[Goldmund]

Funny thing is I both live in Amsterdam and went to law school. I can guarantee you the package you describe is not rooted in Dutch labor law. Severeance payments are closely related to the time period an employee has been working at the company involved. Assuming normal circumstances and excluding any ground for firing an employee it comes down roughly to 1 month of salary for every year worked, depending on who is ''at fault". Employees with labor contracts longer than twelve months can be dismissed within the first two months of their engagement without penalty, those with shorter contracts within the first month. As well: any labor contract can be temporary instead of (semi-)permanent. Parties can of course agree to different terms, but those are not mandated by law. Goldmund


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The laws are so restrictive that you can't hire a full time employee without committing to employ them for life.


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That is just utter BS.

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Well, laws vary from country to country, but in Amsterdam we were forced to write a lucrative severance package into an employment agreement with our sales manager (something like 2-3 years severance), as lawyers told us that under the law in the Netherlands we would owe him that much anyways if we ever fired him.

This is for a guy managing an office that was a startup for both of us. For him it was heads, he wins, tails, he wins. We put up the money, and if it fails, we lose a bunch of money while he takes a huge paycheck and goes back to doing what he was doing before. Ever wonder why more companies don't take startup risks under restrictions like that? Wonder why they outsource good jobs to other countries?

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