Gelderland District Court, 12 August 2025, ECLI:NL:RBGEL:2025:7054.
This case centres on whether an employee who is fully and permanently unfit for work is entitled to payment of the transition payment and accrued holiday days. The employer refused to cooperate with ending the dormant employment contract. The subdistrict court assessed whether this position holds up in light of national and EU law.
Facts
The employee became unfit for work following a motorcycle accident. The UWV (Employee Insurance Agency) imposed a wage sanction, extending continued payment of wages until 1 March 2024. Attempts by the employee (through his representative) to end the employment with a transition payment and final settlement were rejected by the employer; only holiday allowance was paid. The employee then requested dissolution of the employment contract and damages equal to the transition payment (EUR 39,697.58). He argued he was fully and permanently unfit for work, meaning a return was impossible, and that continuing the dormant employment contract conflicted with the duty of good employeeship (Section 7:611 of the Dutch Civil Code). The employer, he argued, was refusing without justified interest, thereby breaching Section 7:611, and must pay the transition payment. The employer put forward no defence against the dissolution or the payment itself, but argued that transition-payment accrual only ran until 29 February 2024 and that only (unused) holiday hours up to that date were owed.
Ruling of the subdistrict court
The subdistrict court granted the request and dissolved the employment contract with effect from the date of the ruling. Because the UWV had extended continued wage payment until 1 March 2024, and the employee subsequently received an IVA (full occupational disability) benefit, he is entitled to the transition payment calculated up to 1 March 2024. Normally, an employee only accrues holiday days for as long as they receive wages, under Section 7:634(1) of the Dutch Civil Code. This would mean no new holiday days accrued after 29 February 2024. However, legal literature shows this provision of national law conflicts with an EU directive and the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU. This means EU law offers employees additional protection. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU guarantees the right to holiday, even where national rules would limit it. In the Max Planck ruling, the Court of Justice confirmed that this right applies directly between employee and employer. Where national law conflicts with it, the court must disapply that law. In other words: even during long-term illness, employees keep accruing holiday hours, even once wages are no longer being paid.
Conclusion
The subdistrict court disapplied Dutch law on this point and ruled that the employee continued to accrue holiday even after 1 March 2024, up to the end of the employment (12 August 2025). The employer must pay out the accrued, unused holiday days and was ordered to pay the legal costs. In conclusion, based on this ruling, sick employees accrue full holiday hours throughout the entire period of illness, not just the first two years, regardless of whether they perform work and regardless of whether they are entitled to wages. It remains to be seen whether this becomes settled case law.
Do you have questions about this topic? Our employment lawyers are ready to help.
