Transition payment and seniority: Your rights

Questioner

I worked for my employer's internal employment agency (a hospital) from September 2009 to December 2011. After that, I worked in the same position at the hospital via a secondment agency owned by the director of this hospital from January 2013 to March 2013. From April 2013, I received a permanent contract with this hospital itself. Now I have been declared redundant due to a reorganization and my employer says that they will use the years worked from 2013 onwards to determine the transition compensation. This makes quite a difference in years worked for the amount of my transition compensation. While I am starting from 2009. Is my employer right? Or should they still start from 2009?

Lawyer

If you have worked for another formal employer, but this employer was aware of your qualities, this employer will be regarded as the same employer for the calculation of seniority. In your case, the director of the hospital was the same as the director of the secondment agency. You always had the same function. For that reason, the seniority must be calculated from the beginning, i.e. 2009. This also applies to the amount of the transition payment. The hospital is therefore wrong. If you have any further questions or problems, you should contact an employment law specialist. This case is too complex for a generalist. Often the first consultation (max. half an hour) is free.