Why you? Check the redundancy selection calculation

Why you? Check the redundancy selection calculation

Have you been nominated for dismissal in a reorganisation? Ask how the employer determined the role category, reference date and dismissal order. For interchangeable roles, the Dutch afspiegelingsbeginsel can determine who leaves. This is not an assessment of who is the best or cheapest employee. A correct calculation using the wrong role category can still produce the wrong result. Check the assumptions first, then respond within the actual dismissal procedure’s deadline.

Check establishment and interchangeable roles before the calculation.

Age group and relevant service must use correct information.

A social plan or HR discussion does not replace a timely individual defence.

Establish which selection needs explaining

Ask how many positions disappear within your role category and which employees were included. The [general reorganisation guide](guide:reorganisatie-en-ontslag) addresses the need for job losses and redeployment; this guide specifically examines why you are in the dismissal order. Keep these issues separate. Even with correct selection, necessity and redeployment opportunities can remain disputed.

This proportional selection method is not always the right test. Examples include closure of a business or independent establishment, a genuinely unique role disappearing or an entire category being removed. A collective agreement with a competent independent dismissal committee may also provide another order. Request the applicable rules and reasons for the chosen route; do not assume all reorganisations use the same list.

Check the establishment and interchangeability of roles

UWV starts from the workforce of the undertaking or independent establishment. Ask why that boundary is correct and which parts are excluded. A department on an organisation chart is not automatically an independent establishment. Keep information on the organisation and how work is arranged; have the decisive factors under the applicable rules assessed.

Article 13 of the Dismissal Regulations compares role content, required knowledge, skills and competencies, temporary or structural nature, level and remuneration together. A different title therefore does not prove roles are non-interchangeable. Conversely, a few shared tasks do not make all roles equal. Collect descriptions and concrete examples of structural duties. Personal preference or whether you could perform another job after training is not the same test as interchangeability.

Check the reference date and your employment data

Under Article 12, the starting point is the workforce when the dismissal application is filed. An earlier objectively ascertainable date may be used subject to conditions and a reasonable justification, but not before employees were informed that jobs would disappear. A special rule applies to an agency employer where an assignment ends. Ask which date was used and why; it is not automatically the first rumour about reorganisation.

Check your birth date, contract type, start date and earlier employment periods that may be relevant. Bring contracts and transfer documents if you previously performed the same work through another employer or agency. Have the periods that count established; not every previous job automatically counts. One incorrect input may change your place within the age group. Ask how changes around the reference date were processed too.

Read workforce groups and age groups together

The order does not simply start with the youngest person. UWV distinguishes external workers, state-pension-age employees, zero-hours contracts, short fixed-term contracts and other employees. External workers in the category leave first; subsequent ordering and age proportions then matter. Ask how a fixed-term contract was classified, paying attention to its remaining duration, and have payroll or other special situations assessed separately.

The five age groups are 15 to under 25, 25 to under 35, 35 to under 45, 45 to under 55, and 55 or older. Within the relevant age group, those with the shortest relevant service generally come first, but numbers allocated to groups follow the proportional calculation. Comparing yourself only with one older colleague is therefore insufficient. Request underlying numbers, treatment of departures and rounding steps; do not declare a certain dismissal result from an incomplete overview.

Request support for exceptions and specify errors

An employer may invoke a specific exception, for example indispensable expertise, an employment disability, certain third-party assignments or a dismissal prohibition. Not every valued colleague is automatically indispensable. Ask which exception is used and what supports it. Collective-agreement deviations, including any limited room to depart from the normal order, have their own conditions. A general wish to retain the best people is not full application of those rules.

For each objection, briefly connect the input, supporting document and possible consequence. For example, your start date is a year late or the same structural role has been divided under two titles. Request relevant information appropriately, using pseudonymisation where needed; do not take complete personnel files yourself. Use the [case-file builder](tool:dossier-builder) to organise evidence. You may identify a concern, but distinguish it from facts still requiring verification.

Include the selection review in your defence on time

If you receive UWV documents, read the reply deadline and respond specifically to the application using numbered exhibits. Do not wait for HR to answer everything or for discussion of the [social plan](guide:sociaal-plan). An internal objection also does not automatically suspend another procedure. For a collective-agreement committee, have its own rules and deadlines checked. A works council opinion does not independently determine whether your individual selection is correct.

Use [finding a lawyer](tool:advocaat-zoeken) to prepare help where categories, previous service or exceptions are complex. Also ask what redeployment and any departure offer mean for you. If the employer has already given notice after permission, a subdistrict-court petition requires a separate assessment and short deadline; the earlier UWV defence is not an automatic court case. Record who monitors that next step and share the complete decision, notice letter and termination date.

Fictional example: two names for potentially the same role

An employee is selected in the “service assistant” category while colleagues titled “customer adviser” remain. Rather than merely saying both teams help customers, she collects role descriptions, structural duties, level and pay. Her adviser examines legal interchangeability before checking reference date and service data. She raises specific discrepancies in her defence on time even if HR has not fully answered. The outcome is uncertain: duties or requirements may genuinely differ. The example shows why neither a different title nor one shared task alone proves correct selection.

Dismissal application with numbers and selected establishment.

Role descriptions, structural duties, level and remuneration.

Reference date, justification and notification information.

Birth date, contracts, service and relevant earlier employment.

Selection overview with groups and substantiated exceptions.

Specific objections, exhibits and monitored reply or subsequent deadlines.

Must the employee with the shortest service always leave?

Not across the entire business without qualification. Category, workforce group, age proportions and exceptions must first be correct. Within a relevant age group, shortest relevant service generally plays the main role.

Can a colleague stay because they perform better?

Personal preference does not replace ordinary proportional selection. Statutory or collective-agreement departures have their own conditions and supporting evidence. Ask which specific exception is being applied.

Is a suitable redeployment role the same as an interchangeable role?

No. Interchangeability compares roles under selection criteria. Suitability examines a redeployment opportunity for you, possibly with training. The assessments can produce different results.

May I await the internal objection committee?

Not without monitoring external deadlines. An internal objection or discussion does not automatically extend a UWV reply period or court forfeiture deadline. Explicitly record both routes and responsible persons.

Sources and editorial notes
Sources current as of: October 22, 2026
1. UWV — proportional redundancy selection
Publisher: UWV
https://www.uwv.nl/nl/ontslag/afspiegelingsbeginsel
2. Dismissal Regulations, Article 11 — selection
Publisher: Wettenbank · Overheid.nl
https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0036599/#Paragraaf4_Artikel11
3. Dismissal Regulations, Article 12 — reference date
Publisher: Wettenbank · Overheid.nl
https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0036599/#Paragraaf4_Artikel12
4. Dismissal Regulations, Article 13 — interchangeable roles
Publisher: Wettenbank · Overheid.nl
https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0036599/#Paragraaf4_Artikel13
5. Dutch government — proportional selection and departures
Publisher: Rijksoverheid
https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/themas/werk/ontslag/afspiegelingsbeginsel
The source publications are in Dutch. All language editions cover Dutch law.