A lying cleaner: a successful summary dismissal

Employment Law

30 March 2023

A lying cleaner: a successful 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 cleaner requests leave, but books his holiday anyway without having received permission. After the booking, the supervisor informed the cleaner that he was not yet being given permission for the entire requested period. He was, however, given permission for part of it.

The employee thought he was being clever. During the holiday, the employee reported sick and told the employer that no return flight to the Netherlands was available anymore. The employer immediately said it had questions about the sick leave and the return flight. A day later, the employer finally announced by letter that the employee was being summarily dismissed.

For a successful reliance on summary dismissal under Sections 7:677 and 7:678 of the Dutch Civil Code, several statutory conditions must be met. The case described above is one in which all those conditions for a summary dismissal were met, District Court of Rotterdam (ECLI:NL:RBROT:2022:11249).

The court rules that the employee could simply have returned to the Netherlands, because return flights were in fact available. Because the employee did not return to the Netherlands, even though this was actually possible both medically and practically… The employee also lied about his possible return to the Netherlands. The employee’s position that he should have been given a hearing does not hold up here. The employer had done enough, and the employee could have booked a return flight much earlier. As a result, the summary dismissal in this case was validly given, and the employee does not receive a transition payment!

Masterclass Summary dismissal: the pitfalls and lessons!

Summary dismissal is a drastic legal remedy that employers cannot simply use at will. There are therefore many pitfalls with this way of ending an employment relationship. Because what do you, as an employer, need to have properly arranged? What are the conditions for a summary dismissal? What is an urgent cause? What can an employee raise against it?

On 13 April 2023, The Legal Company is organising a breakfast session, ‘Summary dismissal: the pitfalls and lessons!‘, in which all the legal aspects of summary dismissal are discussed using practical examples, including the case referred to above.

Who is this masterclass for?

Entrepreneurs with staff
Directors/business owners
Supervisors
HR managers

Topics discussed during this masterclass include:

The statutory framework for a summary dismissal
The characteristics of a summary dismissal
Recent case law with examples!
Pitfalls and lessons around file-building and dealing with the employee

For more information and to register, click here!

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.