Employment & Employee Benefits

+ 13 other experts

EMPLOYMENT LAW EXPERTISE AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL

Handling complex and multi-disciplinary employment matters, with market-leading experience in proceedings brought before the Supreme Court

We advise on the employment law and co-determination aspects of national and international mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and outsourcings, as well as individual and collective dismissals. Our expertise focuses on advising large companies on the appointment and dismissal of higher management, remuneration schemes, reorganisations, collective labour agreements (CAOs), pensions law, national and European co-determination and industrial actions (strikes). Our lawyers deal with all aspects of employment litigation, and have an unequalled position in Supreme Court litigation.

As employment law is ever evolving, we ensure that our lawyers are fully abreast of current developments and market practices. Our lawyers are actively involved in the academic and judicial development of employment law, as speakers, university lecturers or members of the judiciary, and also publish regularly on various employment law issues.

We offer our clients specialist legal knowledge in multidisciplinary matters, in close cooperation with our regulatory, tax and corporate expertise groups.


Recent Matters

23 January 2025

De Brauw advises Pontegadea on the acquisition of a minority stake in Q-Park

De Brauw advises Pontegadea, the investment vehicle of Inditex founder Amancio Ortega and focused on a wide range of sectors as real estate, energy, infrastructure or retail, on the acquisition of a 20% stake in Q-Park from its existing majority shareholder KKR. Q-Park is a leading European parking infrastructure owner and operator, with a large and diversified portfolio of approximately 4,400 owned, leased and managed parking facilities in The Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark. Q-Park focuses on off-street, strategic prime locations and works together with municipalities and landlords to implement sustainable urban mobility plans, leveraging its industry-leading digital capabilities, strategic growth framework and its sizeable and rapidly expanding EV charging offering.
23 December 2024

De Brauw advises BAM on divestment of its 50% share in Invesis to joint venture partner PGGM

De Brauw advised Royal BAM Group N.V. on the divestment of its 50% share in Invesis to joint venture partner PGGM Infrastructure Fund. The parties have reached conditional agreement on this divestment. The closing of the transaction, which is subject to obtaining relevant authority clearance and completion of the works council consultation process, is expected to take place early 2025.
20 December 2024

Paulig acquires leading Dutch brand Conimex from Unilever

De Brauw assisted Paulig in its acquisition of Conimex from Unilever.

'Very pleasant to work with' - the firm's diligence is a source of praise among clients, one underlining its 'well thought through and comprehensive advice'.

Chambers Europe, 2021

Insights

14 November 2024

14 November is Equal Pay Day - some progress on pay transparency

Equal Pay Day marks the symbolic day in the year when women effectively "stop earning", compared to men, due to the gender pay gap in Europe. In recent years, the EU has intensified its focus on addressing pay inequality with a series of legislative initiatives that enhance pay transparency and gender-related reporting obligations. The EU Pay Transparency Directive and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) both set out the detailed information that companies must provide on the gender pay gap in their management reports. Equal Pay Day serves as a timely reminder of recent advancements in pay transparency legislation that impact compliance requirements, corporate governance and employee relations.
23 July 2024

Dutch government seeks to clarify criteria for assessing employment relations, in new bill

On 3 July 2024, the Dutch government published the Bill Clarifying Assessment of Employment Relations and Legal Presumption (Wet verduidelijking beoordeling arbeidsrelaties en rechtsvermoeden (VBAR)) as amended after an internet consultation. The bill introduces two additions to current legislation: (i) clarification of "relationship of authority", which is one of the defining elements of an employment agreement; and (ii) a legal presumption that an employment agreement exists, when working at an hourly rate of EUR 33 or less.
12 July 2024

Dutch Supreme Court: dynamic incorporation clause passes to new owner after transfer of undertaking

On 12 July 2024, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that is important to the employment law and M&A practice in the Netherlands. The case concerns the question of whether a "dynamic incorporation clause" in an employment agreement passes automatically to the new owner after a transfer of undertaking (TUPE) within the meaning of article 7:662 Dutch Civil Code. A dynamic incorporation clause is a clause that provides that not only the collective bargaining agreement in force at the start of the employment but also later versions of that collective agreement, will apply to the employment agreement. We previously reported on the case in this article.