Supreme Court of the Netherlands, 26 September 2025, ECLI:NL:HR:2025:1386.
The Supreme Court recently ruled on the study cost clause for the Dutch Bar Training Course (Beroepsopleiding Advocatuur). The ruling clarifies when an employer may reclaim training costs and confirms that the costs of mandatory professional training may not be passed on to the employee.
Facts
A trainee lawyer was employed by a law firm and required to complete the Bar Training Course. Her employment contract included a study cost clause: if she did not complete the course, or left employment within three years of completing it, she would have to repay the training costs (such as tuition and exam fees).
Following a summary dismissal, the employer claimed repayment of these training costs. The subdistrict court declared the clause void, ruling it conflicted with Section 7:611a(4) of the Dutch Civil Code, which provides that training an employer is legally required to provide must be free of charge. The Hague Court of Appeal referred preliminary questions on this to the Supreme Court.
Ruling of the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court ruled that the Bar Training Course must be regarded as training necessary for carrying out the role of trainee lawyer. The employer is therefore obliged, under Section 7:611a(1) of the Dutch Civil Code, to enable the trainee to take this course.
Under paragraph 2 of that same section, read together with Article 13 of the EU Directive on Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions (EU 2019/1152), such training must also be offered free of charge. A study cost clause providing that the employee must (partly) repay these mandatory training costs is therefore void.
The Supreme Court adds that this also applies to the mandatory continuing professional education (training points) every lawyer must complete annually under the Dutch Bar Regulation (Voda). These costs, too, are entirely for the employer’s account.
Conclusion
This ruling has consequences for law firms and other employers that work with mandatory professional training courses.
The Supreme Court has made clear that the Bar Training Course and mandatory continuing education fall within the statutory training obligation under Section 7:611a of the Dutch Civil Code. This means employers must offer this training free of charge. A study cost clause requiring the employee to repay the costs in whole or in part is void. A workaround, such as a sliding-scale repayment arrangement, is not permitted either.
Employers would therefore do well to review their existing study cost clauses, particularly for roles where a statutory professional training course is mandatory. For employees, this ruling brings greater legal certainty: the costs of mandatory training may no longer be passed on to them.
Click here for the full ruling (in Dutch).
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