Netherlands Update: Mandatory Transfer of 20 Employees is Allowed

Reigersdaal, a care institution with several locations in North Holland where 24-hour residential care is provided to people with intellectual disabilities, is at loggerheads with a large group of employees at a certain location. The Executive Board decides to forcibly transfer a group of 20 employees to other locations in Reigersdaal, invoking the unilateral amendment clause in the employment contract. The employees challenged the decision, but were unsuccessful before the judge in summary proceedings. What’s going on here?

There have been problems at a Reigersdaal location since 2019. At that time, the internal Health & Safety department made 15 improvement proposals that the cluster manager had to implement. You guessed it; The improvement proposals are hardly implemented and the cluster manager falls ill. At the end of 2023, the Executive Board will take action and will conclude that care content, professionalism, collegial cooperation, administrative organization, absenteeism due to illness and financial are (far) below par. The Executive Board wants this to change. A group of 20 employees responded with a complaint about the residents, colleagues and an unsafe atmosphere. An internal complaints committee investigates the complaint, advises to declare the complaint unfounded, but attaches the advice to take steps to normalize relations under the guidance of external help. The Executive Board accepts the advice, declares the complaint unfounded, intends to start a change process and attaches the condition that the employees sign a ‘commitment statement’. That goes too far, according to the employees, and they refuse to sign the declaration. Subsequently, the Executive Board withdraws the change process and decides to move the group of employees to various other locations.

The court agreed with this in summary proceedings. The court ruled that employees had a ‘legitimate interest’ in retaining their jobs. The court qualifies this as a condition of employment. However, the employees refused to sign the declaration for unjustified reasons. That costs them their heads. The judge is of the opinion that this was a justified demand of the Executive Board. The fact that the problems have been going on for five years and have never been solved justified this demand. Reigersdaal was also able to demonstrate that it had thought along with all employees for a suitable location and they also retained all terms of employment.

A well-substantiated statement that shows that unilaterally changing employment conditions, on the basis of a unilateral amendment clause, is feasible if it is based on a good story from the employer.

You can read the full judgment here.

By Hocker, Netherlands, a Transatlantic Law International Affiliated Firm. 

For further information or for any assistance please contact netherlands@transatlanticlaw.com

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