Pensions and employment law

Our pension lawyers can give you advice about pension schemes, drawing up articles on pensions in an employment or termination agreement and the consequences of dismissal with regard to pensions.

The employment conditions for pensions

For many employees a pension is still an important employment condition which the employer is sometimes obliged to offer and partly pay for. Since there is no pension obligation in the Netherlands, the employer and the employee can agree together about participating in a particular pension scheme.

Compulsory pension scheme

In practice, this contractual freedom is still often limited. In fact, a collective employment agreement which applies to the employer can oblige the company to offer its employees a pension scheme. An employer may also be obliged to offer employees a pension scheme based on a business sector pension fund that is compulsory by law.

Waiver

In the case of a compulsory pension scheme, an employee cannot opt to reject this. The employee is obliged to participate and the employer must pay the premium (the employee’s and the employer’s part). In other cases the employee can agree to sign a waiver. In this the employee can explicitly declares that they are not making use of the employer’s offer to participate in a pension scheme.

Information obligation

The employer is obliged to inform the employee about the question of whether a pension scheme applies as an employment condition.

Employment termination at retirement age clause

The rules of the Pensions Act and those of employment law apply to pensions as an employment condition, such as, for example, those about a unilateral change of a pension scheme and about dismissal at the age at which an employee is entitled to OAP or reaches retirement (employment termination at retirement age clause). Obviously questions about the pension also play an important role in proceedings related to dismissal and in the conclusion of termination agreements.

More information

GMW lawyers will be happy to help you with all your pension-related legal issues. If you have any questions, please contact us directly using the enquiry form below or +31 (0)70 3615048. Our pension lawyers will be happy to support and advise you.

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