Only for employees
Reorganization at Albert Heijn
Is your position at Albert Heijn changing, is your distribution centre being automated, or is there a departure proposal on the table?
This page explains your position under Dutch employment law, which applies to everyone working in the Netherlands, including highly skilled migrants and international employees at Albert Heijn. Albert Heijn is the largest supermarket business in the country and part of the listed group Ahold Delhaize. Behind that one brand sit very different worlds: the stores, the distribution centres around Zaandam and the head office. A reorganization can affect each place differently, and at Albert Heijn there is an extra question that many other employers do not have: are you employed by Albert Heijn itself, or by an independent franchisee? Before you sign a proposal, it is wise to know your rights and whether the offer does justice to your situation.
Does this apply to you?
- Your role in the store, the DC or at head office is changing or disappearing
- Your distribution centre is being automated, merged or closed
- You have been declared redundant, or you fear it is heading that way
- You are being presented with new terms of employment
- A departure arrangement or settlement agreement is waiting for you
Why employees turn to ReorgLegal
ReorgLegal specialises in reorganizations and works solely for employees, never for employers. We assess your proposal and stand beside you.
Do not wait too long. Reorganizations often come with short response deadlines. Have any proposal assessed before you agree to it.
The situation at Albert Heijn
Albert Heijn is part of Ahold Delhaize and operates with a large store network, its own logistics and a head office in Zaandam. Changes therefore rarely land everywhere at once.
Logistics that automate heavily
In distribution the work is moving to heavily mechanized centres, where machines take over much of the order picking. If a location is merged or closed, it is not only where you work that changes, but often the kind of work that is left. A move to an automated centre can mean an entirely different type of role than the one you fill today.
Stores and head office move too
In the store organization and at head office as well, roles are sometimes reviewed, bundled or placed differently. On top of that, Albert Heijn occasionally presents new terms-of-employment arrangements to particular groups of staff. What such an arrangement holds for you, and what you might give up with it, is far from always easy to grasp at first.
The exact plans, figures and arrangements around a reorganization can change. This page was last updated in July 2026; the information shown applies as far as known at that time.
In short
- Albert Heijn falls under the Ahold Delhaize group
- The distribution centres are being extensively mechanized
- Merging or closing a DC can mean different work
- Roles in stores and at the office may be reviewed
- New terms of employment are sometimes offered separately
- Know where you stand before you put your signature to anything
Who do you actually work for?
At Albert Heijn this is the first question that matters. Part of the AH stores are run by independent franchisees. Who your legal employer is determines which collective agreement applies to you, who carries out a reorganization and where you claim your rights.
Employed by Albert Heijn itself
If you work in a store operated by Albert Heijn, in a distribution centre or at head office, then Albert Heijn is your employer. The reorganization, the reflection principle and the reassignment investigation then take place within the Albert Heijn organization, with the corresponding collective agreement and any social plan.
Employed by a franchisee
If you work in a franchise store, your employer is the independent entrepreneur who runs the branch, not Albert Heijn. A reorganization or closure at that entrepreneur follows their own terms of employment. You then claim your rights from your own employer, even though the familiar AH sign hangs above the door.
Not sure who your employer is? Check your payslip and your employment contract to see which company is named there, or let us find out before you respond to a proposal.
Your place sets your rights
Within Albert Heijn the staff sit in three different worlds. How a reorganization affects you, and which arrangement applies, varies widely per place.
In the store
Anyone working in the store often has a part-time contract, sometimes for few hours or for a fixed term. If a branch closes or the staffing shifts, that can end in a transfer to another store or in fewer hours. If you are asked to hand in hours, that is, depending on how it is done, effectively a partial dismissal, which sometimes comes with partial compensation.
In the distribution centre
In logistics the change moves fastest, because the centres are being extensively automated. If the work is drawn to a mechanized location, a transfer comes into view. Whether that offer is suitable ties in with the travel distance, your current role and the question of whether the new, more technical work fits you.
At head office in Zaandam
At head office it usually comes down to a classic redundancy: a role lapses or is set up anew. Then the reflection principle, the reassignment investigation and, where tasks are outsourced, the question of whether your work and your rights move along to another party all come into play.
Unsure which rules apply where you work? Have your situation assessed before you commit to anything.
What to watch for
- Which collective agreement applies to you: the store one or the distribution one
- Whether handing in hours is effectively a partial dismissal
- The travel distance if you transfer to another centre or store
- Whether the offered work genuinely fits you in level and content
- The terms of a departure proposal or a new arrangement
How a reorganization at Albert Heijn unfolds
If your position lapses or your location changes, the reorganization runs through a number of fixed steps. At each step there is something to check.
The decision and employee participation
Albert Heijn first submits a proposed reorganization to the works council, which issues advice on it. If the decision hits many employees at once, the rules on collective dismissal can take effect. They only oblige a notification to the UWV and consultation with the trade unions once the statutory conditions are met, in particular when the number of intended dismissals within a working area and a given period passes the statutory threshold.
The selection and the reflection scope
Who becomes redundant is not something Albert Heijn can designate at its own discretion. Once positions count as mutually interchangeable, at its core the reflection principle sets the order, leaving aside the statutory exceptions such as indispensable staff. The unit that reflection is applied to follows from the organizational set-up of the company and from the application of the Dismissal Regulation (Ontslagregeling). At a retail chain that may be a location, but it is by no means a given. That is why it matters so much how your job group and the reflection scope have been drawn.
