Reversal of policy Court of The Hague in the event of manifestly unfair dismissal.
Henceforth the Court of Appeal at The Hague will take the subdistrict court formula minus 30% as a starting point in cases of “manifestly unfair” dismissal. Today (14 October 2008) on appeal the Court of The Hague gave its verdict on this for the first time in seven cases.

In all these disparate cases in which a verdict was given on 14 October, the employers dismissed their employees with the permission of the Centre for Work and Income (CWI). The employees claimed compensation from their former employers, because in their view the consequences of dismissal were too serious in comparison with the interest the employers had in dismissing them.

Contrary to what has been the case in the past, the Court of Appeals of The Hague will henceforth take the so-called 'magistrate's court formula' as a point of departure in these cases. The result of the calculation according to this formula will then be reduced by 30%. With this change in policy, the Court of Appeals intends to meet the call for more clarity on the assessment of cases of manifestly unfair dismissal.

The differences between the procedure for dissolution (quick, no assessment of the reason for dismissal by the CWI) for which the magistrate's court formula is intended and the manifestly unfair dismissal procedure (usually subject to assessment by the CWI, with due regard to the notice period) and the criterion 'manifestly unfair' justify the reduction by 30% in accordance with the verdict of the Court of Appeals. This approach does not automatically lead to the granting of compensation in all cases.
Source: Court of Appeals of The Hague