Employment law and works councils

Reorganisations, dismissals, works council processes and collective agreements. Fast to act, careful in the detail.

Leading

Employment law

Employment law is rarely only a legal matter. There is always a team behind it, a reputation at stake, a union or a works council watching.

We line up the legal route with what is actually going to happen inside the organisation.

Our employment law team advises employers, from start-ups to multinationals, as well as directors and managers on their own positions. We advise both boards and works councils on employee consultation, and regularly negotiate redundancy plans with trade unions.

See our expertise

Expertise

Where we help

Dismissal and termination

From settlement agreements to termination proceedings and summary dismissal. Including underperformance, broken working relationships and building a file where there is barely a file yet.

Reorganisation and collective redundancy

Restructuring plans, redundancy, the afspiegeling selection rules, UWV procedures and the WMCO. Including the social plan and negotiating it with unions or the works council.

Employee participation and works councils

Advice and consent procedures, covenants, works council rules and proceedings before the Enterprise Chamber. We act for directors and for works councils, though never in the same case.

Collective agreements and negotiations

Applying and interpreting collective agreements, universally binding provisions, harmonising terms of employment after an acquisition and transfers of undertaking. And the negotiating itself: with unions, with the works council and across the kitchen table on an exit package.

Sickness absence and return to work

Tackling absence rather than sitting it out. Continued pay, reintegration, the Gatekeeper Improvement Act, wage sanctions and termination after two years of illness. And redesigning your absence policy and process.

Directors and statutory board members

The dual position of the statutory director: removal under company law, the employment consequences, the exit package and liability. We act for the company and for the director alike.

Investigations and integrity

Suspicions of fraud, inappropriate behaviour or conflicts of interest. Establishing the facts, hearing both sides, and the employment law measure that follows.

For ambitious organisations and entrepreneurs

Who we work with

Employers and HR teams who want a regular sounding board
Boards going through reorganisations and acquisitions

Directors and managers caught up in a conflict themselves
Works councils that need a counterweight

Approach

How we work

Speed matters in employment law. You can reach us outside office hours, and we’d rather pick up the phone than send a memo.

For recurring work, we agree fees upfront: a subscription for day-to-day HR questions, fixed fees for standard work and a quote before larger projects begin. We once designed a one-page employment contract and built tools for issues affecting employers across the country, such as the part-time unemployment scheme. That tells you how we think about documents and processes.

On larger reorganisations we run the scenarios before you decide: selection outcomes, costs and timelines side by side. Better a day of number-crunching than a year in court.

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