Reassignment within a large group
A declaration of redundancy is not yet a dismissal, but an intermediate step. Before a departure is on the table, it must be investigated whether there is a suitable position for you, if necessary after retraining and within a reasonable period. Because Albert Heijn is part of a larger whole, that reassignment obligation can, depending on the organization and the group structure, reach beyond your own unit. If that yields nothing, the employer usually proposes a departure via a settlement agreement, or otherwise files for dismissal with the UWV.
At every step there is something to do
- Put the collective agreement, the social plan and your personal proposal on the table in writing
- Have it recalculated how your job group and the reflection scope have been drawn
- Ask whether reassignment was also investigated beyond your own unit
- Agree to no arrangement whatsoever before it has been assessed
What does this mean for you?
A reorganization at Albert Heijn follows the statutory rules for dismissal for economic reasons, supplemented by the applicable collective agreement and any social plan. On each of those points you are not empty-handed.
A verifiable selection
Who becomes redundant does not lie freely with the employer. Within interchangeable positions, at its core the reflection principle sets the order, save for the statutory exceptions. The unit the calculation runs over follows from the set-up of the company and the Dismissal Regulation; a wrongly drawn reflection scope can affect your position.
Reassignment that can reach further
If your role disappears, dismissal may only be on the table after it has been investigated whether there is a suitable position for you, if necessary after retraining and within a reasonable period. Within a group like this, that investigation can reach beyond your own location or unit. An offered role must genuinely be suitable, given level and travel distance.
Your compensation
If your employment ends on the employer's initiative and reassignment fails, you are usually entitled to the statutory transition payment. Where a social plan grants its own or an extra payment, it generally comes on top of the statutory transition payment, save for a statutory exception. If you work part-time, also have it recalculated how your hours were counted.
The settlement agreement
Nearly every departure ends up recorded in a settlement agreement. It fixes your last working day, the compensation and the final discharge, and it is precisely the wording that helps decide whether you keep your unemployment benefit rights. Have the document checked before you put your signature to it.
The collective agreement, the arrangement and the social plan
At Albert Heijn your terms-of-employment framework depends on where and for whom you work. That helps decide which arrangements apply to you in a reorganization.
Store or logistics
If you work in the store, you usually fall under the collective agreement for supermarkets or store management. If you are in logistics, a separate collective agreement for distribution applies. FNV and CNV are involved in those arrangements. The distinction counts, because your rights in a redundancy stem partly from the applicable collective agreement.
A new terms-of-employment arrangement
Sometimes Albert Heijn offers a separate terms-of-employment arrangement to a particular group, apart from the usual collective agreement. Whether, and to what extent, signing changes anything about your collective-agreement rights depends among other things on the nature of the collective agreement (whether it contains standard or minimum provisions), on the content of the arrangement and on the applicable statutory rules. So it is neither a given that you simply surrender protection, nor that nothing changes. Have a new arrangement explained and set alongside your current terms and collective agreement before you agree.
What a social plan arranges
A social plan usually states how the consequences of redundancy are cushioned, from guidance towards other work to the level of a payment. Whether, and with what content, a social plan applies to your reorganization is not always public. So request the plan that bears on your case in writing and have it worked out for you what it yields in your situation.
Are you being presented with a new arrangement or a social plan? Have your situation assessed before you agree.
What to watch for
- Under which collective agreement your role precisely falls
- What a new arrangement changes compared to your collective agreement
- Which social plan belongs to this reorganization
- How your compensation is built up and calculated
- The last working day and the final discharge in the document
What you can do now
If the reorganization touches your role, your store or your distribution centre at Albert Heijn, make sure you know your own position before you agree to anything. The earlier you know where you stand, the more influence you keep.
- First find out who your employer is: Albert Heijn itself or a franchisee
- Put the correct collective agreement, the social plan and your personal proposal on the table in writing
- Have it checked whether the reflection principle and the chosen reflection scope are correct
- With a large group at once, check whether the rules on collective dismissal apply and have been observed
- Have your compensation recalculated, certainly on a part-time contract
- Do not sign a settlement agreement that has not yet been checked
Is there a departure proposal or a settlement agreement from Albert Heijn on the table? Let us review it before you decide for good.
When should you bring us in?
- A departure proposal or settlement agreement has reached you
- Your store or distribution centre is closing or merging with another
- You are being presented with a new terms-of-employment arrangement
- You doubt whether the selection and the compensation are correct
- Your reflection period is ticking and you want to know where you stand quickly
Frequently asked questions
These are questions Albert Heijn staff bring to us in practice.
Do you have a departure proposal or settlement agreement from Albert Heijn in hand? Let us review it.
I work in an AH store. Am I employed by Albert Heijn or by a franchisee?
That differs per branch. Part of the stores are run by independent entrepreneurs. Your employer is named on your employment contract and your payslip. Who that is determines the terms under which a reorganization unfolds and where you turn for your rights. If in doubt, have it found out.
My distribution centre is being automated or merging with another. What now?
If the work is drawn to another location, it must first be investigated whether there is a suitable position for you there. A transfer has to fit your travel distance and your kind of work. In an extensively automated centre that can be a different type of role than you are used to.
Does reassignment reach beyond my own unit?
It can. Because Albert Heijn belongs to a larger group, the reassignment investigation can, depending on the organization and the group structure, reach beyond your own location or department. So ask whether suitable work was also sought elsewhere in the group.
I am being presented with a new terms-of-employment arrangement. Do I have to sign?
Not before you know what it contains. A new arrangement can turn out more or less favourable than your current collective-agreement terms. Whether signing actually changes collective-agreement rights depends on the nature of the collective agreement, the content of the arrangement and the statutory rules, and that differs from case to case. So have the arrangement set alongside your current terms and collective agreement before you agree.
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