A large share of disputes that arise within the wider sphere of labour law have to do specifically with laws on dismissal. If an employer wishes to end its working relationship with an employee, it has various options. Naturally, the best course is termination by means of a termination agreement, but if the employer and employee are unable to reach agreement, the employer can ask the UWV Employee Insurance Agency for permission to cancel the employment contract or apply to the subdistrict court to have it dissolved. Obviously, there must be well-founded, demonstrable reasons to do so. Whether it is necessary to request permission from the UWV or dissolution from the subdistrict court depends on the grounds for the dismissal. In some cases the employer will also have to pay the employee compensation. With the entry into force of new dismissal legislation in the Work and Security Act (Wet werk en zekerheid) on 1 July 2015, the procedures for dismissal via the UWV and subdistrict court will change, as will the method used to calculate any payment to employees, referred to as a transition payment.

If an employer wants to dismiss multiple employees more or less simultaneously, it will also have to take account of the requirements of the Collective Redundancy (Notification) Act (Wet melding collectief ontslag) and may have to negotiate a social plan with the trade unions or works council.