AOb wins another case on severance pay at Supreme Court
Employees who are made redundant shortly before they are due to retire are entitled to a full transition payment. The Supreme Court has determined this in a procedure that the AOb had filed for a 64-year-old secondary school teacher.
Picture: Supreme Court
The secondary education teacher receives over 73 euros gross in transition payment, a severance payment when an employment contract is terminated, based on the number of years of service. It is the second time in a short time that the AOb before the Supreme Court wins a case about severance payments. Last summer the council suggested the AOb in the right in a case for an employee who had to work less for health reasons. That case delivered AObmember raised 34 thousand euros. Both cases have important consequences for employees in education, but also outside it.
In the new case, the employment contract of the secondary education teacher was terminated in August 2016 by his employer, the Stichting Katholieke Scholengroep Secondary Education Best-Oirschot, after the teacher had been ill for a long time. According to AOblawyer Geert Wind initially helped the teacher the subdistrict court a transition payment of 25 thousand euros. “The Subdistrict Court partly agreed with the employer's story that full compensation is not reasonable because the teacher would retire and because the teacher was completely ill anyway,” says Wind.
AOb-lawyer Geert Wind: 'We found the amount and the consideration of the subdistrict court judge to be contrary to the law'
Profession
The lawyer appealed against the decision of the subdistrict court. Wind: “We found the amount and the consideration of the Subdistrict Court to be contrary to the law. This clearly states that in the event of dismissal, the number of years of service is calculated and thus a transition payment is established. Personal circumstances, such as illness and dismissal just before the state pension age, do not count towards the amount of the transition payment. The Work and Security Act (Wwz), which has been introduced since 2015, contains a clear and standardized system. In our opinion, there is no room for individual interpretation, as there was for the Wwz with the subdistrict court formula. ”
The Den Bosch Court of Appeal ruled AOb and the teacher in the right. It was the school foundation that subsequently went to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court announced at the end of last week that the decision of the court of appeal remains valid: the teacher was entitled to the full transition allowance.
Higher compensation
In the ruling, the Supreme Court writes: 'The legislator has recognized that the statutory regulation of the transition payment can lead to an employee who is dismissed shortly before reaching retirement age, is entitled to a transition payment that is higher than the wages he would have received if he had remained in service. '
The Supreme Court confirms the main rule that the law gives substance to the transition payment, the judge must respect the law. Wind is happy with the statements. "We are again upheld by the Supreme Court. Those are the currants in the porridge."
