Legal advice on business takeovers

Questioner

The company where I worked was taken over. This was all arranged within 1 week. I received a letter from my old employer with termination of contract. Now I have received a new contract from my new employer, but I am going downhill considerably. In addition, I have been working at the new company for 2 weeks now and work every day until 19:00 at least. While at my old employer

Lawyer

If the company is taken over, all rights and obligations from the employment contract are also taken over. You have been working at the new company for two weeks now and therefore the employment contract has already been taken over by the new employer. The old employer is therefore not allowed to terminate the contract with you. You therefore do not have to accept the new contract.

Lawyer

The contract with you may not be terminated. This is important for your number of years of service in the event of a possible future dismissal (and severance pay). And perhaps you can still finish your question (you stopped halfway through a sentence). And please note: there is not always a transfer of undertaking. There is a transfer of undertaking when the acquirer can be seen as the continuator of the undertaking, as he is in a situation in which he can start to develop the same or similar activities. When taking over the operation, the identity of the undertaking must be preserved. This will be the case if the fixed assets, trade name, customer registers, administration, personnel, etc. are taken over. If only a building, only machines or only the group of employees is taken over, there is usually no transfer of undertaking. However, if, for example, almost only personnel is transferred, there may be a transfer of undertaking, namely when that personnel is the most important factor. If more is taken over, such as personnel and orders, there is quickly a transfer (of the operation) of an undertaking.

Lawyer

If the main business activities have been taken over, there will soon be a transfer of undertaking as referred to in Article 7:662 et seq. of the Dutch Civil Code. Your rights and obligations under the employment contract will then automatically be transferred to the acquiring party. You write that you have received a letter from your former employer in which your employment contract is terminated. If you received this letter before the takeover took place, you must invoke the annulment of this termination within 2 weeks. You can find a sample letter on this website under 'models', called 'protest letter against dismissal'. If you fail to do so, you may be legally deemed to have accepted the termination. You do not have to accept your new employer's offer if your employment contract has not already been legally terminated by your old employer prior to the takeover and if you are certain that your rights and obligations have already been transferred prior to that termination. In the absence of your acceptance of the new employment contract, your new employer will in that case be obliged to respect your old employment conditions.