follow the employer’s letter.Two things follow. First, apply anyway, and apply promptly. The UWV decides on eligibility, and an application that is never made cannot be reconsidered later. Explain in the application that you dispute the dismissal, that you have protested in writing and that proceedings are pending or in preparation. Second, keep the legal route open, because the benefit position follows the legal position. If the court annuls the dismissal, the ground for refusal disappears. If the parties settle and record the ending of the contract on a neutral basis, without an urgent reason and observing the notice period, benefit normally becomes available. The wording of a settlement agreement is therefore not a drafting detail; it decides whether you have an income after the last working day.While you are receiving benefit, the ordinary obligations apply: remain available for work, apply for jobs and report your applications, report any income from work, and notify changes on time. You may work alongside the benefit, with earnings set off against it under the statutory formula. If you want to look for work in another EU or EEA member state, you can in some circumstances take the benefit with you for a limited period using a PD U2 document, provided the UWV gives permission in advance and you register with the employment service in the other country within seven days of leaving.If you have already signed something
Employers regularly follow an instant dismissal with a document to sign, either a termination with consent or a settlement agreement. Signing changes the legal character of the ending, and with it the notice period, the transition payment and your benefit position.Dutch law gives you a way back. After signing a settlement agreement you may revoke your consent in writing within fourteen days, without giving any reason. If the agreement does not mention that right, the period is twenty-one days. The same applies to a written consent to the employer’s notice. Send the revocation in writing, keep proof of dispatch, and do it well before the deadline rather than on the last day. The right can be used only once in a six-month period for the same agreement, so use it deliberately.Before signing anything, check the last working day and whether the notice period has been observed, the amount and the basis of the severance, the treatment of accrued leave and holiday allowance, the wording about the reason for the ending, any post-contractual restrictions such as non-competition and confidentiality clauses, and whether the agreement contains a full and final settlement of all claims. If you have already signed and are within the reconsideration period, take advice immediately: withdrawing consent puts the original summary dismissal back on the table, which is sometimes exactly what you want and sometimes not.Probation, fixed-term contracts and agency work
The three-part test applies to every employment contract, but the surrounding rules differ.The probationary period
During a valid probationary period either party may terminate with immediate effect and without a reason, which makes summary dismissal largely unnecessary. The probationary period is only valid if it is agreed in writing, is the same length for both parties, and stays within the statutory maxima: no probationary period at all in a fixed-term contract of six months or less, at most one month in a fixed-term contract of six months or more but shorter than two years, and at most two months in a contract of two years or more or for an indefinite period. A probationary period that exceeds the maximum is void in its entirety, which means the dismissal based on it fails as well.The power is not unlimited. Termination for a discriminatory reason, or in a way that abuses the power, remains unlawful, and if you ask for the reason in writing the employer must give it. If you are dismissed during probation, note the exact date, check the contract for the length and the validity of the clause, and ask for the reason in writing.Fixed-term contracts
A fixed-term contract ends by operation of law on the agreed end date. Where the contract was entered into for six months or more, the employer must inform you in writing at least one month before the end date whether it will be renewed and on what terms; failure to do so gives you a claim to compensation of up to one month’s salary, calculated pro rata for a late notice.Ending a fixed-term contract early is only possible if the contract contains an interim termination clause; the clause must be in writing and must exist in both parties’ contracts. Where it does, the ordinary routes apply, so the employer still needs a UWV permit or a court dissolution. Without such a clause, an employer who wants out before the end date has to ask the court to dissolve and can face a claim for the remaining salary. Summary dismissal, however, is possible in a fixed-term contract on exactly the same conditions as in a permanent one, and if it fails the employer may owe the wages for the remainder of the term. The interaction with a condition subsequent in the contract is a separate question and depends on whether the condition is objectively determinable.Agency work
In agency work the contract is with the agency, not with the hirer, and the hirer sending you away is not a dismissal. Whether your contract ends with the assignment depends on the agency clause. During the first twenty-six weeks of work, a period that a collective agreement can extend, the contract may contain a clause under which it ends when the hirer’s assignment ends. Once the clause no longer applies, or where it was never agreed, the contract runs on and can only be ended through the ordinary routes. Collective agreements in the sector add further protection, including a notice period towards the worker once the placement has lasted a certain time, and rules on pay during sickness.The sector is also being brought under a licensing regime. Under the Act on admission of providers of labour, agencies and other providers must register with the admission body from 1 November 2026 to 31 December 2026; the Act enters into force on 1 January 2027 and enforcement follows from 1 January 2028. If your contract ends while you are ill, you may be entitled to sickness benefit under the Ziektewet through the UWV.Illness, pregnancy and the statutory prohibitions on notice
