Midden-Nederland District Court, 12 March 2025, ECLI:NL:RBMNE:2025:1007.
The employee submitted a request to his employer under Section 2b of the Flexible Working Act (Wfw) to convert his fixed-term employment contract into an indefinite-term contract. The employer did not respond to the employee’s request in good time and with reasons, and the employee argued his employment contract had therefore automatically converted into an indefinite-term contract. Midden-Nederland District Court rejected the employee’s claim, ruling that Section 2b of the Wfw is intended for atypical forms of work, and a fixed-term employment contract is not regarded as such.
Facts
The employee started working for the employer on 3 June 2024 under a fixed-term employment contract with a duration of one year. On 19 November 2024, the employee submitted a request to the employer to convert his fixed-term employment contract into an indefinite-term contract. The following day, a conversation took place between the employer and employee, in which the employer stated that conversion was not possible. In December 2024, the employee received an email stating that, subject to continued good performance and unchanged business circumstances, an extension of his fixed-term contract by at least twelve months would be possible. That same month, a conversation took place in which the employee was told he could not obtain an indefinite-term contract due to a prohibition from senior management.
In a letter dated 10 January 2025, the employee took the position, vis-à-vis the employer, that his employment contract had automatically converted into an indefinite-term contract under Section 2b of the Wfw. The employer responded more than a month later that the request was refused due to proposed cost-cutting measures and a cautious policy on offering indefinite-term contracts.
The employee disagreed with the employer’s position and went to Midden-Nederland District Court, primarily seeking a declaratory judgment that his employment contract had, by operation of Section 2b of the Wfw, converted into an indefinite-term contract as of 1 February 2025. In the alternative, the employee sought a declaratory judgment that his fixed-term employment contract had converted into an indefinite-term contract based on the arrangements set out in the email correspondence between him and the employer.
Ruling
Midden-Nederland District Court rejected the employee’s claims. The employee’s reliance on Section 2b of the Wfw did not succeed. The court took the view that Section 2b of the Wfw was drafted for atypical forms of work, and that a fixed-term employment contract cannot be regarded as an atypical form of work merely because it is not of indefinite duration. The claimed declaratory judgment that the employment contract had, under Section 2b of the Wfw, converted into an indefinite-term contract by operation of law as of 1 February 2025 was therefore not granted. The court based its ruling partly on the preamble to Directive (EU) 2019/1152, which gives examples of atypical forms of work that are not comparable to the employee’s employment contract.
The alternative claim, based on the arrangements in the email correspondence, was also rejected. The court did not read an unconditional commitment in the email correspondence that the employment contract would be extended by three years after one year, which would have resulted in an indefinite-term contract.
The reliance on the anti-detriment provision of Section 2b(6) of the Wfw was also rejected, since the employee could not invoke the Section 2b scheme in the first place, given that his fixed-term employment contract is not regarded as an atypical form of work.
Conclusion
This ruling underlines that Section 2b(6) of the Wfw is intended for employees with atypical forms of work, and that a fixed-term employment contract, on its own, is not regarded as an atypical form of work.
Do you have questions about an employee with a fixed-term or indefinite-term employment contract? Please contact one of our employment lawyers.
Click here for the full ruling (in Dutch).
