That is not new in itself: a dismissal is a unilateral legal act that can only be revoked with the employee’s consent. However, the consequences of this were unpleasant for an employer in Limburg.
The employee had resigned herself in February, causing the employment contract to end as of April 1. In March, she was dismissed with immediate effect. She claimed, among other things, compensation for irregular termination and a transition allowance. The employer then withdrew the immediate dismissal so that the employment contract would end on April 1 due to her own resignation. The judge ruled that this was not valid. An immediate dismissal cannot be withdrawn. Moreover, the employer did not have an urgent reason to dismiss the employee immediately. The employee had been clever: she did not request annulment. As a result, the termination by the employer remained valid, but since there was no urgent reason, the dismissal could not be made with immediate effect. Therefore, the employee received compensation for irregular termination and a transition allowance since the termination was by the employer. The requested equitable compensation was rejected, but it could have ended differently for the employer.
If the employer had done nothing, this employee would have left the company as of April 1 and would not have been entitled to a transition payment. A summary dismissal is always difficult, but as an employer, think twice before doing this if the employment contract will soon end anyway due to termination by the employee.