Dutch law protects employees against termination in a number of defined situations. The most important are the first two years of incapacity for work, pregnancy and maternity leave and the six weeks after returning from it, membership of the works council, and trade union activity. There are further prohibitions connected to discrimination and to the transfer of an undertaking.There is a point here that is regularly misunderstood, and it matters. Article 7:670a of the Civil Code provides that these prohibitions do not apply where the termination is a summary dismissal for an urgent reason. Being ill or pregnant therefore does not, by itself, make an instant dismissal invalid. What it does is change the weighing exercise: the court will look critically at whether the conduct was connected to the illness, at whether the employer used the urgent reason as a route around a prohibition it could not otherwise overcome, and at the consequences of the dismissal for someone in that position. An employer that dismisses an employee who is ill on a thin urgent reason, shortly after a reintegration dispute, will find the court reading the file with that in mind.Where illness itself is the real ground, the position is straightforward: it cannot be used to terminate during the first two years, and after two years of incapacity dismissal is possible only with a UWV permit. Redundancy for business economic reasons goes the same way. Neither is an urgent reason, and neither can be dealt with by dismissal on the spot.Reporting wrongdoing or unsafe working conditions is protected as well. Raising a health and safety concern, refusing work that is genuinely unsafe, or reporting to the Netherlands Labour Authority cannot lawfully be the reason for ending your contract, and the protection for reporting persons under the Whistleblowers Protection Act prohibits any detriment as a consequence of a report, with the burden of proof reversed in the employee’s favour.Where employers go wrong
Most successful challenges do not turn on whether something happened. They turn on how the employer handled it. The recurring failures are a delay between discovery and dismissal that the employer cannot explain; a reason stated so generally that the employee cannot tell what the accusation is; a letter that reserves the right to add further grounds later; a decision taken without hearing the employee, or on the basis of an allegation that was never investigated; a collection of minor matters that were never the subject of a warning presented together as an urgent reason; the use of instant dismissal for a ground that belongs to the UWV or to the court; a failure to weigh the length of service, the previous record and the personal consequences; and inconsistency, where comparable conduct by others was dealt with by a warning. Employers also lose cases about their own obligations simply because no one checked whether the company rule relied on had ever been communicated.For the employee the practical message is that the file is worth examining even when the underlying facts are uncomfortable. A dismissal can be set aside on the second or third requirement while the first is conceded, and the employer’s procedural mistakes are usually visible in documents you already have.Building your file
Because the employer carries the burden of proof, your task is narrower than it feels: you have to make the timeline verifiable and the employer’s version testable. A good file has three layers.The first layer is the chronology. Note when the alleged incident took place, when and how the employer learned of it, when you were suspended or called in, what was said in that conversation and who was present, and the exact date and time of the dismissal. Support each step with something dated: a calendar invitation, a message, an access record, a roster.The second layer is the documents that define the relationship. That means the employment contract and any addenda, the applicable collective agreement, the staff handbook or company rules, previous appraisals and any warnings you have received, and the payslips and leave overviews you will need for the money claims. If the employer relies on a rule, the question of whether it was ever communicated to you is often decisive.The third layer is the evidence about the incident itself: correspondence, photographs, logs, safety reports, written instructions and the names and roles of witnesses with a short note of what each of them saw. Keep originals, work from copies, and store everything outside company systems that you may lose access to. Do not remove confidential material that has nothing to do with your case.Finish with a short factual statement, a page or two, tying the timeline to the evidence. It is the document your lawyer will build the application around, and writing it usually shows you where the gaps are while there is still time to close them.What the court can decide
There are three realistic outcomes, and settlements cluster around them.If the court annuls the dismissal, the contract is treated as never having ended. Wages are payable from the dismissal date, holiday continues to accrue, and the final settlement has to be corrected. In practice the parties often then negotiate an exit, because the employer that has just been ordered to pay several months of back pay has a strong incentive to settle and because returning to the workplace is frequently not realistic. If the employer still wants to end the contract, it has to use the ordinary route, with the notice period and the transition payment that go with it.If the court finds the dismissal defective but you have asked for money rather than reinstatement, it can award a fair compensation, the fixed compensation for the notice period that was not observed, and the transition payment. The fair compensation is assessed on the circumstances, including the seriousness of the employer’s failure and the income you have lost or can be expected to lose, and it is not calculated by a formula.If the court upholds the dismissal, it ended on the day it was given. Wages stop as of that date, unemployment benefit is normally refused, and the transition payment is usually not due, although you can still ask the court to award it if the conduct, while an urgent reason, was not seriously culpable. In that scenario the employer may in turn claim the fixed compensation from you for terminating the contract by your own culpable conduct, which is one more reason to test the case before it reaches a hearing.Negotiating an exit instead of litigating
