In January 2002 Joustra was appointed chairman of the board of the UWV, the government management organization for all aspects of unemployment benefits, re-employment and so on. He ran into political difficulty though, following a renovation of the head office. The renovation cost millions and decked out the directors' quarters with gold, marble and other luxuries — and came at the same time as a reorganization of the UWV in which hundreds of employees were fired. The RTL television channel ran an exposé on the renovationSpraakmakende Zaken: Tjibbe Joustra, IKON which led to questions in parliament. As it seemed at the time that Joustra had misinformed Aart Jan de Geus (the ministry of Social Affairs and Employment), the minister then demanded his resignation.'Top UWV weg na leugens over hoofdkantoor', Volkskrant, 16 februari 2004 They finally agreed upon a severance package in March 2004 (including the agreement that Joustra would be given a new position in the public sector within a year), after which Joustra resigned per 1 April 2004.
