Taoufik Yekhlef

Principal Associate

Practice areas

• Employment law
• HR Consultancy
• Industrials

Practice notes

Taoufik is a Principal Associate in the HRPG practice group in our Rotterdam office.

He joined the employment and Labor Law practice group of Eversheds Sutherland in Rotterdam in 2009 as a junior associate. Before his career with Eversheds Sutherland - and during his studies -he worked as an HR-advisor in the dock industry.

Taoufik is praised for his practical, commercial and responsive advice to clients and his pleasant client approach. He is also praised for his negotiation skills. Taoufik is particularly well experienced in advising national and international clients on a wide variety of employment matters, including day to day HR work, individual terminations both inside and outside courts (including complex litigation matters) and large reorganizations including complex consultation processes with works councils. Taoufik is also experienced in advising on assisting in M&A deals and TUPE related queries.

Taoufik gives training on a regular basis to national and international clients on varying Dutch employment law topics.

Taoufik was seconded to an international client operating in the chemical industry in 2019 to assist the in-house employment team as a senior counsel labor and employment.

Taoufik won the “Inclusive” award in Eversheds Sutherland’s 2021 Values Champion Awards.

Taoufik set up the Verve network in the Netherlands, which exists to raise awareness and understanding of the experiences of ethnic minority colleagues in the workplace, and support the delivery of our objectives to embed ethnic diversity and a culture of inclusion across our business.

Recent experience:

• Lead contact for the day to day HR work (including litigation, and advising on reorganisations) for a large international security company with around 4000 employees in the Netherlands;

• Advising an international client on the establishment of a European Works Council and providing training in that respect to the senior HR and senior Legal team;

• Advising, from start to finish, on the closure of a large production facility in the Netherlands from an international company, including close involvement in the works council consultation process and the collective dismissal of nearly 60 employees;

• Advising, from start to finish, on the closure of an international retailer in Amsterdam, including individual negotiations with employees – nearly 100 employees;

• Advising and assisting national and international clients with regard to the dismissal of managing directors/senior managers in the Netherlands;

• Advising an international operation security company in the Netherlands about a merger with a TUPE transfer as a result;

• Successfully representing employers in court proceedings initiated by employees;

• Providing inhouse and interactive training to the employees (management and operations) of a multinational company on varying Dutch employment law topics;

• Providing guidance to and joining employer a mediation processes regarding disputes with employees.

Client Recommendations:

Clients value Taoufik’s involvement in project as they often expressed via feedback, some examples are outlined below:

- “Taoufik has a strong and stable personality, required for working in a dynamic and complex international environment. His sense of social relationships and flexibility has enabled him to develop a strong network within the organization, which, in addition to his hands-on mentality, has contributed to successfully completing this assignment. Taoufik has strong analytical skills and he maintains a critical view though remains pragmatic. He is strategic, thoughtful, reliable, accurate and very responsive.”

- “Taoufik has and is a very good business and sparring partner for me on several individual and business cases. Taoufik is a very good and pragmatic lawyer and a very nice person to work with. The last business case I’ve worked together with Taoufik on was a site closure where we created an pragmatic approach to close one facility and have a minimal impact for our site that is situated nearby.”

- ”Taoufik is walking on water for us!”.

Memberships:

Taoufik is a member of the Netherlands Employment Lawyers Association (VAAN) and the Rotterdam Employment Lawyers Association (VRAA).