An individual arrangement in a Dutch collective dismissal is a departure from the social plan agreed with one employee and recorded in a settlement agreement (vaststellingsovereenkomst). It is legally possible, but never automatic. The employer is free to refuse, and the room to negotiate depends above all on whether the social plan was concluded with the trade unions and on whether you can point to an objective reason why your position differs from that of your colleagues.
When a dismissal counts as collective
Large-scale redundancies in the Netherlands are governed by the Collective Redundancy Notification Act (Wet melding collectief ontslag, WMCO). It applies as soon as an employer intends to end the contracts of twenty or more employees within a single UWV working area over a period of three months, for reasons unrelated to the individual employees. Terminations by mutual consent count towards that number if the employer took the initiative, so an employer cannot stay below the threshold simply by handing out settlement agreements instead of filing dismissal applications.
Once the threshold is met, the employer must notify UWV and the interested trade unions in writing and consult the unions on the reasons for the reorganisation and on ways to limit its consequences. Contracts may not be terminated until one month after that notification, unless the unions state in writing that they have been consulted (Article 5a WMCO). UWV will not take dismissal applications into consideration before the notification and consultation requirements have been met. If the employer skips the notification altogether, the subdistrict court can annul the termination at the employee’s request (Article 7 WMCO); that request must be made within two months of the day the employee could reasonably have become aware of the breach, and at the latest six months after the termination.
The works council has a separate right to be consulted on the decision to reorganise. The two tracks run in parallel and serve different purposes: the unions negotiate the terms of departure, the works council advises on the decision itself.
What a social plan is, and how much weight it carries
A social plan sets out what the employer offers employees who lose their jobs: severance on top of or instead of the statutory transition payment (transitievergoeding), outplacement, a training budget, a contribution towards legal costs, and rules on the notice period and on job applications during it. The plan is the reference point against which every individual request is measured, so its legal status largely determines your negotiating position.
A plan agreed with the trade unions
Where representative unions have negotiated and signed the plan, the courts start from the assumption that the interests of the workforce have been properly represented. A subdistrict court will then set the plan aside for an individual employee only if applying it to that employee would be unacceptable by the standards of reasonableness and fairness (redelijkheid en billijkheid). That is a demanding test, and it explains why an employer operating under an agreed plan has little incentive to make exceptions.
A plan imposed by the employer
An employer may also draw up a social plan on its own. A positive advice from the works council does not change that: the works council advises on the reorganisation, but it has no authority to agree terms of employment on behalf of the workforce. A unilateral plan therefore carries less weight, courts examine it more critically, and the scope for arguing that the offer falls short of what good employment practice requires is correspondingly wider.
Whatever the plan says, it cannot fall below mandatory statutory law. The transition payment is owed from the first day of the employment relationship, and a social plan drawn up by the employer cannot contract it away. Only an equivalent provision agreed in a collective labour agreement can take its place (Article 7:673b of the Dutch Civil Code).
Can you negotiate an individual arrangement
Yes. Most employers prefer to end contracts by mutual consent rather than run a UWV procedure for every employee, because mutual consent is faster, quieter and certain in its outcome. That preference is your leverage, and the instrument is the settlement agreement. Because signing one is a voluntary act, every settlement agreement is by definition a moment of negotiation.
What does not work is treating the social plan as an opening bid to be improved by pushing harder. An employer that pays one employee more without a reason it can explain creates a precedent that every other affected employee will invoke. The employer is bound by the duty to act as a good employer (goed werkgeverschap, Article 7:611 of the Dutch Civil Code) and cannot distinguish between comparable employees without objective justification. A request therefore succeeds when it is framed as a reason, not as a demand.
Grounds that carry weight
The hardship clause
Most social plans contain a hardship clause (hardheidsclausule), which allows the employer to depart from the standard rules where strict application would produce a manifestly unfair or unacceptable outcome for a particular employee. To rely on it, you must show that your situation differs materially from that of your colleagues: a period of unpaid leave or long-term sickness that depresses the severance calculation, a pension date shortly after the end of the contract, or re-employment prospects that are objectively worse. Many plans route such requests through an advisory committee and set a short deadline for submitting them, so check the procedure before the notice period starts running.
A separate dispute that can be settled at the same time
An occupational illness or workplace injury claim, an unpaid bonus, a disputed non-competition clause or an unresolved reintegration dispute are claims in their own right. An employer that buys them off alongside the departure is not favouring you; it is closing more than one file. That is an objective justification, and in practice it is the most productive route to a genuinely individual arrangement.
Unequal treatment and indirect discrimination
A rule that is neutral on its face may still affect one group disproportionately. A cap on severance, or a taper that reduces the payment as the pension date approaches, may amount to indirect age discrimination under the Dutch Equal Treatment in Employment (Age Discrimination) Act unless the employer can show a legitimate aim pursued by means that are appropriate and necessary. The same reasoning applies to provisions that disadvantage part-time employees or staff on fixed-term contracts. Where such an argument holds, the employer is not making an exception at all: it is correcting a rule it may not lawfully apply to you.
