Protections for workplace action in Dutch Labour Law

Disclaimer: This document deals with legal issues and is intended to provide an informational resource only. Tech Workers Coalition doesn't in any way provide legal advice, so don't rely on this document as though it would constitute legal advice.

About #

This resource provides an overview of Dutch Labour Law, and the protections the law provides with respect to various situations employees may face, or actions taken by employees.[1] It broadly covers different cases of work contracts and situations.

The information contained in this resource was prepaped by a Dutch labour lawyer at the request of workers at a major tech company in the Netherlands. It’s shared here in modified form with permission, with identifying information removed.

Legal protections for employees #

1. Permanent contract holders #

• Employees with permanent contracts in the Netherlands have strong protections under Dutch labour law.
• Even in cases of legal disputes, it can be difficult for the employer to fire employees unless reasonable grounds are established.
• Immediate dismissal may not apply if an employee maintains communication and the situation is not aggravated by repeated actions. Also important is that the employee indicates (preferably in writing) that they are available and willing to work.

2. Temporary contract holders #

• Employees on temporary contracts are more vulnerable, especially if their contracts are not extended.
• The employer may argue that contract extensions are not possible due to hiring freezes or economic reasons.
• If an employer decides not to extend the contract than that needs to be communicated one month in advance (depending on the contract, this is when you have a contract of six months or longer). The employer does not need to give a reason. You are entitled to a transition compensation and (if you are entitled to it) to unemployment benefit. In case you are sick and your contract is not prolonged you can apply for sickness benefit at UWV (Dutch social security agency).

3. International employees #

• International employees may face additional vulnerability if their work permits are linked to their employment.
• Losing a job can lead to complications with work permits and residency.

4. Dutch citizens #

• Dutch employees may have more job opportunities but still face potential dismissal depending on the nature of their role and actions.

Types of dismissal #

1. Immediate dismissal #

• Occurs when something severe happens (e.g., theft, violence, property damage).
• Examples include stealing money, violent behaviour, or actions that cause significant damage to property or people.
• It is also applicable when employees engage in illegal actions, provide false testimonies, or grossly fail in their duties.

Grounds for immediate dismissal #

• Providing false testimonies from previous employers.
• Incompetence in performing work.
• Being drunk at work, theft, or insulting the employer or colleagues.
• Engaging in illegal activities or gross misconduct.

2. Normal dismissal #

• Happens on reasonable grounds, such as sickness, economic issues, or employee behaviour that disturbs labour conditions.
• If an employee’s behaviour makes it unreasonable for the employer to continue the working relationship, it may be grounds for dismissal.

Types of employee actions and risks #

If an employee engages in continuous provocative actions, such as public protests or demonstrations against the company’s policies, this may escalate into a reason for dismissal. A reason could be disturbed working relations, so reasonably the employer cannot continue the working relation.

Repeated actions after warnings can lead to the employer moving forward with contract termination. Contract termination of temporary contracts is only possible if there is a clause in the contract.

1. Internal vs external actions #

• Actions taken within the company building or directed toward internal employees are treated differently than actions targeting the wider public. It also depends on whether the employer is specifically mentioned or targeted in the action or that the employee participates in an anti-war protest outside the company.
• Employers may need to provide warnings before dismissal, but legal protections exist for employees engaging in reasonable actions, such as peaceful protests.

2. Can I refuse to perform certain tasks with an appeal to conscientious objection? #

If you refuse to perform certain tasks with an appeal to conscientious objection the employer needs to take your concerns into account.

An ‘urgent serious conscientious objection’ can be an exception to perform (parts of your) work. This can be due to religious considerations or known and acknowledged ethical or political motives. For example, the printing of papers with a sexual content, construction of motorways through nature areas, working with natural fur, a civil servant who does not wish to cooperate in a marriage of people from the LGBTIQA+ community.

An employer can and should deal with this in a respectable way. For example, by giving the employee other tasks. If this is not possible, then the employer might consider re-location within the company, possibly with additional schooling. If this is not possible, then as a final solution the employee can be fired or must resign, or a settlement agreement is negotiated.

It has to be clear to the employer that you refuse to do the work due to conscientious objections. You can proactively communicate this to the employer, and state which tasks you are not able to do.

