Employer's duty to investigate employee termination: 'Figure it out!' April 2022, Labor Law 2022/17

1. How about this?

A termination by the employee is a unilateral legal act addressed to the employer. A legal act is created by a will directed to legal effect which reveals itself by a declaration (Art. 3:33 BW). In the case of the notice of termination, the will must be aimed at termination of the employment contract. The declaration of termination is in principle free of form and may also be contained in a conduct (Art. 3:37 (1) BW). It regularly happens that the employer hears or reads something different from what the employee intended (afterwards). What steps are important in assessing whether the employer can hold the employee to his notice? We have listed a number of steps below.

1.1 Clear and unambiguous statement

Termination can have serious consequences for the employee, such as loss of severance protection and entitlement to benefits. Therefore, the employer should not assume too easily that the employee intends to terminate his employment contract. Case law has developed a strict standard for assuming...