The situation
A planned dismissal of two employees in different countries
A Dutch-German maker of greenhouse climate systems is closing its after-sales team. Two roles go: a service coordinator employed for nine years by the German company in Düsseldorf, which has 60 staff and a works council, and an engineer employed for four years by the Dutch company in Venlo. The HR director wants advice on both by Friday.
The business reason is the same for both. The route is not. In Germany the questions are social justification, social selection and the works council. In the Netherlands, whether the employer needs the UWV’s permission or a settlement. The hours go on the case law and on a letter that sets out both routes side by side.
What the research has to settle
The rules behind the answer
- Germany: protection after six months
- In a business with more than ten employees, the Protection against Dismissal Act applies once the employment has lasted six months. A dismissal for operational reasons must be socially justified, which includes a correct social selection among comparable employees.
- Germany: form and the works council
- Notice must be given in writing with a handwritten signature; email is not enough. Where there is a works council, it must be heard before every dismissal, or the dismissal is ineffective. The employee has three weeks to bring a claim.
- Netherlands: permission or agreement
- A Dutch employer cannot simply give notice for economic reasons. It needs the UWV’s permission or a mutual termination agreement, which the employee may revoke within a statutory cooling-off period.
- Netherlands: the transition payment
- An employee dismissed at the employer’s initiative is generally entitled to a statutory transition payment based on salary and length of service. Anything above it is a matter for negotiation.
How it runs in azta
From the question to the document
The question, as you would type it
Restructuring closes an after-sales team. Employee A: German GmbH, 60 staff, works council, nine years’ service. Employee B: Dutch BV, four years’ service. What is the dismissal route, notice and likely cost for each, and how do the German courts treat social selection when the whole team is closed?
You start with
A planned dismissal of two employees in different countries
- 01
Describe both employees
Give the employer, length of service, contract terms and employee numbers for each. azta researches the German and Dutch dismissal rules and cites each step.
Cited research· Free - 02
Find the case law on the hard points
Ask how the German labour courts treat social selection when a whole team closes, and how Dutch courts treat comparable roles. azta links each decision to its full text.
Case-law search - 03
Draft the advice letter
Ask for a letter with one section per country: route, notice, cost and timetable. Edit it in Canvas and shorten the summary for the HR director.
Canvas · Ask azta· Pro You send
An advice letter on notice, dismissal protection and the procedure in each country
What you get
An advice letter on notice, dismissal protection and the procedure in each country
Advice letter · draft
Closure of the after-sales team: dismissal routes in Germany and the Netherlands
Germany. The service coordinator is protected against dismissal. Closing the whole team is an operational reason, but you must still check whether comparable employees elsewhere in the business should be included in the social selection. Hear the works council first and give notice in writing with a wet-ink signature.
The Netherlands. Notice for economic reasons requires the UWV’s permission, which takes several weeks and needs evidence of the closure. A settlement agreement is the usual alternative. The engineer is entitled to the statutory transition payment in either case.
Next steps. We suggest opening settlement discussions in Venlo while the works council hearing runs in Düsseldorf, so both processes finish in the same month.
Outcomes on your numbers
What azta is worth on this task
Pro pays for itself after
8 minutes a month
At €210 an hour, that is all the time Pro (€27 a month) has to take off your desk to cover its price.
Example figures. Replace them with your own.
- Hours back a year
- 58
- Capacity at your rate
- €12,096
- More dismissal advice letters a quarter
- 2.9
- Return on Pro
- 37.3×
- Research
- Drafting
- Your review
A scenario you set, not a promise. The hours that come back go to another client, or deeper into this one.
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Book a demoSources azta searches here
- Gesetze im Internet
- Rechtsprechung im Internet
- wetten.overheid.nl
- Rechtspraak.nl
What stays with you
- The facts: employee numbers, comparable roles and the business case.
- Negotiating with the employees and the works council.
- The advice and the strategy you sign.
Frequently asked questions
- Does azta calculate notice periods and payments?
- It researches the rules and cites them. You apply them to the employee’s exact dates and salary and check the result.
- Does it find labour court decisions?
- Yes. Court decisions are about two thirds of the documents azta searches. Coverage varies by country, and the source register lists each collection.
- Can it cover a collective agreement?
- Upload the agreement and azta reads it alongside the statute, referring back to the clause it relied on.
