Am I entitled to a VSO?

Questioner

I have been employed as an account manager for over 5 years and am 100% deployed for supermarkets. In November 2021 we were informed that the current collaboration with the supermarket will be terminated around June 1, 2022. This also means the end of our position as store account manager. We received the following email as confirmation: 'Dear , Good to have sat together on Tuesday to catch up on developments. As discussed, our services will stop around June 1, 2022. There is still an internal discussion about the future of the broader store support role, but that this role will be stopped by us. We have discussed that I will ensure that there is a contact person for you regarding the development. There is still a lot of uncertainty about this, if I know or hear more I will contact you. Let's stay in touch with each other in the coming period about the developments, and if anything happens in the meantime, I can be reached. Last Tuesday I had a conversation with both my manager and the HR partner in which it was stated that I have not yet been officially declared redundant and therefore am not yet entitled to any possible arrangement, i.e. transition payment or VSO. My proposal would be to already enter into a VSO so that I can start looking for new and suitable work with motivation. I do not feel motivated and comfortable with the idea of ​​continuing in this way until June 1, and then still not knowing what awaits me. I therefore wonder whether I am indeed not entitled to any rights at this point, and whether I will have to wait until the employer comes with an official statement of redundancy? Or is the confirmation in the attached email sufficient to claim this? No matter how you look at it, the function will cease to exist. If there is any important information missing, please let me know. Thank you in advance for your response. Yours sincerely,

Lawyer

There is often a social plan in the event of a reorganization and this plan regulates, among other things, in which cases a VSO is offered. Roughly speaking, this is usually the case if internal or external redeployment in the event of redundancy is not possible and there is an employment contract for an indefinite period (or a fixed-term contract that will continue for a considerable period). A VSO is in fact an agreement that is offered. There is no legal provision that obliges the employer to offer a VSO (in certain cases). You could discuss that you would be open to a VSO. If your organization has a social plan, you could check whether it contains a job creation scheme and whether you could use it. Please note that a VSO must meet certain requirements if benefit rights are to be secured (as much as possible).