New Policy Rule on the Imposition of Fines to the Foreigners Employment Act 2020: more stringent than you might imagine

Immediately following its publication Bart Maes reported on LinkedIn: ‘Nothing new.’, we have now started using this new Policy Rule and it appears – very unexpectedly – that the voluntary notification has largely been ended. Under Minister Lodewijk Asscher, a very sensible measure has been included in the Policy Rule on the Imposition of Fines to the Foreigners Employment Act, namely a type of voluntary disclosure scheme: a warning instead of a fine in the event of an immediate end to illegal work and a notification to the Inspectorate SZW within one salary round. If the conditions are not fully met, a moderation ground of 75% still applies. Many employers have used this through our office alone because >80% – if not more – of the fines are imposed as a result of ignorance on the part of the employers involved. This is precisely why a voluntary disclosure scheme also works very well. But there are sometimes dark forces at work at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment who have almost completely turned their back on the scheme under the guise of ‘preventing ambiguity’ and ‘applying fixed deadlines’. Pity!

Update 31 March 2020: Maes Law addresses an e-mail to the responsible officials of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment.

Update 30 April 2020: despite repeated reminders, no response from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment was received. To be continued…