As a rule, an employee must really go too far to be dismissed summarily.

An employee can only be dismissed summarily if there is an urgent cause for dismissal. This means that it cannot be required from an employer to continue the employment agreement. Also, the dismissal should be given almost immediately after the reason for the dismissal has become known to the employer.

After being dismissed summarily, an employee has two months in which he can submit an application to the court to have the dismissal annulled.

If indeed it comes to a court case, the employee may, among other things, claim damages from the employer.

In the event of a summary dismissal, there is quite a bit at stake for the employee. The payment of wages is stopped from the time of dismissal. Sometimes the employer will already not have paid (part of) the last wages because of a setoff with the above-mentioned damages. The employee who has been dismissed summarily will also almost never be entitled to benefits.

It will, therefore, not be readily assumed that there actually is an urgent cause for dismissal. So what kind of cases would justify a summary dismissal?

Examples include the following situations: proven theft by an employee, deliberate destruction of company property, and repeatedly arriving too late, despite warnings.