Abstract
The purpose of protection against dismissal is to protect the employee against unjustified dismissal, which is expected to lead to stable employment relationships and job security. In recent years, the concept of employment security has entered the world of policy and science. This article aims to contribute to the field of labour law by investigating the objectives and effects of the Dutch transition payment process in relation to the relatively new notion of employment security. To do so, the ins and outs of the Dutch transition payment process are discussed. We compare and analyse the Dutch dismissal law before and after the introduction of the Work and Security Act ( Wet werk en zekerheid (WWZ)) on 1 July 2015. We discuss the (unintended) employer and employee effects of dismissal law reform in the Netherlands and we analyse the objectives of the transition payment in relation to employment security. Based on a large-scale survey of redundant employees we shed light on the question of whether the transition payment is used for the purpose intended by the legislature. This article concludes by discussing the changes to the transition payment and dismissal compensation with the introduction of the new Balanced Labour Market Act ( Wet arbeidsmarkt in balans (WAB)) on 1 January 2020. Although the legislature has attributed a clear formal transition function to the transition payment, the transition function is lacking from a substantive law perspective and we conclude that employment security is still in its infancy in Dutch dismissal legislation.
Highlights
The value and importance of employment is widely recognised
Previous research into the consequences of job loss for individuals has shown that it has a negative impact on health[1] and scarring effects in terms of wage inequality in future jobs.[2]
For the economy and society, a high level of short- and long-term unemployment is problematic in several respects because the affordability of services is at stake, especially in an ageing society
Summary
The value and importance of employment is widely recognised. Work leads to income security and contributes to personal development, vitality, and social capital. The cost of unemployment concerns social security—the various types of benefits and reintegration costs on which billions are spent—and the cost of healthcare, pension and other welfare state financing costs It is, important that labour market participation increases and that people obtain and keep their new jobs after redundancy. Welfare states traditionally focus on income security in social security laws and on tertiary unemployment prevention in so-called active labour market policies, aimed at preventing long-term unemployment, in cases where people have lost their jobs.[10]. This article aims to investigate the objectives and effects of the Dutch transition payment in relation to the relatively new notion of employment security. In the concluding section we put the main findings in perspective
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