The Netherlands: Summary of Legislative Changes
A number of important changes have been introduced in the area of employment law in NL, with effect from 1 January 2018. We have made a list of the most important legislative amendments and the changes. This is ‘Part II’, for the tracker:
- Amendment to the Senior Executives in the Public and Semi-Public Sector (Standards for Remuneration) Act (Wet Normering Topinkomens – WNT) with effect from 1 January 2018
On 1 January 2018, the latest provisions of the so-called WNT Assessment Act entered into force. The WNT provides a general salary ceiling for senior officials in the (semi-)public sectors (which is roughly equal to the ministerial salary).
With effect from 1 January 2018, the main (employment law) amendment to the WNT will be the following:
A person who has held a senior position which is standardised by the WNT for at least twelve months and then takes up a non-senior position at the same institution will continue to be regarded as a senior official for a further four years. This means that the salary will continue to be standardised by the WNT for the four subsequent years. The same applies to severance payments. The ceiling for severance payments has been EUR 75,000 since the WNT came into force.
- Increase of the maximum transitional payment with effect from 1 January 2018
In the event of dismissal, employees will be entitled to a transitional payment if they have been employed for 24 months or more and the employer has taken the initiative for the dismissal. A fixed formula is used to calculate this. Since the introduction of the transitional payment, the ceiling has increased each year.
The law imposes a ceiling on transitional payments even if an employee would be entitled to more according to the formula. With effect from 1 January 2018, the maximum transitional payment will increase from EUR 77,000 to EUR 79,000 gross or no more than a gross annual salary if that is higher than EUR 79,000 gross. Please be aware that the calculation tools (on the internet) do not always take this into account.
- Increase of the State Pension Age to 66 years
With effect from 1 January 2018, the State Pension Age will be 66 years.
This should be taken into account when persons are leaving employment because they have reached retirement age.
