Documents Bij de Vaate, Vivian 2 results

"This paper deals with the changes that were introduced in dismissal law in Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. The reforms in these countries all aimed at greater flexibility by reducing dismissal cost, making dismissal more predictable and shortening dismissal cases. In order to do so, the countries not only focused on changing the substantive dismissal rules, but also changed procedural rules. Moreover, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands shared the same objectives: the encouragement of early settlements between employer and employee and the introduction of a preliminary assessment procedure. This contribution compares and analyses these instruments in the countries of interest. It attempts to determine what adjustments are needed in the law to make the instruments successful and what drawbacks should be taken into account."

"This contribution discusses the Dutch possibilities of collective redress in the domain of labour law. More specifically, it examines the legal options of bringing collective actions and obtaining collective redress in Dutch courts in labour cases, and elaborates on the relevant legal framework as well as the extent to which these opportunities have been used in practice. Findings imply that the Netherlands was among one of the first European countries to introduce a general collective action system. This general collective action regime allows unions and other interest groups to raise cases to protect workers' rights, even outside the scope of collective labour agreements. Such a collective action regime, however, is not commonly used in practice. Nevertheless, as of January 2020 the admissibility criteria for this general collective redress mechanism have been expanded and it has become an ‘opt-out' regime, without the need for individual workers to initiate individual follow-up proceedings in the event of a successful case. The latter could improve the effective enforcement of workers' rights in practice and could provide an incentive for trade unions and other organisations that are active in the protection of workers' rights to incite a collective action."