There are by law two ways in which the employer can fire you in this hypothetical occasion:

a. Immediate dismissal #

• Based on article 678, under 2 item j. in book 7 of the Dutch civil code can persistent refusal of work give an urgent reason for dismissal (immediate dismissal).[2]
• If you are dismissed on this ground, you are immediately without work and also the UWV will most likely decide not to give you unemployment benefit. You need to go to court within 2 months to fight this dismissal.

b. Dismissal #

• On the basis of article 7:699 paragraph 3 the grounds for dismissal are listed.[3] Under article 669, under 3, item f says the following (cited together with lemma 1, for context):

  1. The employer may terminate the employment contract if there are reasonable grounds for doing so and redeployment of the employee within a reasonable period, with or without training, in another suitable position is not possible or not reasonable.

  (…)

  3. Reasonable grounds as referred to in paragraph 1 are understood to mean: (…) f. the employee’s refusal to perform the agreed work due to a serious conscientious objection, provided that it is plausible that the agreed work cannot be performed in an adapted form;

• In this scenario the employer needs to ask permission to the judge to terminate the contract, so this will take longer. You are employed during the procedure and you can apply for unemployment benefit, if you are entitled to do that.

3. Can I strike when I don’t agree with the activities of my employer because of conscientious objection? #

The right to strike is not written in Dutch labour law. It is based on the European Social Charter from the Council of Europe. It is only possible to restrict the right to strike if this is urgently necessary, for example because of public safety or protecting the rights of others, or based on national security or public health.

Our Dutch Supreme Court has ruled in 2015 that it is no longer needed that a strike needs to be announced and it doesn’t have to be a means of last resort. The admissibility of a strike depends on:

• The nature of the action
• The relationship between the action and the goal
• The damage to the interests of the employer or third parties
• The effect on vulnerable people, like patients, old age people, young people and handicapped persons.

4. Can I denounce my employer publicly or with other colleagues because of immoral activities based on conscientious objection? #

Freedom of speech is laid down in article 7 of our constitution and also in article 10 of the ECHR. As an employee you are allowed to criticize your employer, as happens in the NL regularly, for example from civil servants who are holding a sit-in each week to ask for a ceasefire in Palestine.

The limits are that an employee should not harm the interests of the employer. If an employee communicates insults and discriminatory messages about the employer or colleagues this is different of course. Important to note here is that the employer needs to ensure a safe position for all its employees.

An employer can also have guidelines regarding social media policies. In that it can state that IT-systems, mails, social media etc cannot be used in a way which is unethical or illegal. It is important that the communication is decent, it also depends on if is clear that the employee works for the employer.

Also important are the motives of the employee. Are they motivated by public interest, company interest, or personal interest? It is easier for an employer to restrict statements by an employee if they are clearly motivated by revenge, for example.

An employer needs to give a warning first. I think it is difficult for an employer to dismiss an employee with immediate effect based on an employee’s communications. Finally, It is also important to take into account what kind of employer it is. If this is a local bakery it is seen differently than if the employer is a large governmental institution.

5. Engagement with unions #

• Joining a union can offer support in legal cases, depending on the quality and availability of union representation.

Employer actions and company policies #

1. Firing employees #

• Employers must provide a notification if they intend to dismiss an employee, and the employee has the right to protest against the dismissal within two months.
• Dismissal may still occur if labour conditions have deteriorated to the point where reinstating the employee would be unreasonable.

2. Changes to company policies #

• Companies may update codes of conduct or internal policies to address ongoing actions and prevent further disruptions.
• Employers may remove internal posts or communications that they deem controversial or problematic, even if compliant with internal rules.

Conclusion #

Dutch employees enjoy protection against wrongful dismissal by an employer. This is particularly true for people with an indefinite contract of course, but also those with a temporary contract have rights.

For an employer to take action much depends on the kind of action, the timing and the tone of the action and whether or not there has been previous communication. It also depends on the initial response by the employer and whether or not the employer is open for debate and alterations to the work, for example.

Annex #

Legal texts can sometimes change. The legal articles cited here are confirmed accurate as of April 2025. Always check the original legal source text for the latest authoritative version.

[1] For an excellent overview of Dutch labour law in English, see the following report: Dismissal law in The Netherlands (2018), by Tom F.M. Bremers, Emma A.P. Ficq, Caroline J.G.P. Huizinga, and Merel A.C. Keijzer of the European Working Group of Labour Law. This report is from 2018, so might not be fully up-to-date on specific issues.