Litigation restores income and sometimes the job, but it takes months and the outcome is never certain. A negotiated ending is worth considering where you want certainty quickly, where the employer’s case has visible weaknesses that make it willing to pay, or where the relationship is beyond repair and only the terms are in dispute.The way to keep leverage is not to choose. Protest in writing, lodge the application within the two-month period, and negotiate while it is pending. Employers become markedly more realistic once a hearing date exists, and you lose nothing: an application can be withdrawn when a settlement is signed.In the negotiation the wording matters as much as the amount. Agree that the summary dismissal is withdrawn and that the contract ends by mutual consent on a neutral ground, with the notice period observed, so that the benefit position is not damaged. Then settle the severance, the payment of accrued leave and holiday allowance and any earned bonus, the treatment of a non-competition or confidentiality clause, the return of company property, a neutral reference, and confidentiality about the terms. Ask for the final settlement in itemised form as part of the agreement rather than afterwards. And remember that the fourteen-day reconsideration right applies to the agreement you sign, so a signature is not quite the last word.If you are an international employee
Losing your job overnight has consequences beyond the wage if your residence, your health cover or your housing is connected to the employment.Check your residence permit first. Where the permit was granted for work with a specific employer, as with a highly skilled migrant permit, the employer must notify the IND that the employment has ended, and a search period applies during which you may look for a new sponsor. Where the permit depends on the work continuing, ending the employment can put your right of residence at risk, so take advice before the situation drifts. Note also that the administrative penalty payment for late IND decisions was abolished on 15 April 2025, so an appeal against a delay no longer produces an automatic financial remedy.Health insurance under an employer’s collective policy usually ends with the employment, but the statutory duty to be insured does not. Arrange cover immediately rather than after the dispute is resolved. If accommodation was arranged through your employer or through a temporary work agency, check what the housing agreement says about the period you have to leave; since 1 July 2023 the Good Landlordship Act contains additional rules where accommodation is let to European labour migrants, including the requirement that the rental agreement be recorded separately from the employment contract. Finally, if you intend to look for work in another member state while receiving benefit, arrange the PD U2 document with the UWV in advance.What to bring to a first consultation
Bring the employment contract with any addenda, the collective agreement if one applies and the company rules; the dismissal letter or email and your notes of the meeting at which it was given; any suspension letter; the written protest you sent, with the time stamp; your timeline; recent payslips and the leave and holiday allowance overviews; any draft agreement you have been asked to sign; and, where relevant, sickness notifications, pregnancy or maternity documents and correspondence with the UWV. With that on the table a first meeting can produce an assessment, a protest letter and a decision about filing on the same day, which is what the two-month deadline requires.Law and More acts for employees and employers in Dutch employment law matters, including summary dismissal cases across the Netherlands. We test whether the urgent reason, the immediacy and the statement of reasons hold, draft the written protest, lodge the application with the sub-district court within the time limit, and negotiate settlements that protect your income and your benefit position. If you have been dismissed on the spot, or you are considering giving such a dismissal, contact our office promptly: in this area the calendar decides as much as the facts.Frequently asked questions
What counts as a valid ‘urgent reason’ for summary dismissal in the Netherlands?
The conduct must be so serious that the employer cannot reasonably be expected to continue the employment even one more day. Typical accepted examples include theft, endangering others, disclosing trade secrets, or flatly refusing to work, though courts also weigh the employee’s personal circumstances when assessing seriousness.
How quickly must an employer act after discovering the alleged misconduct?
The employer must act without delay once they learn of the alleged misconduct. A short, necessary investigation can be acceptable, but waiting too long after discovery undermines the required immediacy, and courts may conclude the situation was not truly urgent if the employer delayed too long before dismissing.
How long do I have to challenge a summary dismissal in court?
You have two months from the date of the summary dismissal to start court proceedings to have it annulled. This deadline is strict: if you miss it, you generally lose any legal option to contest the dismissal, so it is important not to wait for informal negotiations to conclude before filing.
Am I entitled to unemployment benefits (WW) after being fired on the spot?
Usually not immediately. UWV often treats a lawful summary dismissal as culpable conduct, disqualifying the employee from WW. However, if the dismissal is later annulled by a court or converted into a regular termination route, such as a UWV permit, court dissolution, or a neutral settlement agreement, WW eligibility can become possible again.
What should I do immediately after being fired on the spot?
Ask for the written reason for the dismissal right away and keep any documents you receive, since the employer must prove the urgent reason and vague or changing explanations weaken their case. Gather your contract, the dismissal letter, any protest email, a timeline of events, payslips, and other supporting evidence in case you decide to challenge the dismissal.