What happens if you do not sign
If you refuse the settlement agreement and the employer persists, it will apply to UWV for a dismissal permit. UWV assesses two questions: whether the business-economic reason for the job losses is sound, and whether the right employees were selected, normally by applying the reflection principle (afspiegelingsbeginsel) within interchangeable job categories. UWV does not award compensation; it grants or refuses permission to terminate. With a permit in hand the employer gives notice, observing the applicable notice period, and pays the transition payment.
If you consider that outcome insufficient, the route runs to the subdistrict court (kantonrechter). A request for reinstatement or for additional fair compensation (billijke vergoeding) after a UWV permit must be filed within two months of the end of the employment; a claim for an unpaid or wrongly calculated transition payment has three months. Additional fair compensation after a permit is reserved for cases in which the employer acted in a seriously culpable manner (ernstig verwijtbaar handelen), for instance by manufacturing the business-economic reason or by manipulating the selection. Dissatisfaction with the level of the social plan is not, on its own, enough. These are forfeiture periods: they cannot be extended, and missing them ends the claim.
How the works council affects your position
The works council does not act for individual employees, but its stance on the reorganisation shapes the negotiating climate. Where the works council has advised against the decision, or the employer has departed from a positive advice, the works council can appeal to the Enterprise Chamber (Ondernemingskamer) within one month of the decision. An employer facing that risk, and the delay that comes with it, is generally more willing to reach individual arrangements than one whose reorganisation is uncontested.
What to check before you sign
Read the settlement agreement for three things before you look at the amount. First, it must record that the employment is ending at the employer’s initiative for business-economic reasons and that the notice period has been observed, because otherwise your unemployment benefit is at risk. Second, check what you are giving up: a final discharge clause extinguishes claims you may not yet have valued, including accrued holiday, bonus entitlements and pending disputes. Third, note that you may dissolve the agreement in writing within fourteen days without giving reasons, and within three weeks if the agreement failed to mention that right (Article 7:670b of the Dutch Civil Code).
Have the severance calculation checked against the plan itself as well. Errors in the reference salary, in the treatment of variable pay and in the number of years counted are common, and correcting an arithmetical mistake is a far easier conversation than asking for an exception.
Getting advice in time
A collective dismissal moves quickly, and most of the deadlines that matter run from the moment you receive the offer rather than from the moment you decide to act. Whether your case turns on a hardship clause, an unequal application of the plan or a separate claim that deserves to be settled at the same time, the strength of your position is largely fixed before you enter the room.
The employment lawyers at Law & More review social plans and settlement agreements, advise on the room for an individual arrangement and conduct proceedings before UWV and the subdistrict court. If you have received an offer under a social plan, we assess your position and the realistic outcome before the reflection period expires. You will find more background in our overview of employment law and on our page for a dismissal lawyer in the Netherlands.
Frequently asked questions
What is the WMCO and when does it apply?
The WMCO (Wet melding collectief ontslag, or Collective Redundancy Notification Act) is the Dutch law governing large-scale redundancies. It applies when an employer intends to terminate the employment contracts of 20 or more employees within a single UWV working area over a period of three months. When this threshold is met, the employer must notify the UWV and relevant trade unions and consult with them and the Works Council about the reasons for the restructuring and ways to mitigate the impact on staff.
Can I negotiate an individual arrangement if a social plan already exists?
Yes, it is possible, but it depends on how the social plan was established. If the plan was negotiated and agreed with representative trade unions, courts generally treat it as a fair standard and are reluctant to award an individual employee more favourable terms. Deviating from it requires showing that applying the plan to your specific situation would be unacceptable under standards of reasonableness and fairness.
What counts as an exceptional circumstance to deviate from a social plan?
You must demonstrate that your situation is exceptionally different from your peers, for example that the standard severance calculation severely disadvantages you due to a prolonged period of unpaid leave or an imminent pension date. You generally need to prove severe culpability on the employer’s part, or that the dismissal’s consequences are so financially devastating and unique to your case that the collective arrangement cannot reasonably suffice.
Why does the principle of equal treatment matter in these negotiations?
Employers are legally required to act as good employers (goed werkgeverschap), which means they cannot arbitrarily favour one employee over another without a valid, objective justification. If an employer grants a higher severance payment simply because one employee negotiated harder, other affected employees could claim they are being treated unequally, so employers are cautious about departing from the collective standard.
How are individual arrangements usually formalised?
Employers typically prefer to end the employment relationship by mutual consent rather than through a lengthy and uncertain UWV dismissal procedure. To achieve this, the employer offers a settlement agreement (vaststellingsovereenkomst or VSO), a legally binding contract that can include individually negotiated terms on top of, or deviating from, the standard social plan.
Does the Works council’s position affect my chances of a favourable arrangement?
The Works Council does not generally intervene in individual cases, but its overall stance on the reorganisation can indirectly influence negotiations. If the Works Council has issued negative advice about the restructuring, the employer’s legal position weakens, which often makes employers more willing to agree to favourable individual arrangements.
