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Reorganization at the NVWA
Is your work shifting as inspection tasks are reallocated, 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 staff. The NVWA supervises food safety, animal welfare, animal health and plant and product safety, among other things, and is an executive agency of central government. Which tasks it carries out and with what intensity depends on statutory mandates, political priorities and incidents. As a result, tasks are sometimes reallocated or brought into the NVWA, and the work shifts rather than the organisation shrinking in size. There is no announced major round of dismissals at present; for many specialist roles there is in fact a shortage. What makes your position distinctive is that many roles are specialist: inspectors and supervisory veterinarians are not readily interchangeable with other work. For you it is therefore about whether your role returns in a new structure, and about interchangeability and reassignment if it does not.
Does this apply to you?
- Your inspection task is being reallocated or moved to another unit
- Your role is changing through a reshaping or digitalisation of supervision
- You are being reassigned or asked to take another role
- You are redundant, or you are taking it into account
- You have received a departure arrangement or settlement agreement
Why employees come to ReorgLegal
ReorgLegal specializes in reorganizations and works exclusively 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 a proposal assessed before you agree to it.
The situation at the NVWA
At the NVWA the pressure is rarely that there are too many people. The work shifts with the tasks the agency is given, and for many specialist roles there is a shortage rather than a surplus.
Tasks shift, the organisation does not shrink
The NVWA carries out its supervision on behalf of central government. If the policy or the priorities change, the agency can reallocate tasks or bring new tasks in-house. Supervision of the meat chain, for instance, has recently been restructured and tasks that previously lay with an external party have come into the NVWA. That affects staff, but it is different from a major round of dismissals, which is not announced at present.
What that means for you
For you it is therefore often not about mass dismissal, but about whether your role returns in a new structure or changes shape, and what rights you have if it does not. Because many roles are specialist, interchangeability and reassignment play a major part in this.
A restructuring of supervision usually proceeds step by step. This page sets out the situation in July 2026.
In brief
- The NVWA is an executive agency of central government (the Ministries of LVVN and VWS)
- The State of the Netherlands is your formal employer
- You work under the CAO Rijk, not under a separate collective agreement
- Since the Wnra you have an employment contract and ordinary employment law applies
- The work shifts with supervision tasks; no announced round of dismissals
- Many roles are specialist and not readily interchangeable
Your role is tied to a supervision task
What makes working at the NVWA distinctive is that your role is connected to a supervision task and, for many staff, to a special authority. If the task changes, that affects you differently than in an ordinary office role.
Task-driven supervision
The scale and nature of the work are connected to the mandates the NVWA receives and to the priorities of the moment. An outbreak, an incident or a political choice can enlarge, reduce or move a task. As a result, your work can shift without your job disappearing, but also without you having any influence over it.
Specialism and authority
Many NVWA roles are specialist: inspectors, often with investigative powers, and supervisory veterinarians. Such roles are not readily interchangeable with other work. That makes two questions important in a reorganization: does your role count as interchangeable with another, which matters for the reflection principle, and which suitable roles come into view for you if your task shifts.
Is your supervision task shifting or your role changing? Have it assessed.
Watch these points about your role
- Whether your supervision task is reallocated or shifts
- Whether your role counts as interchangeable with another
- Whether your special authority is tied to the role
- Whether an offered role genuinely fits your specialism
- Whether retraining into other supervision is at issue
The CAO Rijk and support towards other work
You do not work for a company but for central government, and that determines your terms of employment and your options in a reorganization.
Under the CAO Rijk and the Wnra
As an NVWA employee you fall under the CAO Rijk, not under a separate collective agreement. Since the introduction of the Wnra on 1 January 2020 you have an employment contract and ordinary employment law largely applies: dismissal on economic grounds goes through the UWV, other grounds through the subdistrict court, and if employment ends on the employer's initiative there is in principle a right to the statutory transition payment, unless a statutory exception applies. You are still a civil servant within the meaning of the Civil Servants Act 2017, but with a normalised legal position.
Work-to-Work for specialist roles
If your role disappears, central government has a Work-to-Work policy to support staff towards other work, including outside the NVWA. Whether, and how far, that applies to you depends on the applicable collective agreement, the government schemes and the reorganization itself. That does not automatically coincide with the statutory reassignment obligation. For specialist roles it is all the more important to find out early which suitable roles actually come into view for you.
Unsure which arrangement and which roles apply to you? Have it clarified.
Find this out
- Whether your role is eliminated, changed or returns in the new structure
- Whether your role is seen as interchangeable with another
- Which support towards other work applies to you
- Whether reassignment outside the NVWA is at issue
- Whether training or retraining is offered
How a reorganization at the NVWA unfolds
At an executive agency of central government too, role elimination on economic grounds goes through fixed steps. At each of those steps it pays to have someone look on.
