Midden-Nederland District Court, 23 May 2025, ECLI:NL:RBMNE:2025:2519
Employee awarded over EUR 17,000 after three days of work
An employment contract lasting only a few weeks proved costly for an employer. The subdistrict court ruled that an employee was entitled to fair compensation of just over EUR 17,000 gross, on top of the statutory transition payment. The reason lay in the invalidity of the probationary clause when the employment was terminated.
Facts
The employee started working for the employer on 1 January 2025 under a fixed-term employment contract of six months. The contract stated it would end by operation of law on 2 July 2025, which amounts to six months and two days. The employment contract included a probationary period of one month. On 27 January 2025, the employer terminated the employment contract with immediate effect, invoking the probationary clause. At that point, the employee had worked only three days.
The employee argued that the probationary clause was invalid, since the law does not permit a probationary clause for employment contracts of six months or less. She also claimed the transition payment and fair compensation. The employer argued that the employment contract formally lasted longer than six months and that a probationary period therefore did apply, which, in its view, had also been made clear to the employee.
Ruling of the subdistrict court
The subdistrict court disagreed. Under Section 7:652(6)(a) of the Dutch Civil Code, it is prohibited to agree a probationary period for an employment contract of six months or less. If a probationary period is nevertheless included, that clause is void. The subdistrict court applied the Haviltex standard. What is decisive is the meaning the parties could reasonably attach to this provision under the given circumstances, and what they could reasonably expect from one another in that regard. Both the wording of the employment contract and the verbal explanation given during the employee’s job interview pointed to an employment contract of six months.
During the hearing, the employer stated that, during the interview, it had told the employee she would receive a contract for “half a year”. The statement that the contract would end on 2 July, which amounts to six months and two days, does not change this. If the employer had genuinely intended to conclude an employment contract of longer than six months to make a probationary period possible, it should have expressly discussed this before concluding the contract and included it in the employment contract. That did not happen.
Conclusion: employee awarded over EUR 17,000 after three days of work
The commonly used “trick” of drafting a probationary clause of one month into a contract of six months and a few days was rejected by the court. Because the employee would have received just over EUR 17,000 gross in wages under a regular termination at the end of the contract term, the subdistrict court awarded this amount as fair compensation. In addition, she was entitled to the statutory transition payment, since the initiative for termination lay with the employer.
This ruling underlines the importance of careful contract drafting. Are you unsure whether your employment contracts are legally correct on this point? Please feel free to contact one of our employment lawyers.
Click here for the full ruling (in Dutch).