In the Netherlands, an employment contract can – among others – be terminated with mutual consent. Per the 1st of July 2015, the Work and Security Act entered into full effect. According to this Act, a settlement agreement is only valid if concluded in writing and the agreement (or the enclosed letter) must contain a clause stating that the employee has the statutory right to dissolve the settlement agreement for a period of 14 days after conclusion (“reflection period”, or in Dutch “bedenktermijn”). If this clause is not included, the minimum reflection period is extended to 21 days. This new right brought uncertainties regarding the starting point of this reflection period, namely: what is the moment of conclusion? The Cantonal Court in Rotterdam decided in February 2016 that a settlement agreement is concluded at the moment the agreement is signed by the employee. However, the Cantonal Court in Leiden recently decided (in June 2016) that the moment when the employer and employee agree upon the essential elements of the termination is crucial. Considering these conflicting rulings, it is still unclear how this will be considered in future matters. For now, it is important that the moment of agreement and the moment of signing are close to each other.
Netherlands