Justification and advice
The NVWA must make it plausible that your role is disappearing and put the intended decision to the works council for advice. If a reorganization affects many roles in a short period, the rules on collective redundancy may come into play; they only require notification to the UWV and consultation with the unions once the statutory conditions and threshold are met.
Interchangeability and the reflection principle
Who becomes redundant is not for the agency to decide freely. Where roles are interchangeable, the reflection principle essentially determines the order, subject to the statutory exceptions. For specialist roles that interchangeability is often the very point of debate: roles that look alike on paper can be too different in practice to count as interchangeable.
Reassignment of specialist roles
Before dismissal is at issue, it must be examined whether there is a suitable role for you, if necessary after training and within a reasonable period. What matters is whether those other positions belong to the company or group for which your employer has a reassignment obligation under Article 7:669 of the Dutch Civil Code and the Dismissal Regulation. With a specialism the range of suitable roles can be smaller, which makes this examination all the more important.
At each step there is something to do
- Ask whether your role is eliminated or returns in the new structure
- Keep your employment contract, job description, payslips and the proposal
- Have it checked whether your role is rightly labelled interchangeable
- Ask which suitable roles you are being offered inside and outside the NVWA
- Do not take a final decision before your position is assessed
What does this mean for you?
A reorganization at the NVWA follows the statutory rules for economic dismissal, supplemented by the CAO Rijk and support towards other work. With specialist work there is more to arrange on each of those points than it first appears.
Work that shifts with the task
At the NVWA the work shifts with the supervision tasks and priorities, rather than the organisation shrinking. With the shortage of specialists, forced dismissal is less likely than reassignment or retraining.
Interchangeability weighs heavily
Within interchangeable roles, the reflection principle essentially determines who becomes redundant, subject to the statutory exceptions. For specialist roles, whether roles are genuinely interchangeable is often decisive.
Your compensation
If your employment ends on the NVWA's initiative and reassignment is not possible, there is in principle a right to the statutory transition payment, unless a statutory exception applies. If a government scheme or social plan offers an additional provision, that is generally on top of it.
The settlement agreement
If you settle your departure, you set it down in a settlement agreement. It states, among other things, your last working day and the compensation. How that text is drafted partly determines whether you keep your unemployment benefit, so have the document checked before you sign.
What you can do now
If a restructuring of supervision affects your work, map out your position before you agree to another role or a departure. With a specialist role, early insight is especially valuable.
- Find out whether your role is eliminated, changed or returns in the new structure
- Keep your employment contract, job description and recent payslips
- Have the reflection and the interchangeability recalculated if you may become redundant
- Ask which suitable roles inside and outside the NVWA are open to you
- Ask which support and retraining are available to you
- With many roles affected, see whether collective redundancy is at issue
- Have a settlement agreement reviewed before you sign
Is there a proposal for another role or a settlement agreement? Put it to us first.
When should you involve us?
- Your supervision task is reallocated or moved to another unit
- You are reassigned or offered another role
- You doubt whether your role is rightly treated as interchangeable
- You doubt whether an offered role fits your specialism
- Your response deadline is running and you want to know where you stand
Frequently asked questions
These are questions NVWA employees put to us in practice.
Have you received a proposal for another role, or a settlement agreement? Have us review it.
My supervision task is being reallocated. Do I lose my job?
Not as a matter of course. Often your role returns in another form or under another unit. If your role is eliminated, it must first be examined whether there is a suitable role for you, if necessary after retraining. With specialist work that is an important point; have your position and an offer assessed.
I am an inspector with investigative powers. Does that make me stronger or weaker?
Your specialism and your authority make your role hard to interchange with other work. That can weigh in the reflection principle and makes the question of which suitable roles come into view for you more important. Whether that works to your advantage or disadvantage depends on the reorganization; have it assessed.
I am a supervisory veterinarian. Is my role easy to reassign?
Specialist roles are not readily interchangeable, which can make reassignment inside and outside the NVWA harder. The reassignment obligation can, however, reach further than the NVWA alone. Have it clarified early which roles are genuinely open to you and on what terms.
Do I fall under the CAO Rijk or a separate NVWA agreement?
As an NVWA employee you fall under the CAO Rijk, not a separate collective agreement. In a reorganization a government scheme or social plan may also apply. Have it clarified which arrangement applies in your case and what it offers you.
Received a settlement agreement? Get a free review.
Upload your agreement and we will assess your situation, free and without obligation. On business days we respond within 1 hour. Your legal fees are usually covered by your employer.
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