Richard Ouwerling

Suppose your employee has been sick for almost a year. He holds a defining position within your company. You therefore want to appoint a replacement, because it looks like the sick employee will not be able to return to his original position. Is this allowed?

Today, the summary proceedings in which Tom Egbers is demanding the lifting of his suspension by NOS after a year take place. The questions that come into play here are: when can you suspend an employee and isn't a year of suspension far too long?

Recently, the Hague Court of Appeal ruled that Booking.com must join the industry pension fund for the travel industry. The company opposed this because it sees itself as an Internet company. The financial consequences for Booking.com are huge: The parent company estimates that the ruling will lead to an additional cost of 405 million euros.

Abuse of alcohol or drugs can lead to major problems in the workplace. Think of unsafe situations, dysfunction and regular and/or long-term disability. The employer sometimes wants to unilaterally terminate the employment contract in such a situation. What are the possibilities.

The AVG states that testing employees for substance use is not allowed. According to the Personal Data Authority, it is only permissible to have employees undergo alcohol and/or drug testing if there is a legal basis for doing so.

May you set off excess vacation days against salary without consulting your employee?

Since August 1 of this year, the law (Section 7:653a of the Civil Code) has provided that the employment contract may no longer contain a prohibition on ancillary activities ("ancillary activities clause") unless there is an "objective reason for doing so. This means work in addition to the current position with the employer. This may also include work that the employee performs independently.

Minister Van Gennip (Social Affairs and Employment) sent a package of labour market measures to the Lower House on 3 April (Kamerbrief over voortgang uitwerking arbeidsmarktpakket | Kamerstuk | Rijksoverheid.nl). The Minister largely follows the so-called 'Borstlap Committee' and the SER Advice and gives an advance insight into what the labour market should look like (at the latest) in 2025, according to the Cabinet.

If your company's staffing requirements fluctuate widely, an on-call agreement can be a solution. With an on-call agreement, a flexible layer of employees can be formed and employees can be deployed for a varying number of hours each time.

Like many other industries, the transportation industry is understaffed to keep up with growth. Job openings remain high and retirement attrition continues to increase. In this article, I discuss possible solutions.