The Netherlands is a constitutional state.
What if your rights, are violated, on multiple accounts? And when you raise this (repeatedly), with written proof, it gets brushed aside.
What rights then, do you have, really?
An Example
Imagine! After six years of being bullied, you file a complaint when you have witnesses of the way you are being mistreated. They do nothing with it (except for hearing the defendant and complainant). No investigation, no hearing of witnesses (!) Yet your complaint is disallowed. Imagine you report this to the Ombudsman. You ask a simple question : “did they handle my complaint honestly, carefully and impartially?”. Despite that the investigation points out, 100%, that they did nothing with it, you get no answer to your question.
Imagine! That after the dismissal of your complaint, you are being intimidated into meetings with, among others, one of the mayor bullies. According to Subsection 1 of Section 2:1 of the General Administrative Law Act, you are entitled to legal aid by a lawyer. But what if the opposite party says (writes!) : “the lawyer is not coming in here”. Then what? And when you raise this time and again, with written evidence, they just don’t do anything with it. Then of what use is such a Section 2:1?
Imagine! That in this context you are diagnosed with PTSD by your physician. An employer is obliged to reintegrate a sick employee. Imagine that the employer definitely doesn’t want that (they have not been trying to bully you out of the place for nothing, the more after your complaint). You get “Exempt from Duty”. In this way there is no reintegration obligation. When you object to such an “Exemption from Duty” (because you are sick) and request reintegration, you get no reply. For months…
What turns out? Busy writing your dismissal…
After sending their “Intention to Dismiss”, your objection gets declared well-founded. You were sick after all… However, no answer to your reintegration request. If you point that out, the answer is that that is pointless as they were already planning to fire you… When you appeal against non-observance of reintegration rules, the judge says “you cannot appeal to a well-founded statement”… Then of what use really, are reintegration rules?
Imagine! You were dismissed because of so-called “non-functioning”. An employer has to substantiate that with piles of evidence. Including serious attempts to achieve improvements, warning(s) for possible dismissal etc.
Now what if this is not the case! At all! No evidence whatsoever of non-functioning, not even one negative performance evaluation. Nothing! Let alone an improvement programme, evaluations or even a suggestion towards dismissal… Nothing!
And the judge says : “utterly right”! (“there is no evidence that you did function (?!?)”)
Then what rights, on earth (!), DO you have?
With as the judge’s final kick that yóu are the troublemaker…, for making such a fuss about your “rights”…
Recommendations
There is far more knowledge and expertise needed as regards Workplace Bullying! Within organisations (confidential contact person, human resources etc.) but also external assistance providers, lawyers, judges and others. There is far more know-how needed to see through the manipulation and attack tactics of aggressors! Insight as to how dust is thrown into the eyes of work environments and third parties, who even end up helping the bullies! Insight as to the inability to admit and remedy mistakes! As to the ‘conspiracy of silence’ that ranks the reputation of management and the system higher than human dignity. ETC!
Third parties must proceed to truthfinding and not let themselves be taken in by unfounded concoctions! (Unless they choose not to of course. If one side is deliberately being shielded. But that is something different of course.)
Mostly it is even rather easy (!) to uncover that one side is dutifully telling the truth!
One million Dutch employees are being bullied at work! Ever more bully-cases will end up on the judge’s plate. Not responding to this by increasing expertise and proceed to factfinding is not an option. People will avoid the court. Because without factfinding there cannot be administration of justice!
The Government must not allow that such a huge part of the population lacks rights, while aggressors go scot-free. That is the opposite of a constitutional state!
Maartje Rutten, The Hague, May 27th, 2019