Inspectorate criticizes benefits agency's handling of dismissal procedures

The Inspectorate for Social Affairs and Employment fiercely criticized benefits agency UWV for how it handles the dismissal procedures for employees fired for economic reasons. According to the Inspectorate, the UWV barely checks information received from employers for factual inaccuracies and does not always adhere to a certain statutory regulation, Trouw reports.

A survey conducted by the Inspectorate showed that the UWV does not always adhere to the rule that a dismissed employee must be hired again if there is a similar vacancy at his previous employer within six months. Almost a third of dismissed employees reported that their former employer had a vacancy that looked very much like their old job in that period, but were not hired back.

According to the Inspectorate, this shows that employees with a permanent contract risk being replaced by cheaper freelancers. And that is in violation of the dismissal regulations implemented on July 1st, 2015.

Before the new law was introduced, an employee could fight a dismissal based on economic reasons in court himself. Now the UWV is in charge of carrying out this procedure. The Inspectorate thinks that this puts the employee at a disadvantage, according to the newspaper.

Trouw writes that the UWV maintains that the dismissal procedure is "well-balanced", and that the benefits agency does not agree with the investigation method the Inspectorate used.