Employer loses case: suspected time theft not direct grounds for summary dismissal

Employment Law

3 March 2025

Employer loses case: suspected time theft not direct grounds for summary dismissal

Stelt u zich eens voor: u werkt al jaren met dezelfde zelfstandige. Hij stuurt facturen, factureert btw en heeft een eigen kvk-nummer. Toch krijgt u in 2026 ineens vragen van de Belastingdienst over de aard van uw samenwerking. Hoe heeft het zo ver kunnen komen?

A recent ruling by the Central Netherlands District Court confirms that an employee cannot simply be summarily dismissed for suspected time theft. Certainly not when the employee is performing well. This case involved a conflict between an employer and an employee who worked from home.

The employee worked largely from home and had an “office day” only once a month. In August 2024, the employer raised the issue of her productivity with her, based partly on data from systems such as Trengo and Swyxlt, which recorded email and phone traffic. According to the employer, the employee had worked too little and was lying about her hours. After a conversation about this, the employee reported sick with pregnancy-related complaints, but shortly afterwards the employer announced he would visit her at home. During this home visit on 3 September 2024, he accused her of fraud and summarily dismissed her that same day.

The court, however, ruled that the employer had insufficient evidence for his accusations. The systems used recorded only part of the work and did not take into account other tasks such as calculations and research work. This meant it could not be established with certainty that the employee had actually worked too few hours.

The court also ruled that, even if the employee had worked fewer hours than required, a summary dismissal was not justified. The employer should have discussed this with her and made arrangements. Given her previously good performance, a lighter measure would have sufficed.

The result? The summary dismissal was annulled and the employee remained employed. This ruling underlines that employers must act carefully when giving a summary dismissal, and that well-performing employees cannot simply be dismissed on the basis of incomplete data.

De afgelopen jaren stonden in het teken van de Wet VBAR, het wetsvoorstel dat een einde moest maken aan onduidelijkheid over de zzp’er. Het kabinet heeft delen van dat voorstel inmiddels geschrapt. Op het eerste gezicht is dat goed nieuws: minder regels, minder administratieve last. Maar in de praktijk blijven dezelfde toetsen overeind.

“De inhoud van de samenwerking is leidend, niet wat er op papier staat.”

De Belastingdienst handhaaft sinds 1 januari 2025 weer actief op schijnzelfstandigheid. En recente uitspraken van de Hoge Raad bevestigen dat rechters strikt toetsen of er sprake is van ondergeschiktheid en gezagsverhouding.

Voor uw praktijk betekent dit drie dingen. Een: leg de samenwerking duidelijk vast, met aandacht voor de inhoud. Twee: voorkom dat een zzp’er feitelijk werkt als werknemer. Drie: wees voorbereid op een controle, en weet hoe u de relatie kunt herzien als dat moet.

Heeft u vragen over uw concrete situatie? Wij sparren dagelijks met opdrachtgevers over hun zzp-relaties. Vraag een offerte op of bekijk onze Legal Safe abonnementen.