[2] Dutch Civil Code, Book 7, article 678: Urgent reasons for the employer to terminate the employment agreement immediately.

• 1. An urgent reason for the employer in the meaning of Article 7:677, paragraph 1, consists of such acts, characteristics or behaviour on the part of the employee, having the result that the employer reasonably cannot be expected to continue the employment agreement.
• 2. An urgent reason may, among others, exist:
  • a. when the employee has misled the employer at the conclusion of the employment agreement by showing false or forged testimonials or by deliberately providing false information about the way in which his previous employment ended;
  • b. when the employee seriously seems to lack the competence or the capability to perform the work to which he has engaged himself;
  • c. when the employee, despite warning, takes to drunkenness or other dissipated behaviour;
  • d. when the employee makes himself guilty of theft, embezzlement, deceit, fraud or other indictable offences as a result of which he becomes unworthy of the employer’s trust;
  • e. when the employee batters, crudely insults or seriously threatens the employer, his family members or other employees;
  • f. when the employee tempts or tries to tempt the employer, his family members or other employees to perform or participate in actions contradictory to law or good morals;
  • g. when the employee deliberately, or despite warning, recklessly damages the property of the employer or exposes it to serious danger;
  • h. when the employee deliberately, or despite warning, recklessly exposes himself or others to serious danger;
  • i. when the employee makes public characteristics regarding the household or enterprise of the employer which he was expected to keep confidential;
  • j. when the employee persistently refuses to comply with reasonable instructions or orders given by or on behalf of the employer;
  • k. when the employee crudely neglects the obligations imposed on him by the employment agreement;
  • l. when the employee deliberately or because of reckless behaviour becomes or remains unable to perform the contracted work.

[3] Contractual provisions leaving the decision whether an urgent reason in the meaning of Article 7:677, paragraph 1, exists to the discretion of the employer, are null and void. Dutch Civil Code, Book 7, article 669:

• 1. The employer may terminate the employment contract if there are reasonable grounds for doing so and redeployment of the employee within a reasonable period, with or without training, to another suitable position is not possible or not reasonable. Redeployment is in any case not reasonable if there is culpable conduct or omission on the part of the employee as referred to in paragraph 3, section e.
• 2. Redeployment, as referred to in paragraph 1, is not required if the employee holds a religious office.
• 3. Reasonable grounds as referred to in paragraph 1 are understood to mean:
  • a. the loss of jobs as a result of the termination of the company’s activities or, viewed over a future period of at least 26 weeks, the necessary loss of jobs as a result of measures being taken for efficient business operations due to economic circumstances;
  • b. illness or disability of the employee as a result of which he is no longer able to perform the agreed work, provided that the period referred to in Article 670, paragraphs 1 and 11, has expired and it is plausible that no recovery will occur within 26 weeks, or in the case of an employee who has reached the age referred to in Article 7, section a, of the General Old Age Act (Algemene Ouderdomswet), 6 weeks, and that the agreed work cannot be performed in an adapted form within that period;
  • c. the regular inability to perform the agreed work as a result of illness or disability of the employee with unacceptable consequences for business operations, provided that the regular inability to perform the agreed work is not the result of insufficient care on the part of the employer for the working conditions of the employee and it is plausible that no recovery will occur within 26 weeks, or in the case of an employee who has reached the age referred to in Article 7, section a, of the General Old Age Act, 6 weeks, and that the agreed work cannot be performed in an adapted form within that period;
  • d. the employee’s incapacity to perform the agreed work, other than as a result of illness or disability of the employee, provided that the employer has informed the employee of this in good time and has given him sufficient opportunity to improve his performance and the incapacity is not the result of insufficient care on the part of the employer for the employee’s training or for the employee’s working conditions;
  • e. culpable acts or omissions on the part of the employee, such that the employer cannot reasonably be expected to allow the employment contract to continue;
  • f. the employee’s refusal to perform the agreed work due to a serious conscientious objection, provided that it is plausible that the agreed work cannot be performed in an adapted form;
  • g. a disturbed working relationship, such that the employer cannot reasonably be expected to allow the employment contract to continue;
  • h. circumstances other than those mentioned above that are such that the employer cannot reasonably be expected to allow the employment contract to continue.